Please sit down. We'd like to ask you a few questions.
Who are we? We're detectives; the folks who solve those mysteries you see on TV and read about in the paper. Most of us are what you'd call Seekers. Now, if you'll just answer a few—
What? You want more info? Alright, I'll let you ask just one more thing, but I'm really supposed to ask the questions. We come in all shapes and sizes, from meddling kids to sweet old ladies to grizzled PIs. Some of us can tell if you're guilty just by looking at the dust on your shoe. Some of us... can't. Take a look down and see our many faces. See Crime and Punishment Tropes for the stuff we do and Sliding Scale of Law Enforcement for how we're portrayed.
Now, about your whereabouts last night...
Did you contrast this with Organized Crime Tropes on the night of the 15th?
Tropes:
- Always Gets His Man: A badass, idealized, heroic cop who will always crack the case and land the perp(s) in jail.
- Amateur Sleuth: A detective who isn't a member of the police, nor do they even get paid for it; they just solve crimes and mysteries for fun or the sake of justice.
- Ambiguously Trained: Someone is implied to have once worked for the police or military.
- Androids and Detectives: An Odd Couple consisting of a human detective and their robot partner.
- Anti-Police Song: A Protest Song which criticizes corruption and misconduct by law enforcement.
- Artistic License – Law Enforcement: Inaccurate portrayals of how the police operate.
- Atonement Detective: A crime-solver in a Police Procedural who has killed and is The Atoner because of this.
- Badges and Dog Tags: An ex-military veteran who now works in law enforcement.
- Bad Cop/Incompetent Cop: Cops are a combination of corrupt assholes and useless idiots.
- The Bad Guys Are Cops: When law enforcement are villainous or antagonistic to the heroes.
- Bigot with a Badge: A bigoted cop or other representative of law and order, who does not change to a more inclusive viewpoint.
- Bomb Disposal: The police often have units that are specially trained for defusing and removing explosive devices.
- Born Detective: A parent was a PI (or other profession) and raised their child from a young age to help Mommy/Daddy spy on other people, etc.
- By-the-Book Cop: A cop who always sticks to proper police procedure, endlessly frustrated by the Cowboy Cop's antics.
- Calling the Cops on the FBI: When regular uniformed police unwittingly stop undercover police agents on a covert mission.
- Can Always Spot a Cop: A character is identified as a police officer when they're out of uniform and/or off-duty.
- Church Police: An essential feature of any theocracy, these guys are responsible for enforcing religious laws.
- City Guards: A local militia in a city, town, or village which acts as a quasi-police force, usually appearing in pre-modern settings.
- Close to Home: A detective becomes embroiled in a case that brings up old trauma.
- Clueless Deputy: A dimwitted cop.
- Clueless Detective: Someone who really shouldn't be in charge of investigating crimes.
- The Commissioner Gordon: The leader of the police who is on good terms with the hero.
- Cop and Scientist: Cop is Street Smart and Book Dumb; scientist has next-to-No Social Skills or fighting skills.
- Cop/Criminal Family: A police officer, detective, etc. is related to a criminal.
- Cop Hater: Someone who hates the police in general.
- Cop Killer: A criminal who has murdered a police officer.
- Cop Killer Manhunt: The police take the killing of their own very seriously.
- Cowboy Cop: A reckless cop who "enforces" the law without much (if any) regard for the rules of proper police procedure.
- Culture Police: A government agency responsible for the censorship of media, and other regulations to enforce the nation's cultural norms.
- Da Chief: The leader of the police department or a law enforcement agency.
- Defective Detective: An investigator with serious personality flaws.
- Detective Animal: An animal who investigates crimes and mysteries.
- Detectives Follow Footprints
- Detective Mole: It turns out that someone investigating a crime is also a culprit in it.
- Detective Patsy: A criminal enlists a detective's "help" to investigate a crime that they actually committed, in an attempt to fool them and throw suspicion off themselves.
- Dirty Cop: A corrupt police officer who behaves like a criminal and partakes in illegal activities.
