Paper Example on Police Procedurals: Evolving in American TV Over Decades

Introduction

Police procedurals continue to evolve in the American television owing to different technological and cultural changes over the decades. Police drama presents a subgenre of detective fiction and procedural drama while laying emphasis on the investigative work of the department or police officer being the protagonists contrary to other genres. The police procedural mainly the detective genre, is one of the enduring types in the American entertainment industry over time. Police procedural has flourished both in print and television media. The evolution of the style has been illustrated by the changes that have been integral to its popularity. The changes relate to the pre-occupation, anxieties and the shifting social-political happenings in different periods. The police procedural gets its help in expanding its textual convention on the television. The ability of the detective genre to change and suit a diverse audience over the decade continues to enhance its progression. Since its inception, police procedurals have introduced new techniques, new ways of detectives to satisfy the different generational viewers. Police procedural continues to change with time and it is no surprise that the American television will see more evolution in the near future with the world becoming a global village and more technology advancement as well as cultural changes. The fundamental elements that are conventional in police procedural including theme, props, plot, character, motifs, and setting continue to be the same while the police procedural twists the elements to new inventions that help to captivate the viewer’s interest.

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Brief History of Police Procedural

Although police procedural roots are traceable to the late19th century, their prominence takes the stage after the Second World War The rise and advancement are contributed by a novelist who was ideally fictionalizing the crimes for American films. The idea of police procedural was introduced on motion pictures in different locations and collaboration with law enforcement officers is also paramount in the development and evolvement of the sub-genre (Arntfield p.76). The target was and is still is depicting police work. Since its emergence in 1940, police procedural is trying to revitalize its existence through the changing social-cultural and social-political circumstances that followed after the Second World War. The organized nature and complexity of the American society, therefore, brings into life new crimes that call for the right individuals with authority to mitigate them (Rafter p. 36) . Responding to the new changes, the detective genre accepts the need for change and transformation by representing actual policemen and women. Further, an emphasis on their lives which are tedious, fascinating and traumatic, is also a highlight and an essential factor in the evolution of the detective subgenre. Concentrating on the real-life, authentic, and realistic representation of the police work makes the police procedural genres variant among other detective genres.

The stage that follows in the evolution of police procedurals is the movies. In the 1940s, the silver screen starts supplying the procedurals for public entertainment in America (Broe p.81). The same content which was used in the radio format of the crime procedurals was retained thus the focus was directed on policemen being heroes. Prior to the 1950s, the police procedurals emerged and engaged the American audience in a more excellent way to remain popular until today. The procedurals were based on real-time stories and cases that were handled by police departments at the time. The attraction of the police procedurals has remained the same and continues to improve with time. According to Baldwin (45), the new focus of the police procedurals is inherently ethical and legal dilemmas that exist in the criminal justice system. Viewers in the past were enamored with different situations where policemen and women are taking the law into their hands in upholding justice while at the same time breaking it. The contradictions in the earlier police procedurals received more critics and thus resulting from evolving and better new police dramas and shows on American television were born.

Creeber (23) illustrates that owing to the evolution of media from radio to television, police procedurals have remained popular in American television. Among the numerous programs that are aired on American televisions, stories of crime and dramas where police are involved dominate the local networks. Shows like the Law & Order, Criminal Minds, and CSI dominate the American television show ratings. While other shows continue to take on the industry, police procedurals have improved and have played a significant role in shaping the American culture on television. Police dramas have shifted and evolved from detective stories to advanced forensic science shows (Dobson p80). The police shows continue to impact on the criminal justice education and the criminal justice system.

Stages in Police Procedural

First, the police procedural, just like the detective genre seems to revolve around an occurrence that is mysterious involving actions that are of criminal nature. The detective genre was the first to be introduced and is viewed as the parent genre. The stages of the detective genre are the same as the ones used in the police procedural, where the first stage is death or crime. The second stage is detection, while the third stage is the explanation. Police procedural plotline there tends to follow the parent genre (Fitzpatrick p.45). Detective genre relies on traditional infiltration, ratiocination and pursuit. Unlike the parent genre, police procedural makes the use of police routines as a way of resolving the plot development. The structure that identifies with the police procedural in the past comprises of two stages that include the investigation and the crime. The crime stage consists of the action of committing the crime and its discovery (Priestman p.29). In the investigation stage, there are different segments which include the identification and the elucidation of the criminal, the consequences that will follow the identification and the resolution of the case.

