Misused: Cop Killer

Cop Killer is about police reacting to someone who kills their own, more often than not by hunting down with extreme prejudice. However, the pre-existing term "cop killer" refers to a murderer who targets police. This trope is frequently misused in line with the pre-existing term, as well as "officer killed" rather than the wiki definition.

Wick Check: Cop Killer found in: 316 articles, excluding discussions.

• Series.Adam Twelve – Misuse, just states police are killed
• YMMV.Alex Cross — Pothole
• Series.Almost Human — Misused to denote characters killed a cop, states it becomes a subplot later in the series with no elaboration
• Film.Assassins – Correct
• Recap.Babylon Five S 05 E 05 Learning Curve — Misused to denote character killed a cop
• ComicBook.Back To Brooklyn — Misused to denote character killed a cop
• Franchise.Batman — Misused to denote character killed a cop
• Characters.Blue Bloods The Reagan Family – Pothole
• YMMV.Breaking Bad – Pothole
• Characters.Breaking Bad Salamanca Family — Misused to denote character killed a cop
• Monster.Comic Books – Pothole
• Series.Criminal Minds — Misused to denote character killed a cop
• YMMV.Daredevil – Pothole
• Monster.DC Animation – Pothole
• Manga.Death Note — Misused to denote character killed a cop
• Characters.GI Joe Red Shadows – Misuse. States character is implied (but not proven) to have killed an army officer
• Hero Antagonist – Used in a sentence, misuse to denote character killed a cop
• Monster.Jo Jos Bizarre Adventure – Pothole
• Characters.Judge Dredd — Misused to denote character killed a Judge
• Characters.Kitsune No Ken Fist Of The Fox — Misused to denote character killed a cop
• VideoGame.LA Noire – Borderline Zero-Context Example
• HateSink.Live Action TV – Pothole
• Film.New Police Story — Misused to denote character killed a cop
• Characters.Nikita — Used to denote a character killed a cop
• Characters.No Tears For The Dead — Misused to denote a character killed a cop
• Series.Occupied — Misused to denote a character killed a cop
• Officer Down – Redirect to Cop Killer
• Only Bad Guys Call Their Lawyers — Used in a sentence, misuse to denote character killed a cop
• Film.Patriots Day — Misused to denote a character killed a cop
• Recap.Person Of Interest S 04 E 20 – Borderline ZCE
• YMMV.Prom Night 2008 – Pothole
• Characters.Robo Cop — Misused to denote a character killed a cop
• Samus Is a Girl – Pothole
• YMMV.Scanner Cop – Pothole
• Characters.Shades Of Blue — Misused to denote a character killed a cop
• JustForFun.Shadow Fox — Misused to denote a character killed a cop
• ComicBook.Sin City – Correct
• Film.SWAT — Misused to denote a character killed a cop
• Characters.The Dark Knight Trilogy Other Costumed Characters — Correct
• Film.The Elite Squad — Correct
• Film.The Godfather – Correct
• Characters.The Legend Of Zelda A Link To The Past — Misused to denote a character killed a cop
• YMMV.The One – Pothole
• Characters.The Punisher Villains — Misused to denote a character killed a cop
• Literature.The Running Man – Correct
• Series.The Wire – Correct
• Series.Tiger Cubs — Misused to denote a character killed a cop
• ComicBook.Wanted — Misused to denote a character killed a cop
• Characters.X Company — Misused to denote a character killed a cop
• Quotes.You Have Failed Me – Pothole

Out 50 random wicks, 7 (14%) are correct, 27 (52%) are misuse, 13 (26%) are potholes, 2 (4%) are generic or Zero Context Examples and one is a redirect.

I suggest we transplant the description and correct examples and wicks to a new trope, titled something along the lines of Kill The Cop Killer to better emphasise what the trope is about, and redefine Cop Killer to match the pre-existing term.

edited 5th Mar '17 6:05:11 PM by maxwellsilver

OP looks good, so opening.

I'm down with the transplant idea.

Hmm. Aside from the famous song, I've mostly heard the term used in the sense the trope uses it. So I'm a bit surprised to see this level of misuse. But given the stats, I'm more than happy to change it as suggested. A new name like Get The Cop Killer would certainly be much clearer in any case.

Yes to re-defining the trope to the pre-existing term.

Something like Get The Cop Killer or Cop Killer Hunt would probably help with the new (old?) trope.

What about Cop Killer Killer for the current definition? Or is that too much of a bad snowclone?

Big Yes to the transplant, and suggesting Cop Killer Manhunt for the new name

I like that one.

I like both Cop Killer Manhunt and Get The Cop Killer (second one is line-of-dialogue, though).

Cop Killer makes sense as "character who kills a cop", although I'm not entirely convinced that a single incident is character-defining. I'd rather it be restricted, if possible, to killing multiple cops, or preferentially cops.

Yeah, "the Cop Killer" so to speak should probably be a part of the person's character or modus operandi. I feel like another trope could better handle examples where the character killed a cop on accident or did it only once. Or a trope for those instances where Even Evil Has Standards (or some relevant equivalent) and the criminals avoid killing cops but one of them did not realize the victim was a cop.

"Killing a cop" is a thing that leads to some kinds of plots, like The Kingslayer (another trope about killing someone).

Note that The Kingslayer also restricts examples. It isn't [any character who kills a "king"]; it excludes death by combat, only "murder" or "execution" killings count.

Isn't a potential Cop Killer Killer trope The Same But More Specific as It's Personal?

edited 6th Mar '17 1:41:28 PM by PhiSat

From The Same But More Specific: "On the other hand, if the added qualification is clear enough that the result serves a distinct narrative function from the original — then it becomes a Sub-Trope. " That's the case here.

"It's Personal" is an extremely broad trope: "In short, this is where a character (or characters) has a very close, emotional investment in the story's conflict. " The Cop Killer Manhunt is a very specific type of that, which has been used so long and so consistently that it has become an identifiable trope in its own right — a subtrope ("Some tropes can be pretty broad. Some can be so broad that even a specific form of them can be tropes by themselves. "

Crowner's up

edited 6th Mar '17 6:50:21 PM by maxwellsilver

And hooked.

So does The Terminator qualify for Cop Killer standalone trope? He (it?) mows his way through a police station with Guns Akimbo by virtue of being Immune to Bullets in a major action scene, prompting a Cop Killer Manhunt in the original film as well as the sequels

Generally for this we will see it from the cops perspective and them working long hours and extreme interrogation tactics with loud outbursts and such to find the guy.

That is what I think the trope is really, so I am not sure The Terminator would count on that. He never kills a cop in T2 so that wouldnt count either way.

edited 8th Mar '17 4:01:39 PM by Memers

I don't think the Terminator would count because he kills pretty indiscriminately IIRC. I think that's an example of a character who just happens to kill cops in the work. To clarify, I think the robot in the first movie would count under the manhunt trope, but not the Cop Killer trope. The example from Terminator Salvation would probably count as Cop Killer, though, since it apparently has an effect on the story. I don't think the example from Terminator Genisys would count for either trope.

edited 8th Mar '17 6:23:30 PM by WaterBlap

In the meantime, I've started a YKTTW for Cop Killer Manhunt. Cop Killer Manhunt draft

We could launch Cop Killer Manhunt, turn Cop Killer into a redirect and change the wicks, then work on a new draft for Cop Killer.

~Maxwellsilver; are you ready to launch the draft or did you need someone else to launch it?

Are we good with turning Cop Killer into a redirect of Cop Killer Manhunt, with intention of making Cop Killer a separate character trope?

I think this takes undue effort.

It's launched.