History Main / EmptyCopThreat

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'':
** The Flash pulls this stunt on a mobster as he's looking for Shade. The guy calls the Flash on his bluff, saying that he can't pull off what Batman can...until he ''does'' drop him.
** In the same show, this fails spectacularly when Superman tries to intimidate Copperhead for information concerning an assassination attempt on Aquaman. Since Copperhead knows that Superman will never ever follow through with any threat of premeditated violence on a helpless person, he mocks the threat as blatantly empty.

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[[AC: WesternAnimation]]

* Averted pretty hard in the beginning of ''SinCity''. Junior Rourke believes that John Hartigan is showing up to arrest him. He gloats that there is nothing Hartigan can do. He probably didn't expect to [[GroinAttack get his nuts blown off.]]

Sometimes a prelude to the JackBauerInterrogationTechnique. Automatically assumed in the event of a DramaticGunCock or HighAltitudeInterrogation. Also, a witness refusing to talk may be doing so because TheMobBossIsScarier.

* Happens in practically every episode of ''Series/{{Castle}}'', which seems to contain a world full of suspects who will confess anything and everything to a firm but attractive female cop and a constantly-quipping civilian writer after enough pointed dialog. Subverted when Beckett threatens a suspect after questioning him with "don't leave town" accompanied with a threat regarding what might happen if he did leave town. ''Series/{{Castle}}'' inquires after the fact if she can even do that, to which she responds with something to the effect of "no, but he doesn't know that."
* The ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' episode "Judgement" could be described as what happens when the threat isn't so empty.

* Subverted in the Creator/EdBrubaker series ''ComicBook/{{Criminal}}'', where an investigating officer[[note]]Actually an MP searching for a AWOL soldier[[/note]] shows a photo of his target to [[TheBartender the proprietor]] of the local BadGuyBar and threatens "obstruction of justice" if he doesn't identify him. The bartender just smiles and tells him he's more than welcome to try and press charges on a 60 year old man for not recognising a particular face in a dark and crowded building.

* ''Series/LawAndOrder'' is probably the worst offender. Any individual is threatened with Obstruction of Justice, and any business is threatened with a mob of NYPD officers searching everything and going through all their records (as if the NYPD has nothing better to do). People fold incredibly fast under these threats, because the show doesn't have the time to allow each witness to stonewall or play dumb. If one actually does hold out, it is the script equivalent of the {{Unmotivated Close Up}}: That specific witness has a critical piece of information. Its played with, however, in that its pretty clear that the cops involved know that there's no way they'd ever be able to carry out that threat and are only using it as an intimidation tactic, and sometimes the people they question ''also'' know it.
** On the same show, a variation of the Empty Cop Threat comes from the prosecutors' frequent offers to "take the death penalty off the table" in exchange for information. New York State hasn't executed a prisoner since the 1960s, and the death penalty was declared unconstitutional by the state's highest court in 2004.
*** A 2006 ''Law and Order'' episode had [=McCoy=] attempting to appeal that ruling so he could get the death penalty for a man who had shot four grammar school students after killing a guard in his escape on the way to the courthouse for an appeal hearing of his earlier conviction for killing four people in a restaurant. The ruling is not overturned, but, in the end, the man is killed himself by a victim's father. [=McCoy=] thought he deserved it after nine (known) murders.
* ''Series/{{COPS}}''.
* ''{{Numb3rs}}'' - not ''every'' episode, but on occasion. In the episode "Toxic," a private security contractor was found going through the files of a journalist the FBI was visiting. After confirming his credentials, and after the journalist declined to press charges, Sinclair let the contractor off with a warning that if they ever caught him near their investigation again, he would charge him with obstruction of justice ''personally''. When the contractor was caught there again, Sinclair didn't charge him - he did something more drastic.

* [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] on ''TheWire''. Witnesses often flatly refuse to co-operate, because as the show [[CrapsackWorld frequently demonstrates]], the threat of [[TheMobBossISScarier being killed by an angry drug dealer is much more credible]]. In one episode, the cops even acknowledge that the Obstruction of Justice charge is bogus, but if you lie under oath in a Grand Jury...
** It is done once to a perp's defence lawyer who knows where the suspect is hiding; [=McNulty=] threatens to send SWAT teams to his mother's house "until there isn't a house left to raid" and to do a tax audit of the lawyer's accounts. The latter threat hits home.

* ''{{A Touch of Frost}}''. Jack Frost, a Detective Inspector in a provincial force, regularly threatens anyone who doesn't talk to him with visits from bodies varying in importance from the local Trading Standards Authority to Interpol. Particularly unconvincing as he treats everybody not on his team so badly that he's unlikely to get co-operation from the guy in the next office along let alone people in another country.

