History YMMV / Cops

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Each department has their own fan favorite officer or deputy who is popular with fans and the production staff, who are spotlighted/namechecked, even if they only appear for a couple of seconds. Case in point, Deputy Win Sargent of Pierce County, Washington. Or Officer Duane Eamon, of North Las Vegas.
* MemeticMutation:
** "You can't break those cuffs!"
** Comedians and commentators often note how often male suspects being taken into custody will be [[ShirtlessScene lacking a shirt]].
*** And the guys who are wearing a shirt are usually in little more that a white, sleeveless undershirt. To the point where the frequent appearance of such men in domestic disturbance calls on ''Cops'' has lead such shirts to become irrevocably known as "wife beaters".
* SugarWiki/MostWonderfulSound: The awesome [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AloXrnU7BkM&feature=player_embedded Blues]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNBNUgfWGJ8&feature=player_embedded Riff]] of the Langley Productions VanityPlate after '93.
* ValuesDissonance: The show didn't really ever keep up with Americans' shifting views on the War on Drugs and may have very likely contributed to its cancellation. During the show's first fifteen years or so, drug-related arrests, predominantly those of minority groups (mostly African-American and Latino men) made up a large amount of the arrests the show made. This worked at the time due to the fact that these policies were very popularly supported, even among minority groups. However since about the mid-2000s, the massive change in public opinion on the War on Drugs (particularly how it affected said minority groups) and a backlash against police brutality as a whole made these arrests (and the show as a whole) look a lot less comfortable then it once did. The show's continued doubling down and increasing these portrayals may have been a contributing factor to its 2020 cancellation.
* WhatAnIdiot: The way a lot of suspects get caught. One of the most common themes is the officer will pull them over or otherwise stop them for something incredibly minor, which would only result in a warning or a minor citation, only for the suspect to flee, which results in them getting arrested.
----

* ValuesDissonance: The show didn’t really ever keep up with Americans’ shifting views on the War on Drugs and may have contributed to its cancellation. During the show's first fifteen years or so, drug-related arrests, predominantly those of minority groups (mostly African-American and Latino men) made up a large amount of the arrests the show made. This worked at the time due to the fact that these policies were very popularly supported, even among minority groups. However since about the mid-2000s, the massive change in public opinion on the War on Drugs (particularly how it affected said minority groups) and a backlash against police brutality as a whole made these arrests (and the show as a whole) look a lot less comfortable then it once did. The show's continued doubling down and increasing these portrayals may have been a contributing factor to its 2020 cancellation.

* ValuesDissonance: The show didn’t really ever keep up with Americans’ shifting views on the War on Drugs and may have contributed to its cancellation. During the show's first fifteen years or so, drug-related arrests, predominantly those of minority groups (mostly African-American and Latino men) made up a large amount of the arrests the show made. This worked at the time due to the fact that these policies were very popularly supported, even among minority groups. However since about the mid 2000s, the massive change in public opinion on the War on Drugs (particularly how it affected said minority groups) and a backlash against police brutality as a whole made these arrests (and the show as a whole) look a lot less comfortable then it once did. The show's continued doubling down and increasing these portrayals may have been a contributing factor to its 2020 cancellation.

* ValuesDissonance: The show's portrayal of the War on Drugs has not aged well, and may have contributed to its cancellation. During the show's early years, drug-related arrests, predominantly those of minority groups such as African-Americans and Latino people, made up a large amount of the arrests the show made. This worked at the time due to the fact that the War on Drugs had a large amount of public support at that point. However, the general change in public opinion on the War on Drugs (particularly how it affected said minority groups) and a backlash against police brutality as a whole made these arrests (and the show as a whole) look a lot less comfortable then it once did, which along with the show's doubling down and increasing these portrayals may have been a contributing factor to its 2020 cancellation.

* ValuesDissonance: The show's portrayal of the War on Drugs has not aged well, and may have contributed to its cancellation. During the show's early years, drug-related arrests, predominantly those of minority groups such as African-Americans and Latinx people, made up a large amount of the arrests the show made. This worked at the time due to the fact that the War on Drugs had a large amount of public support at that point. However, the general change in public opinion on the War on Drugs (particularly how it affected said minority groups) and a backlash against police brutality as a whole made these arrests (and the show as a whole) look a lot less comfortable then it once did, which along with the show's doubling down and increasing these portrayals may have been a contributing factor to its 2020 cancellation.

* ValuesDissonance: The show's portrayal of the War on Drugs has not aged well, and may have contributed to its cancellation. During the show's early years, drug-related arrests, predominantly those of minority groups such as African-Americans and Latinx people, made up a large amount of the arrests the show made. This worked at the time due to the fact that the War on Drugs had a large amount of public support at that point. However, the general change in public opinion on the War on Drugs (particularly how it affected said minority groups,) and a backlash against police brutality as a whole made these arrests (and the show as a whole) look a lot less comfortable then it once did, which along with the show's doubling down and increasing these portrayals may have been a contributing factor to its 2020 cancellation.

