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* In ''Literature/NightOfTheFreaks'', there are multiple police officers looking into the grisly murder of a young couple, but the only ones who show prominence are Detective Inspector John Andrews and Detective Sergeant David Harris. When both of them discover that William Wilson is involved with the murders, Andrews decides to visit his traveling freak show [[DidntThinkThisThrough with no backup, outside of town, and without informing anybody where he's going]]. [[spoiler:Andrews and Harris are killed with little effort, and none of the other police officers do anything to assist the other protagonists before they're also murdered]].
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* ''Literature/UpSchittCreek'': Almost all of the deputies and sheriffs exist to be killed off effortlessly by the Comanche tribe and Remington Ralph's gang. One deputy in particular refused to stand up to Ralph's goons [[DirtyCoward just to prolong his life]] (Glen rectifies this with a bullet to his head) and the only competent Sheriff, Cal, ends up [[spoiler:getting shot in the head by the Comanche Chief with no fanfare]].
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* In the children's book ''Literature/{{Corduroy}}'', the night security guard takes a stuffed bear as a perfectly logical explanation for the crash he heard. He puts Corduroy back on his shelf and does no further investigation into the incident.
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* In the children's book ''Literature/{{Corduroy}}'', the night security guard takes a stuffed bear as a perfectly logical explanation for the crash he heard. He puts Corduroy back on his shelf and does no further investigation into the incident. Then again, he was right about Corduroy being responsible for the crash. Given that he works during the hours the department store is closed and the toys come to life during that time, maybe he knows they can come to life.
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* In the ''Literature/MoonCopsOnTheMoon'' series, the "civi police" are shown to be utterly uninterested in doing anything about the rampant crime, corruption, or injuries around the city. Amusingly, the corporate police actually bother to do their job and have a better reputation despite answering to {{Megacorp}} masters.
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* ''Literature/Reaper2016'': Unilaw are now the global law enforcement agency, and they ''stink'' at their job. Jex and Nathan are drawn into the investigation when every teenager who worked in the body stacks (where the frozen bodies of Game players are stored) who had a player die is pulled in for questioning. At one point, they're on the point of arresting a ''baby'' whose identity has been used to hack something. JustifiedTrope as they are dealing with an unprecedented attack, and most of them are teenagers because of the way society is shaped around [[VirtualReality Game]].
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* ''Literature/Reaper2016'': Unilaw are now the global law enforcement agency, and they ''stink'' at their job. Jex and Nathan are drawn into the investigation when every teenager who worked in the body stacks (where the frozen bodies of Game players are stored) who had a player die is pulled in for questioning. At one point, they're on the point of arresting a ''baby'' whose identity has been used to hack something. JustifiedTrope as they are dealing with an unprecedented attack, and most of them are teenagers because of the way society is shaped around [[VirtualReality Game]].Game, a virtual reality.
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* The gay republic of ''Literature/ProudPinkSky'' has some less-than-competent policing. 'Lily Law' appear a few times throughout the novel, but never manage to accomplish anything but arresting an innocent Howard. [[spoiler:This sends Howard into a state of deep paranoia, which culminates in him joining a terrorist group.]]
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* ''Literature/NowhereStars'': Zig-zagged. Police can do next to nothing against [[EldritchAbomination Harbingers]] -- and they know it. Instead, they intentionally leave that to [[MagicalGirl Keepers]], who are a known and recognized force. In fact, police are very useful for quarantining areas where a [[PocketDimension Wound]] has opened, and for getting survivors to medical attention. After Liadain defeats her first Harbinger, she's actually surprised that emergency call operator quickly takes her seriously, rather than asking for her identity.
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* The Police in ''Literature/LevelUpHero'' are helpless against horrors and terrors. They usually put up barricades to keep civilians away. It is policy to usually wait for a hero to fight against the horrors.
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* In the early Franchise/SherlockHolmes stories, the police inspectors of Scotland Yard were outright idiots, overlooking clues and coming to false conclusions. In ''The Sign of Four'' Holmes proclaims, "I would rather have the help of Toby (''a dog'') than the entire detective force of London!" This was improved in later stories, as Inspector Lestrade, especially, was shown to be more lacking in the specialized knowledge and HyperAwareness that Holmes possessed, than simply being a moron. Holmes even praised Lestrade and Gregson for their courage and tenacity, even if their own detective skills were lacking by comparison.
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* In the early Franchise/SherlockHolmes Literature/SherlockHolmes stories, the police inspectors of Scotland Yard were outright idiots, overlooking clues and coming to false conclusions. In ''The Sign of Four'' ''Literature/TheSignOfTheFour'' Holmes proclaims, "I would rather have the help of Toby (''a dog'') than the entire detective force of London!" This was improved in later stories, as Inspector Lestrade, especially, was shown to be more lacking in the specialized knowledge and HyperAwareness that Holmes possessed, than simply being a moron. Holmes even praised Lestrade and Gregson for their courage and tenacity, even if their own detective skills were lacking by comparison.