* ''LANoire'': Cole Phelps and his partners make use of this trope quite some times. And it usually works out too, seeing how most people they encounter do have ''something'' to hide. Doesn't even have to be something concerning the particular investigation though; Hollywoodland was simply a {{Gangsterland}} back then.

** On ''Numb3rs'', it's usually somewhat [[JustifiedTrope justified]], as the people threatened usually are actively getting in Don's way, usually by trying to investigate themselves, not just refusing to help.

* A superheroic equivalent is Franchise/{{Batman}}'s tendency to hold suspects by the foot over the edge of a building until they talk. Any criminal who knows the first thing about Batman would know that Batman would never actually drop anyone off a building, but it always works anyway. To be fair, it's one thing to be confident with both feet on the ground, another to be confident dangling from a building.
** And anyone who knows the first thing about Batman knows he's CrazyPrepared, so he likely has something in mind in case the subject refuses to talk anyway.
*** Subverted in ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' when he does drop a mobster from a building, as it was high enough to break bones but not kill. Note that by this point, the bad guys had realized that Batman doesn't kill. [[spoiler:Note also that it doesn't actually work, because the guy he's questioning knows the Joker would do worse to him.]]
*** Also subverted in ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamOrigins'', where he does drop the perp, who hits a Christmas tree on the way down to break his fall... and his bones. Justified in that Batman was [[OriginsEpisode still getting the hang of this whole superhero thing]].

* [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] on ''TheWire''. Witnesses often flatly refuse to co-operate, because as the show [[CrapsackWorld frequently demonstrates]], the threat of being killed by an angry drug dealer is much more credible. In one episode, the cops even acknowledge that the Obstruction of Justice charge is bogus, but if you lie under oath in a Grand Jury...

*** Subverted in ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' when he does drop a mobster from a building, as it was high enough to break bones but not kill. Note that by this point, the bad guys had realized that Batman doesn't kill. [[spoiler:Note also that it doesn't actually work, because the guy he's questioning knows the Joker would do worse to him.]] Also

*** Subverted in ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' when he does drop a mobster from a building, as it was high enough to break bones but not kill. Note that by this point, the bad guys had realized that Batman doesn't kill. [[spoiler:Note also that it doesn't actually work, because the guy he's questioning knows the Joker would do worse to him.]]

*** This was pretty heavily subverted in ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' when he does drop a mobster from a building, as it was high enough to break bones but not kill. Note that by this point, the bad guys had realized that Batman doesn't kill. [[spoiler:Note also that it doesn't actually work, because the guy he's questioning knows the Joker would do worse to him.]]

* In the novel ''BlackHouse'', retired detective Jack Sawyer uses the Obstruction of Justice tactic on a group of boys being questioned on the whereabouts of their friend. It's made obvious to the reader that this is merely an attempt to impress the boys, as they are being silent about what they know because they're afraid they might be blamed for the friend's disappearance.
* In the ''Literature/Discworld'' City Watch novels, Vimes usually only charges people with obstruction as part of a raft of charges to make it clear that he's prepared to throw the entire book at them. There's an awesome moment in ''Discworld/NightWatch'' where he threatens to charge one of [[SecretPolice the Cable Street Particulars]] with obstruction for refusing to sign and present identification when picking up prisoners.

*** This was pretty heavily subverted in ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' when he does drop a mobster from a building, as it was high enough to break bones but not kill.

*** In an episode of ''JusticeLeague'', the Flash pulls this stunt on a mobster as he's looking for Shade. The guy calls the Flash on his bluff, saying that he can't pull off what Batman can... until he ''does'' drop him.
*** In the same show, this fails spectacularly when Superman tries to intimidate Copperhead for information concerning an assassination attempt on Aquaman. Since Copperhead knows that Superman will never ever follow through with any threat of premeditated violence on a helpless person, he mocks the threat as blatantly empty.

* ''Series/LawAndOrder'' is probably the worst offender. Any individual is threatened with Obstruction of Justice, and any business is threatened with a mob of NYPD officers searching everything and going through all their records (as if the NYPD has nothing better to do). People fold incredibly fast under these threats, because the show doesn't have the time to allow each witness to stonewall or play dumb. If one actually does hold out, it is the script equivalent of the {{Unmotivated Close Up}}: That specific witness has a critical piece of information. Its played with, however, in that its pretty clear that the cops involved know that there's no way they'd ever be able to carry out that threat and are only using it as an intimidation tactic, and sometimes the people they are question ''also'' know it.

* In the backstory of ''GhostTrick'', a suspect in an espionage case was put on the spot in this way by a rookie detective during interrogation. This pushed him to, in a fit of desperation, grab a gun, flee the premises and take a hostage. The outcome of the altercation and the suspect's hopeless mindset drives the game's plot and the many deaths that occur during it. And for the record, the suspect was innocent of the allegation and genuinely knew nothing about it.

