Portrayal of police in television dramas

The depiction of police in television dramas today is not necessarily realistic or positive in any way, shape or form. Rather I believe it is the total opposite of this. In almost every crime television series, the police almost always apprehend the suspect and solve the crime. This portrayal is far from the truth and in reality every single crime doesn’t get solved. Most television series about police officers have turned into a soap opera where it follows the lives and relationships of individual people in the force, not to mention that everything is blown way out of proportion.



The cast of 'The Shield'



Executive producers of crime television dramas glamorise the life of a police officer by adding all the excitement of chasing criminals in cars, shooting at every chance they get, hot pursuits and solving every crime. However, in reality being a police officer involves a lot of tedious paperwork and writing up reports to explain every single detail that happened when they were called out to a disturbance or alleged crime. In reality, police often deal with false reporting of crimes where valuable resources are wasted on prank callers and mediating work.



Australian TV series 'Recruits'



Police are portrayed as masculine, smart, full of martial arts skills, fit, aggressive, action packed, always willing to shoot at suspects and so on. The sad reality is that the public want to see all the excitement and glamour of being a police officer because no one wants to watch a show where police are filling out forms and writing up boring reports. Then does all this glamour and excitement encourage people to join the police force in order to get justice or for the simple reason that they get to shoot at someone or chase a suspect in a high speed car pursuit???

Australian documentary 'Gangs of Oz'

There are several television shows both Australian and American which portray police in different ways. This includes both positive and negative depictions, which allows us to come to our own conclusions about what the police force is really like I guess. Some of these shows are based on factual evidence and documentaries and others are just fictional dramas to show us the exciting and glamorous lives that come with being a police officer. Certain fictional dramas have also come to show police officers as being corrupt and taking advantage of the power they hold but in my opinion this is not just fictional but rather a reality that must be dealt with in order to clean up crime in our streets.

'America's Hardest Prisons'

List of Australian crime drama

Current Affairs

• Forensic Investigators (Seven network)

Documentaries
• Crime Investigation Australia (CI/Nine network)
• Gangs of Oz (Seven network)
• Australian Drug Lords
• Australian Families of Crime
• Missing Persons Unit

Factual
• Border Security: Australia’s Front Line (Seven network)
• The Force: Behind the Line (Seven network)
• Highway Patrol (Seven network)
• Recruits (Network Ten)
• Search and Rescue (Nine network)
• Police Files: Unlocked

Drama
• City Homicide (Seven network)
• Rescue: Special Ops (Nine network)
• Rush (Network Ten)
• Sea Patrol (Nine network)
• Underbelly: The Golden Mile
• Police Rescue

List of American crime drama
Documentaries
• America’s Hardest Prisons

• True Crime

• Forensic Investigators

• Forensic Files

• The FBI Files

• Cold Case Files


Factual

• The First 48

• Cops

• Real Stories of Highway Patrol

• Street Patrol

• Road Wars

• Arrest & Trial

Drama

• Law & Order

• Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
• Law & Order: Criminal Intent

• NYPD Blue

• CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

• CSI: Miami

• CSI: NY

• Cold Case

• Criminal Minds

• NCIS

• Without a Trace

• The Shield



America's factual series 'Cops'