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* ''Literature/TheSpareMan'': The chief of security immediately locks up the first suspect without any attempt at an investigation, openly tells the other passengers that they caught the murderer, twists any evidence he finds to fit his assumptions, and when he tries to do TheSummation it gets pulled out from under him as it becomes clear that he has no idea what he's talking about. In fairness the first suspect ''is'' being framed rather well, but he never stops to consider alternatives even when they're shoved in his face. He also ignores proper police procedure, such as cutting people off from talking to their lawyers, and justifying it as "we're not looking for evidence to prosecute." If the first suspect's wife hadn't solved the murder before they reached their destination, the actual police would have had to throw out all his evidence regardless. [[spoiler:The cruise line fires him at the end, partly for this, and partly for being a sexist misogynist in an era where such things are largely unheard of]].
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* {{Downplayed|trope}} in ''Literature/TheChosen1997''. The police understandably don't believe Rashel about a monster attacking her mother and Timmy, assuming she's being InnocentInaccurate; Rashel says the policeman doesn't believe her at all, while the policewoman ''almost'' believes her but refuses to accept that possibility. They're kind to Rashel but are unable to really do anything because they're not equipped to deal with this kind of situation. It's for this reason that Rashel tells Daphne going to the cops about the vampires who kidnapped her would be useless, as they will just assume she's misrembering from trauma or won't believe she was kidnapped at all.
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Up to Eleven is now defunct
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* ''Literature/TortallUniverse'': In the ''Literature/BekaCooper'' trilogy, this seems to be the case for Night Watch and any of the Dogs portrayed unsympathetically. Taken up [[UpToEleven a notch]] with Sir Lionel of Trebond, which causes this trope in the Port Caynn Guard by extension -- he's not only incompetent, [[spoiler:he's an incredible coward willing to put up with huge amounts of criminal activity to save his skin]].
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* ''Literature/TortallUniverse'': In the ''Literature/BekaCooper'' trilogy, this seems to be the case for Night Watch and any of the Dogs portrayed unsympathetically. Taken up [[UpToEleven a notch]] notch with Sir Lionel of Trebond, which causes this trope in the Port Caynn Guard by extension -- he's not only incompetent, [[spoiler:he's an incredible coward willing to put up with huge amounts of criminal activity to save his skin]].
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* ''Literature/TheRailwaySeries'': A humorous example, but the Fat Controller has to buy Toby after a constable attempts to ''ticket a train'' by fining Thomas for not having side-plates. ''The Island of Sodor'' book makes it clear this constable was extremely heavy handed and hated in Ffarquhar for his zealous enforcement of the law. The local pub "The Toby's Jug" renamed itself to just "The Toby" after the locomotive of the same name scared said constable, and the pub in the engine's honor painted the locomotive onto their signage ''just to continue taunting the constable'' about how he was spooked by a train! The constable ultimately got his come-uppance when he ticketed a group of cars parked outside a church on Sunday, not realizing that one of the cars he ticketed was of his ''[[DaChief own Sergeant]]''.
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Added entry for Daughter Of Fortune
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* In ''Literature/DaughterOfFortune'', Tao Chi'en is a Chinese practitioner of traditional medicine living in San Francisco during the mid-19th century. He is concerned about Chinese girls who are victims of HumanTraffickers and forced to work into brothels. Yet he knows he cannot go to the police for this, because it is viewed as a "Chinese" people problem only.
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* In the Ancient Egyptian mystery novel ''Eater of Souls'', a serial killer's initial crimes go unsolved -- indeed, virtually unnoticed -- because the head of the city's police force is a lazy status-seeker who writes the victims off as "A death, not of the city", simply because he doesn't think his superiors in the nobility would want to be troubled about something as sordid as murder among visiting merchants or villagers.
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* In the Ancient Egyptian mystery novel ''Eater of Souls'', ''Literature/EaterOfSouls'', a serial killer's initial crimes go unsolved -- indeed, virtually unnoticed -- because the head of the city's police force is a lazy status-seeker who writes the victims off as "A death, not of the city", simply because he doesn't think his superiors in the nobility would want to be troubled about something as sordid as murder among visiting merchants or villagers.
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** Marshal Hinkle in ''The Double-A Western Detective Agency'' is a fair-minded, inviting man who works hard to keep the peace and doesn't kowtow to corrupt local interests, while his deputy Flip Hinkle is an earnest, well-meaning guy who steps aside and lets the brothers and Diana do their thing when the choice is in his shoulders.
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** Marshal Hinkle in ''The Double-A Western Detective Agency'' ''Literature/TheDoubleAWesternDetectiveAgency'' is a fair-minded, inviting man who works hard to keep the peace and doesn't kowtow to corrupt local interests, while his deputy Flip Hinkle is an earnest, well-meaning guy who steps aside and lets the brothers and Diana do their thing when the choice is in his shoulders.
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* In ''Literature/NickelPlated'', police fail to make any progress on the investigation into Shelby's disappearance, requiring her sister to hire KidDetective Nickel instead. When Nickel finds evidence the police missed, cops fill the area with footprints, destroying any other evidence that might have been there.