Durability and Popularity

Police procedurals continue to maintain a presence with a high profile on American television. From early procedurals to the current crime dramas, police procedural profoundly achieves a higher standard of durability and popularity. The popularity of the police procedurals aids in shaping the perceptions and the image from the American public. The cops are decorated individuals who are becoming heroes in guarding and protecting the public welfare (Mittell p439). Police procedurals explore the urgent complications that law enforcement faces in society. From the start, police shows on television have directed a crucial gaze on the authority of the police unit through the highlights of corruption, the abuse and misuse of police powers, limits as well as emotional and personal cost of working in the police unit. Cops have the ability to arrest other citizens while compelling them to obey their commands like ‘Hands up’ and ‘freeze.’ However, police procedurals also indicate that the policemen and women do not cease from being public servants and are required to protect and uphold the existing law (Silver & James p. 40). The procedurals progress to depict the tension that exists between the police and the ‘system’ when it comes to the pursuit of justice. On the face of the tension are the police as individuals who tend to break the law since their private moral code is superior to their devotion to following the law in search of justice. In many television shows, the intolerance to the law is indicated to be a form of anger that is justifiable towards the ‘System’ that tends to favor criminals rather than the victims.

Traditionally, the cop shows in American television continues to see crime as a challenge to law enforcement instead of social justice. Police procedural therefore paradoxically reinforces the idea of conservative political leaning police program by emphasizing the outlaw individualism among police units. Police, therefore, spend more time on the contact place and point between the criminals and the police rather than focus on the existing social conditions that bring the rise of crime in the first place (Swirski p31). The procedurals over time have exhibits the evolvement of social attitudes on authority, gender and race. Male and white officers have significantly diversified on the television shows which are evidenced by a multiracial ensemble of casts that have become countless on police drama shows on American televisions.

In the past, police procedurals have been short-lived. Crime dramas, for example, Photocrime and Standby for Crime both seeing their production in 1949, are the first police procedurals to grace the television network in America. The most popular television cop drama that brought about the evolvement and change in police procedurals is Dragnet. The show portrays police work as a routine process and duty that is done by committed detectives who have the need to preserve and establish values that serve the good of the public. The Dragnet episodes were televised in a semi-documentary format that saw short monotone introduced in the narration (Turnbull p876). Dragnet introduces the routine process to be pursuing leads, interrogating suspects, protecting witnesses and arresting criminals. The focus in the past has emphasized the details of solving the crime rather than the gunplay and more actions. There was an undefeatable faith in the efficiency of the justice system at the early stages as Dragnet episodes each concludes with incarceration, successful prosecution and arresting of criminals. Dragnet manages to portray the police units in America in a positive light in the American culture.

Political and Social Transformation

Although Dragnet and other police procedurals established the benchmark for police depictions in American television, their values were at odds with the political and social transformation that was happening in America at the time. The audiences were increasingly watching the violence that was perpetrated by the police on civil rights protestors and demonstrators. The notion of police units representing justice and peace faded on the television and became simplistic. As a result, the police procedurals that are produced after Dragnet shifted their emphasis on the white supremacy in police units and embraced the ideas-even if not wholly-of counterculture. The evolvement of police shows, therefore, is influenced by the social and political settings in America. The inclusion of women and people of color in the police procedurals started to take center stage in the early 1970s. Procedurals like the Hawaii Five-O produced in 1968 showed the evolving nature of police procedurals in the American television. The changes involved indicate the attempt by the television police shows in leavening the traditional police elements of authority with the new and emerging ones. The evolvement of police procedurals in American television has been paramount over the years and seems to change with time and notions that are adapted to the social and political settings in America.

The evolvement of police procedurals is emphasized by the reliance on technology. Investigative technology has become a significant prop in the contemporary procedurals in American television. Although the use of the police laboratory for crime has already been established from the earlier shows, the advancement of technology has been incorporated in the television shows. The detective stories will, therefore, involve the scanning of fingerprints, foo...