Basic Trope: Criminals have better weaponry than law enforcement.
- Straight:
- Alice and Bob are smugglers. They're armed with assault rifles, while the police only has pistols.
- Alice and Bob are thieves in a medieval town. They have bows and spears, while the town guards have nothing but short swords.
- Exaggerated:
- Criminals don't just have better weapons than the police, but even the army.
- The smugglers have nuclear weapons, so the police can't so much as lift a finger against them or else the city will be destroyed.
- The town guards only have daggers. The thieves have halberds and pikes.
- Downplayed:
- The police have pistols, while the smugglers have shotguns.
- The thieves have longer swords than the town guards.
- The thieves have swords and shields, while the town guards only have swords.
- Justified:
- From Camouflage to Criminal
- Law enforcement is underfunded and simply can't acquire the equipment to match the criminals.
- If law enforcement acquired military-grade equipment, it would lead to public outcry and make average citizens needlessly afraid of them.
- When you steal a purse, you can afford to bring only a knife. When you rob the National Bank, you either bring the overkill or you will be the victim of overkill.
- Inverted:
- Alice and Bob live in a military dictatorship where it's incredibly difficult for civilians to get any kind of weapon. The cops have assault rifles and bulletproof vests while criminals get by with pistols and little else.
- Town guards have bows and halberds. Thieves only have swords.
- Subverted: The cops seem outgunned due to only having pistols... until reinforcements show up with assault rifles.
- Double Subverted: And then Alice pulls out a rocket launcher, turning the tide back in the smugglers' favor.
- Parodied:
- In an otherwise ordinary modern-day city, the police are cavemen with clubs and stones, while the criminals are aliens with Ray Guns and Laser Blades.
- The instant someone commits a crime, an assault rifle magically appears on their person.
- Zig-Zagged: Over the course of a conflict between law enforcement and criminals, both sides keep pulling more and more advanced weaponry to try to get the advantage over each other.
- Averted:
- Law enforcement and criminals are on even grounds with regards to equipment.
- No crimes are committed.
- There is no law enforcement.
- Enforced: The author wants to portray law enforcement as underdogs so the audience roots for them.
- Lampshaded: "Why do they always have better weapons than us?"
- Invoked: The government puts heavy restrictions on the weaponry law enforcement may use, even in the face of criminals who keep improving their equipment.
- Exploited: Tropeland is invaded by Troperia. Tropeland's government negotiates with crime bosses so they and their underlings join in fending off the invasion, knowing that due to their equipment, they basically count as a small army of their own.
- Defied: The government provides law enforcement with the most advanced equipment possible, social and economic consequences be damned.
- Discussed: "Hasn't the police done anything about them?" "What could they possibly do against assault rifles and grenade launchers?"
- Conversed: ???
- Implied: The cops get into a fight with the mob offscreen. The cops were previously shown to only have semi-automatic pistols, yet when the offscreen fight is heard, there are sounds of automatic weapons fire.
- Deconstructed: Crime rates spiral out of control due to law enforcement's inability to stop them as a result of their inferior equipment.
- Reconstructed: ???
- Played for Laughs: ???
- Played for Drama: Up until this point, law enforcement has always dealt with criminals with similar weapons to their own. When a criminal organization with superior equipment emerges, law enforcement has its first real struggle to keep the city under control.
Back to Crooks Are Better Armed.
