History SoYouWantTo / WriteAPoliceProcedural

Where is the police department located? Even within one nation, different jurisdictions have different operating procedures which, if you're tying your story to a specific location, will govern how your story functions. They will also face different challenges and different types of crime; in an urban environment, the police are less like to receive frequent complaints of stealing apples from orchards as they would in a more rural jurisdiction, and in a rural jurisdiction inner-city style gang violence is probably not going to be as big a concern (although a different ''type'' of criminal gang might still pose a problem).

* Obviously ''{{The Wire}}'' counts, which was not just the greatest police procedural created for television, but also, in many people's opinion, the best show created for television. Period. Starting with an incredibly realistic portrayal of the inner-workings of the Baltimore City Police department in its first season, the show would expand out in its following four seasons to examine the inner-workings of various other institutions (these being in order a stevedore's union, the Baltimore city government, the Baltimore school system, and the Baltimore Sun) and how these institutions contributed to the urban-crime problems that plagued the city. Particular strengths of the series include its extensive cast of expertly portrayed, well-developed characters, its uncommonly deep exploration of sociopolitical themes, and Omar Little.
* The earlier ''HomicideLifeOnTheStreet'', by many of the same people, belongs here as well; with it's rare (for the time) depiction of the emotionally draining issues involved in modern police work in a city homicide unit and realistic depiction of life in law-enforcement, it made the first few chinks in the wall ''TheWire'' eventually burst through.
* Although it crosses over with a SlasherMovie and an action movie, ''HotFuzz'' does a very good job of depicting life in the modern British police force. It's also rather rare in this genre in that it focusses primarily on the uniformed officers rather than the detectives.
* Another British example would be Series/TheBill. It was set in a regular police station in inner-city London, and the majority of it's plots revolved around mundane, ordinary police work of the 'rescue a cat which has got stuck in a tree' variety, rather than murder investigations. It was very specific in depicting complete accuracy to proper police procedure, such as the writers having put vast amounts of research into how it is that real-life officers conduct interviews with suspects, and showing that research on screen in minute detail. It was also one of the few television police procedurals that bucked the trend of avoiding depicting the paperwork that an officer must do in their day to day life: it wasn't uncommon for a case being investigated in ''The Bill'' to subsequently be shown to collapse in court because of an officer's neglect when writing up their notes at the time of an incident taking place, creating enough 'reasonable doubt' for the jury to return a not guilty verdict. The series did evolve away from such lofty ambitions as strict accuracy as time when on, picking up aspects of CrimeTimeSoap (and all the unfortunate dramatic shorthand that goes with it). But on the whole, for most of it's remarkable 27 year run it was a perfect example of how to do this kind of thing right.

Most police officers are armed in some way, often with some kind of baton. However, the nature of these arms can vary; in American jurisdictions, police officers (particularly those on the front line of duty) are generally armed with firearms; however, in most British jurisdictions only specialized officers encounter and use firearms in a day-to-day basis (although many officers do now receive firearm training).

In RealLife, most police officers in most jurisdictions generally go day-to-day without engaging in the kind of stunts that are often depicted in many less-realistic depictions; it's often said that even in cities with severe problems in crime and inner-city violence where the officers are armed with firearms, most officers may go through their entire careers without needing to fire a single shot. However, they may still need to chase down suspects (often on foot, however; similarly, the high-speed car chases so loved in movies are a lot rarer, usually because in most busy cities the sheer volume of traffic makes driving recklessly at high speeds difficult for both police and pursued). Even if no shots are fired, it's still also possible to draw tension of a potential stand-off.

* Another British example would be TheBill. It was set in a regular police station in inner-city London, and the majority of it's plots revolved around mundane, ordinary police work of the 'rescue a cat which has got stuck in a tree' variety, rather than murder investigations. It was very specific in depicting complete accuracy to proper police procedure, such as the writers having put vast amounts of research into how it is that real-life officers conduct interviews with suspects, and showing that research on screen in minute detail. It was also one of the few television police procedurals that bucked the trend of avoiding depicting the paperwork that an officer must do in their day to day life: it wasn't uncommon for a case being investigated in ''The Bill'' to subsequently be shown to collapse in court because of an officer's neglect when writing up their notes at the time of an incident taking place, creating enough 'reasonable doubt' for the jury to return a not guilty verdict. The series did evolve away from such lofty ambitions as strict accuracy as time when on, picking up aspects of CrimeTimeSoap (and all the unfortunate dramatic shorthand that goes with it). But on the whole, for most of it's remarkable 27 year run it was a perfect example of how to do this kind of thing right.

* ''{{Dragnet}}'' by Jack Webb has to be mentioned as it basically started the modern genre and the radio series and first TV series episodes are freely accessible in the public domain. However, the series definitely a part of its time and the later ''Dragnet 1967'' through ''1970'' proves that with the characters struggling awkwardly in the contemporary realities.

* Another British example would be TheBill.

* Obviously ''{{The Wire}}'' counts, which was not just the greatest police procedural created for television, but also, in many people's opinion, the best show created for television. Period. Starting with an incredibly realistic portrayal of the inner-workings of the Baltimore Police department in its first season, the show would expand out in its following four seasons to examine the inner-workings of various other institutions (these being in order a stevedore's union, the Baltimore city government, the Baltimore school system, and the Baltimore Sun) and how these institutions contributed to the urban-crime problems that plagued the city. Particular strengths of the series include its extensive cast of expertly portrayed, well-developed characters, its uncommonly deep exploration of sociopolitical themes, and Omar Little.