‘. . . And after the break’: Police officers’
views of TV crime drama

Cummins, ID; Foley, M; King, M

Abstract

The police procedural drama is a staple feature of the TV listings. Detective fiction dominates the best
sellers’ lists. Despite this, the day-to-day reality of policing is obscured from the vast majority of the public who have
little direct contact with the Criminal Justice System (CJS). Skolnick [Skolnick, J. (1966). Justice Without Trial: Law
Enforcement in a Democratic Society. New York: Wiley] argues that the police, as an organization, are one of the most
hidden parts of the CJS. Reiner [Reiner, R. (2003). Newburn, T. (ed.), Policing and the Media in Handbook of Policing.
Willan: Abingdon.]notes that the debate about the relationship between the media, policing, and crime has been a key
feature of wider societal concerns about crime since the establishment of the modern police force. From a police
perspective, Reiner [Reiner, R. (2003). Newburn, T. (ed.), Policing and the Media in Handbook of Policing. Willan:
Abingdon.] notes that TV drama creates a simplistic narrative of crime solving that is almost completely divorced fromthe reality of modern police work. This article will discuss the findings of a pilot study, which sought to explore theattitudes of retired police officers to representations of policing in popular culture with a particular focus on TV
dramas.

Citation

views of TV crime drama. Policing, 8(2), 205-211. https://doi.org/10.1093/police/pau014

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Apr 1, 2014
• Online Publication Date: Apr 21, 2014
• Publication Date: Apr 21, 2014
• Deposit Date: Aug 18, 2015
• Journal: Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice
• Print ISSN: 1752-4512
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 8
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 205-211
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/police/pau014
• Publisher URL: http://policing.oxfordjournals.org/content/8/2/205.full
• Related Public URLs: http://policing.oxfordjournals.org/