* Subverted in the EdBrubaker series ''ComicBook/{{Criminal}}'', where an investigating officer[[note]]Actually an MP searching for a AWOL soldier[[/note]] shows a photo of his target to [[TheBartender the proprietor]] of the local BadGuyBar and threatens "obstruction of justice" if he doesn't identify him. The bartender just smiles and tells him he's more than welcome to try and press charges on a 60 year old man for not recognising a particular face in a dark and crowded building.

* Played mostly straight in the recent WhateleyUniverse story, Crime and Chaos. There's some evidence that the cop is purposely doing it just to get the person out of the way, and has no plans for it to actually stick. The person was, in fact, stonewalling, and the cop called a lawyer of dubious morality to handle it. This work was also an homage to ''Franchise/{{Law and Order}}''.
** http://www.crystalhall.org/C&C.html

* Happens in practically every episode of ''{{Castle}}'', which seems to contain a world full of suspects who will confess anything and everything to a firm but attractive female cop and a constantly-quipping civilian writer after enough pointed dialog. Subverted when Beckett threatens a suspect after questioning him with "don't leave town" accompanied with a threat regarding what might happen if he did leave town. ''{{Castle}}'' inquires after the fact if she can even do that, to which she responds with something to the effect of "no, but he doesn't know that."

* Played mostly straight in the recent WhateleyUniverse story, Crime and Chaos. There's some evidence that the cop is purposely doing it just to get the person out of the way, and has no plans for it to actually stick. The person was, in fact, stonewalling, and the cop called a lawyer of dubious morality to handle it. This work was also an homage to ''{{Law and Order}}''.

* Subverted in the EdBrubaker series ''ComicBook/{{Criminal}}'', where an investigating officer[[hottip:*:Actually an MP searching for a AWOL soldier, but that's not important right now]] shows a photo of his target to [[TheBartender the proprietor]] of the local BadGuyBar and threatens "obstruction of justice" if he doesn't identify him. The bartender just smiles and tells him he's more than welcome to try and press charges on a 60 year old man for not recognising a particular face in a dark and crowded building.

* A superheroic equivalent is {{Batman}}'s tendency to hold suspects by the foot over the edge of a building until they talk. Any criminal who knows the first thing about Batman would know that Batman would never actually drop anyone off a building, but it always works anyway.
** To be fair, it's one thing to be confident with both feet on the ground, another to be confident dangling from a building.
*** And anyone who knows the first thing about Batman knows he's CrazyPrepared, so he likely has something in mind in case the subject refuses to talk anyway.
**** This was pretty heavily subverted in ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' when he does drop a mobster from a building, as it was high enough to break bones but not kill.
**** In an episode of ''JusticeLeague'', the Flash pulls this stunt on a mobster as he's looking for Shade. The guy calls the Flash on his bluff, saying that he can't pull off what Batman can... until he ''does'' drop him.
**** In the same show, this fails spectacularly when Superman tries to intimidate Copperhead for information concerning an assassination attempt on Aquaman. Since Copperhead knows that Superman will never ever follow through with any threat of premeditated violence on a helpless person, he mocks the threat as blatantly empty.

* ''Series/LawAndOrder'' is probably the worst offender. Any individual is threatened with Obstruction of Justice, and any business is threatened with a mob of NYPD officers searching everything and going through all their records (as if the NYPD has nothing better to do). People fold incredibly fast under these threats, because the show doesn't have the time to allow each witness to stonewall or play dumb. If one actually does hold out, it is the script equivalent of the {{Unmotivated Close Up}}: That specific witness has a critical piece of information. Its played with, however, in that its pretty clear that the cops involved know that there's no way in hell they'd ever be able to carry out that threat and are only using it as an intimidation tactic, and sometimes the people they are question ''also'' know it.

In RealLife, obstruction of justice is only applied in the most blatant cases, when the witness is found later to actually have something to do with the crime (and has failed to plead the Fifth Amendment or local equivalent), or when the prosecutor who gets the case is really, really frustrated. Charges may be laid when it is discovered that a person questioned in an investigation, who is not a suspect, has ''lied'' to the investigating officers. You can be called as a witness and be forced to testify or be held in contempt of court.

Sometimes a prelude to the JackBauerInterrogationTechnique. Automatically assumed in the event of a DramaticGunCock or HighAltitudeInterrogation. Also,a witness refusing to talk may be doing so because TheMobBossIsScarier.

* ''Series/LawAndOrder'' is probably the worst offender. Any individual is threatened with Obstruction of Justice, and any business is threatened with a mob of NYPD officers searching everything and going through all their records (as if the NYPD has nothing better to do). People fold incredibly fast under these threats, because the show doesn't have the time to allow each witness to stonewall or play dumb. If one actually does hold out, it is the script equivalent of the {{Unmotivated Close Up}}: That specific witness has a critical piece of information.