- Dirty Harriet: A female cop who goes undercover as a prostitute.
- Donut Mess with a Cop: Police enjoy eating donuts.
- Elite Agents Above the Law: Law enforcement officers or intelligence agents who answer to nobody except their government's top leaders (or themselves).
- Empty Cop Threat
- Fair Cop: A gorgeously attractive police officer.
- FBI Agent: An agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
- Female Flatfoot and Snarky Guy
- Friend on the Force: A police ally of the hero.
- Generic Cop Badges: Cop badges in fiction are poorly detailed and don't reflect the ones from Real Life.
- Gentleman Detective
- Good Cop/Bad Cop: A classic interrogation technique, where one cop tries to earn the suspect's trust to get them talking, while the other cop intimidates them if they refuse to cooperate.
- Good Policing, Evil Policing: Law Enforcement officials or agencies are contrasted from a moral standpoint within a story.
- The Great British Copper Capture: An unarmed police officer encounters an armed criminal.
- Great Detective: They are a master of solving crimes.
- Hammerspace Police Force
- Hardboiled Detective
- Hello Again, Officer
- Hollywood Police Driving Academy: Police officers are very reckless and terrible drivers.
- Hot Pursuit: A Chase Scene involving police vehicles pursuing a criminal suspect on the road.
- I Fought the Law and the Law Won: Police forces that are nigh impossible to escape or defeat.
- Impersonating an Officer: When a criminal pretends to be a cop in order to commit crimes while disguised.
- Inspector Javert: A detective is obsessed with capturing and turning in someone accused of a crime, regardless of whether that person is truly guilty.
- Inspector Lestrade
- Inspector Oblivious
- Institutional Allegiance Concealment: A cop or spy is granted a full false identity when going undercover to infiltrate a criminal organization.
- Interdisciplinary Sleuth
- Internal Affairs: A police unit tasked with investigating misconduct within the police department itself.
- Interpol Special Agent: A law enforcement officer who has global jurisdiction to pursue international criminals, anywhere in the world. They're often affiliated with a fictionalized version of the real-life Interpol organization.
- Intrepid Reporter: A journalist is mostly expected to just record the facts of news, but this one wants to investigate every secret and mystery behind the story.
- Jurisdiction Friction: Two cops from different police forces clash over who has official authority for handling crimes in a particular area.
- Kid Detective: A child who investigates crimes and mysteries.
- Killer Cop: A police officer who is outright murderous.
- Law Enforcement, Inc.: A private police/security force that operates as a for-profit business, instead of being a public government agency.
- Lawman Baton: The standard melee weapon carried by most police officers.
- Lawman Gone Bad: A former cop who has gone rogue and turned to a life of crime.
- Lead Police Detective
- Lemming Cops: The police drive towards the suspect with reckless disregard for anyone's safety (including their own).
- Little Old Lady Investigates
- The Lopsided Arm of the Law: The police are only competent when they are going after the main characters.
- Magician Detective: A Stage Magician uses their skills to solve 'impossible crimes'.
- Meddlesome Patrolman
- Minority Police Officer: A cop who's a member of an ethnic minority group.
- Must State If You're a Cop: A misconception that undercover cops are obligated to reveal their true identity when asked. This is not true for obvious reasons.
- Mystery Magnet
- Mystery Writer Detective: A crime fiction writer finds themselves having to solve real crimes.
- Naughty Narcs: A narcotics officer who is working alongside drug dealers instead of fighting them.
- No Badge? No Problem!
- Noble Bigot with a Badge: A cop who is prejudiced towards a group, but still values their lives.
- No "Police" Option: Dismissing the idea of calling the cops outright, or making it so they can't help you.
- Occult Detective: A detective who specializes in solving paranormal/supernatural crimes and mysteries.
- Officer O'Hara: The stereotypical Irish-American police officer.
- Old Cop, Young Cop: A long-time veteran cop is partnered with the new and inexperienced rookie.
