Handling Law Enforcement in your stories in today's climate.

There's no greater way to derail your story than for something in real life to throw things off the rails.

Maybe you had a character archetype that you had plans for—you were going to subvert or invert how they were usually played in fiction, or something like that, and then a real life incident altered your feelings on this particular character type or group and now you wonder if you can do it.

I feel that way about Cops and Law Enforcement lately. I had one story I had in mind where I very much planned to subvert Police Are Useless, more to show that the villains are actually competent than anything else.

The Cops know what they are doing, making all the right and logical moves....and still getting stomped.

Now....with everything going on in the world....I don't know if I can even give them that much. I don't even know if I want include them at all, but it feels weird to not have them there either.

So what do you do when real life and personal feelings affect your ability to write something.

I know what you mean- I had a very rough idea for a Harry Dresden-ish cop as a main character literally the day before the George Floyd incident. I got scared of doing anything with the story for a couple of months before I figured out at least one possible solution- make him a black man and have him working to change the system from the inside.

Not all cops are heroes, but they aren't all monsters with badges, either. You can't paint an entire group with a single brush- show the spectrum.

If it’s a superhero story that kind of outcry could be a reason to stick to Thou Shalt Not Kill.

My dystopian story has always had "enforcers" as the primary villains, though there are certainly enforcer characters who are more Lawful Good / Lawful Neutral and mostly just trying to do their job and earn a paycheck. Since my story is a Morality Kitchen Sink no side is purely good or purely bad, but the enforcers are far and away the more evil faction and are generally portrayed unsympathetically (except in the POV of other enforcers, ofc, and even then there's some that are Hated by All).

You know, that sounds like an interesting opportunity for character development. I would have to think that there are any number of police officers who are facing a very similar dilemma, as in they still enjoy what they do, but after watching what some fellow officers have done, and a change in how a segment of the public perceives them, they must be dealing with some mixed feelings. How a cop decides to deal with that could make an interesting side story.

You've unintentionally hit on a great way to still lean in to the vibe of what you're talking about and evolve the cultural conversation. Many thematic tropes stem from a kernel of truth and, in the case of Police Are Useless, that kernel of truth is "Cops sure do abuse their power a lot, don't they? And they never get anything done." So with that in mind, one way to still subvert the trope and reconstruct the idea you're talking about is to show the cops going by the book, following the correct procedures, and making sure to show that not only are these Good Cops, but they actually run counter to the real, systemic problems in policing today.

George Floyd's murder was a result of a lot of systemic factors, including:

• Too many cops who are actively racist, and many times more cops who will just turn away when racism is staring them in the face.
• A culture in policing that "we have to protect our own no matter what," even if that means standing by while a raging racist does an actively racist thing.
• A system that sets private property ahead of human life, to the point where a cop can put a man in a choke-hold for 9 minutes and 29 seconds just because of a counterfeit $20 bill.

So, with all that in mind, perhaps you could look for ways to show the ideal law enforcement system. Where cops are keepers of the peace who work for actual justice. Cops who work with the local government rather than against it. Cops whose ethnic and gender makeup reflects the community around them. Cops who are well-versed in both the law and ethics. ^{Leftist Disclaimer.} Personally I think the whole system needs to be gutted and replaced with longer training courses, more focus on de-escalation and conflict resolution, and a culture that focuses on actually serving and protecting the people. But that's a different conversation for another forum.

And then you can build up from there and introduce supervillains and serial killers into the mix.