* ValuesDissonance: The show's portrayal of the War on Drugs has not aged well, and may have contributed to its cancellation. During the show's early years, drug-related arrests, predominantly those of minority groups such as African-Americans and Latinx people, made up a large amount of the arrests the show made. This worked at the time due to the fact that the War on Drugs had a large amount of support at that point. However, the general change in public opinion on the War on Drugs (particularly how it affected said minority groups,) and a backlash against police brutality as a whole made these arrests (and the show as a whole) look a lot less comfortable then it once did, which along with the show's doubling down and increasing these portrayals may have been a contributing factor to its 2020 cancellation.

* ValuesDissonance: The show was always a product of the late '80s War on Drugs era in which it was created by oversampling drug crimes relative to their real life occurrences. Drug crimes accounted for a little over 10% of arrests throughout its early years but the show's arrests were about one-third drug crimes. It also oversampled the arrests of black and Latino men for these low level crimes, even though white people do drugs at the same rates. This wasn't so much of a problem for about the first half of the show's run throughout the Bush Sr., Clinton, and first half of the Bush Jr. administrations as they all were very much focused on the "tough on crime" mentalities. However by the second half of the Bush Jr. administration and throughout the entirety of the Obama administration, both the federal government and the public at large began to realize how disastrous the war on drugs was and opinion shifted from thinking that low level drug criminals were bad guys who needed to be put away for the good of society to thinking that they were sick/down on their luck people who needed empathy and treatment and that they weren't hurting anyone else. Arrests for drug crimes have gone down every year since 2006 but the show actually started having more drug crimes at that point and kept arresting black and Latino men at disproportionate rates as well. It just kept assuming people felt the same way they did about these victimless crimes as they did in 1989 and was part of the reason it was eventually cancelled in 2020 (as well as the push for the media to end glamourizing police brutality in the wake of the death of George Floyd).

* SocietyMarchesOn: The show was always a product of the late '80s War on Drugs era in which it was created by oversampling drug crimes relative to their real life occurrences. Drug crimes accounted for a little over 10% of arrests throughout its early years but the show's arrests were about one-third drug crimes. It also oversampled the arrests of black and Latino men for these low level crimes, even though white people do drugs at the same rates. This wasn't so much of a problem for about the first half of the show's run throughout the Bush Sr., Clinton, and first half of the Bush Jr. administrations as they all were very much focused on the "tough on crime" mentalities. However by the second half of the Bush Jr. administration and throughout the entirety of the Obama administration, both the federal government and the public at large began to realize how disastrous the war on drugs was and opinion shifted from thinking that low level drug criminals were bad guys who needed to be put away for the good of society to thinking that they were sick/down on their luck people who needed empathy and treatment and that they weren't hurting anyone else. Arrests for drug crimes have gone down every year since 2006 but the show actually started having more drug crimes at that point and kept arresting black and Latino men at disproportionate rates as well. It just kept assuming people felt the same way they did about these victimless crimes as they did in 1989 and was part of the reason it was eventually cancelled in 2020 (as well as the push for the media to end glamourizing police brutality in the wake of the death of George Floyd).

[[AC:[[Series/{{Cops}} TV Series]]]]

[[AC:WesternAnimation/{{COPS}} Cartoon show]]

* FairForItsDay: Yes, the series was terribly written, but a 1980s WesternAnimation series with an African-American lead character who is indisputably in charge and more than one female member (among both the C.O.P.S. and the criminals) in the main cast was progressive for its time.
* HilariousInHindsight:
** A [[Series/WalkerTexasRanger Texas Ranger named Walker]]? Kids, can we say, "Low-hanging fruit"? Even more hilarious when one realizes C.O.P.S. and its Texas Ranger named Walker debuted ''five years'' before that other guy.
** This series would not be the only time that a [=DiC=] cartoon series [[WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers would do a rather blatant episode about drugs]], although the second time would be MUCH darker than this one went.
* RetroactiveRecognition: Creator/TabithaStGermain [[note]] Credited under the alias of "Paulina Gillis" [[/note]] was the voice of Ms. Demeanor and several one shot characters.
* SocietyMarchesOn: Could Mainframe's sexual misconduct in the workplace towards Mace be a reflection of such behavior being more tolerated in the era in which the cartoon was made (and was it actually more tolerated back then?) than in the 21st century, in which it is set?
* TearJerker: "The Case of The Blitz Attack". Even if you're not a dog person, you'll have a lump in your throat watching this episode. (Issue #5 of the comic, while almost identical, was even worse.)
* WhatAnIdiot: Berserko. Though the DrugsAreBad episode [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools is a surprisingly positive case]] [[GodzillaThreshold because it results in the other villains forming an]] EnemyMine to catch the dealer [[EvenEvilHasStandards that they already refused to work with]].

* HilariousInHindsight: A [[Series/WalkerTexasRanger Texas Ranger named Walker]]? Kids, can we say, "Low-hanging fruit"?
** Even more hilarious when one realizes C.O.P.S. and its Texas Ranger named Walker debuted ''five years'' before [[Series/WalkerTexasRanger that other guy]].

* SocietyMarchesOn: Could Mainframe's sexual misconduct in the workplace towards Mace, be a reflection of such behavior being more tolerated in the era in which the cartoon was made (and was it actually more tolerated back then?) than in the 21st century, in which it is set?