- Old-Fashioned Copper
- One Riot, One Ranger
- Outranking Your Job
- Oppressive Immigration Enforcement: Enforcers and implementers of stricter immigration control are presented as bigoted, oppressive, and corrupt.
- Pervy Patdown
- Phone-In Detective
- Pinkerton Detective
- Police Are Useless: The police are too incompetent or oblivious to defeat the bad guys without the heroes' help.
- Police Brutality: When an aggressive cop uses unnecessary physical violence against suspected criminals (or innocent citizens whom they treat like criminals).
- Police Brutality Gambit: When a suspect injures themselves and then blames the cops for hurting them.
- Police Code for Everything: The police have a code for every kind of situation they end up getting involved with.
- Police Lineup: An investigative procedure where the police gather and examine several alleged suspects in a crime case.
- Policeman Dog: Dogs depicted as law enforcement officers, guards, private eyes or similar professions.
- Police Pig: Mocking cops by calling them "pigs" (or portraying them as literal swine).
- Police Psychic: The police recruit a psychic to help them solve cases.
- Police State: In a dystopian country run by an authoritarian/totalitarian government, law enforcement are tasked with mass surveillance of the populace, and severely punishing anyone suspected of political dissent.
- Private Detective: A professional crime investigator who is not a member of the police, but is hired by them to help solve cases.
- The Profiler: A police detective who is in charge of identifying possible suspects in a crime.
- Rabid Cop: A sadistic police officer who really enjoys beating the crap out of suspects.
- Rogue Agent
- Secret Police: A covert intelligence agency that spies on citizens, and makes sure that any annoying dissidents will disappear.
- The Sheriff: The leader of the sheriff's department (a county-level police force).
- Sherlock Homage: An expy of the famous detective Sherlock Holmes.
- Sleuth Dates Cop
- Sliding Scale of Law Enforcement
- Smart Cop, Dumb Cop: One cop is extremely intelligent, while their partner is pretty much the opposite.
- Smith of the Yard
- Space Police: A law enforcement agency that patrols outer space to pursue space criminals.
- Standard Police Motto: "To Protect and to Serve" and its variants.
- State Sec: A paramilitary police force designed to instill fear into all of the government's enemies, especially against rebel forces.
- Strange Cop in a Strange Land
- Stripper/Cop Confusion: A stripper wearing a police costume gets mistaken for a real cop (or vice versa).
- Suicide by Cop: When someone intentionally provokes the police into shooting them dead.
- Super Cop: Police officers who are costumed superheroes and/or possess superpowers.
- Suspiciously Idle Officers: A corrupt employee is never seen doing their job.
- SWAT Team: A paramilitary police unit designed for situations that require better weapons and equipment than usual.
- Sympathetic Inspector Antagonist
- There Are No Police: An apparently lawless place where there are no cops or any legal authorities to maintain order.
- Taken Off the Case: A detective is removed from a case against their will.
- Time Police: An organization that chases after people who try to mess with the laws of time.
- Token Good Cop: A cop who's still doing the right thing, despite being surrounded by corruption or incompetence.
- Tour Guide Detective: A detective story is used to explore an unfamiliar setting.
- Traffic Wardens: These guys are responsible for writing tickets to anyone caught violating parking laws.
- Turn in Your Badge
- Undercover as Lovers: Two cops pretend to be a married couple or in a romantic relationship as part of a covert assignment.
- Undercover Cop Reveal: Someone turns out to be a police officer working undercover.
- Undercover Model: A pretty lady cop utilizes her good looks for an undercover assignment, such as a supermodel.
- U.S. Marshal: An agent of the United States Marshal Service (USMS).
- Vampire Detective Series: When vampires fight crime.
- Vomiting Cop: A squeamish cop pukes after witnessing a particularly grisly crime scene.
- Whispered Threat: A stereotypical Cowboy Cop feels the need to whisper to the perp to get them to talk.
- White Bread and Black Brotha: An Odd Couple consisting of a straight-laced white guy and a streetwise black guy. A staple of buddy cop stories.
- Who Watches the Watchmen?: Do the police need to be policed themselves?