Most accurate depiction of a law enforcement officer in the movies or TV is ...

[ColbertWatcher]

Poll question: Most accurate depiction of a law enforcement officer in the movies or TV is ...

* "Sgt. Joe Friday" (as played by Jack Webb in "Dragnet")

* "Sheriff Andy Taylor" (as played by Andy Griffith in "The Andy Griffith Show")

* "Gillespie" (as played by Rod Steiger in "In the Heat of the Night")

* "Det. Sgt. Christine Cagney" and "Det. Mary Beth Lacey" (as played by Sharon Gless and Tyne Daly respectfully in "Cagney & Lacey")

* "Lt. Norman Buntz" (as played by Dennis Franz in "Hill Street Blues")

* "Alonzo" (as played by Denzel Washington in "Training Day")

* "Officer John McClane" (as played by Bruce Willis in the "Die Hard" series)

* "Detective Robert Goren" (as played by Vincent D'Onofrio in "Law & Order: Criminal Intent")

* "Grace Hanadarko" (as played by Holly Hunter in "Saving Grace")

* Other (I will post my choice in reply)

[Enrique]

1. other

[MADem]

2. None of the above.

Police are individuals. It's usually the bad ones, or the ones who use poor judgment, who get a lot of notice.

[ColbertWatcher]

4. Fair enough, but you can still pick the one that is the MOST accurate. n/t

[Donnachaidh]

10. in that list? NONE.

All of them are stereotypes from the eras they were produced in. All of them are creations of writers. NONE of them is the *typical* cop, basically because there is NOT a *typical* cop.

:shrug:

[ColbertWatcher]

19. Good point. But I didn't ask for "typical" or "cop".

I asked for the most accurate depiction of a law enforcement officer.

[Donnachaidh]

36. and again, NONE of them is accurate - they are stereotypes.

Having grown up with families in my area that had generational cops in them, none of them were like the Characters written for a TV show. And in the same vein, none of the firemen we knew were *like* the firemen depicted in the movies.

Those characters are written for dramatic purposes. They are given qualities to work in an hour-long, or series long drama. They are usually stylized, but they are NOT *real life*.

[ColbertWatcher]

39. MOST accurate. If none of the choices fit your criteria, you can pick "Other". n/t

[MADem]

17. No, because that list is larded with stereotypes. Characters, created by writers.

Not real people. And police are real people, and some are way better than others. I'm guessing most are average.

[ColbertWatcher]

31. So, your choice is "Other"? n/t

[MADem]

38. As I stated: Other. None of the above. NT

[ColbertWatcher]

41. Yes you did, I missed it. My apologies. n/t

[virgogal]

9. Thank you,MADem----they are individuals, and usually

very honorable,hard working people.

[ColbertWatcher]

14. Fair enough, but you can still pick the one that is the MOST accurate. n/t

[virgogal]

16. I did-Lennie Briscoe. God I miss him.

[ColbertWatcher]

21. May I ask why you picked him?

Why do you believe he was the most accurate depiction?

[virgogal]

30. He was an old-timer with an attitude. I'm an old-timer with an

attitude.

A little self identification,I guess.

[proteus_lives]

29. Me too.

He was my favorite L&O character.

My mom actually met Jerry Orbach like 30 years ago. She was working at a summer camp in NY and Orbach's kid was there and at the end of the summer he came to the camp to sing to the kids.

[virgogal]

43. Oooh,I'm jealous of your Mom. He was quite a performer.

[baldguy]

3. other

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bocmVZXXY8w

[ColbertWatcher]

27. LOL! n/t

[virgogal]

5. Lennie Briscoe.

[CanonRay]

6. Hill Street Blues

but I can't remember the cops name...it was the guy with the slighly southern accent. Bobby Hill's partner.

[Tesha]

42. I believe you're thinking of Charles Haid, playing "Andy Renko"

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0354024/

[rucky]

44. Renko

I have no idea how I remember that.

[Botany]

7. Capt. Louis Renault

[ColbertWatcher]

13. LOL! I wasn't sure how far back to go, otherwise I would have included Javert! n/t

[LSparkle]

8. Clint Eastwood (hasn't he played a cop as well as a detective?) n/t

[Gwendolyn]

11. Andy Sipowicz from NYPD Blues.

Lennie Briscoe from L&O also gets my vote.

Chris Noth totally turned my crank but hated his politics on L&O

[arendt]

12. Any cop in "The Wire" the best cop show EV-AH! n/t

[TexasObserver]

15. 1/2 Barney Fife, 1/2 Vic Mackey

[pinniped]

18. Lt. Mike Stone and Inspector Steve Keller from Streets of San Francisco

and....those Lethal Weapon movies were totally stupid and should never have been made.

[JuniperLea]

24. OMG!

We just Netflix'd the first season of SoSF!! So very cool... love Karl Malden... and the baby faced Michael Douglas, long before his bunny got boiled;)

[pinniped]

47. If you live in the San Francisco area and get KOFY TV20, you can see....

it every weekday at 10:00 am.

[JuniperLea]

51. I'm in Los Angeles...

But I can see why the good people of The City by the Bay would love that show. It really shows the city well, imho. Beautiful place. My daughter is convinced she will live there some day. Absolutely loves it.

[pinniped]

59. It was really cool how everything was filmed on location.

They did a lot of filming downtown.

Sometimes their patrol car would pull up, and a large crowd of onlookers could be seen standing in the background.

[JuniperLea]

20. None of the above...

No matter how you draw the imaginary lines in society, there are an equal number of assholes in each group. So if you want to group people by race, sex, religion, occupation, whatever, there will be a whole rainbow of variety, and a similar number of assholes in each group.

Assholes come in all flavors.

Ew. That is really gross, but I had to say it.

[ColbertWatcher]

22. LOL! n/t

[asjr]

23. Inspector Cleauseau. Peter Sellers

[Journeyman]

25. "The New Centurions" (1972). . .

[paulsby]

i have to agree

as somebody who has spent 20 + yrs in law enforcement, i find joseph wambaugh's depictions to be very accurate. iow, everytime i read a wambaugh book, i go "i know that guy". for nearly every character. :) bumper morgan was my favorite.

[Auggie]

26. It's been said Jack Webb produced a very accurate cop show

[Tesha]

58. He spent *A LOT* of time working with actual LAPD cops and detectives.

Mark VII productions was practically a fixture in the LAPD.

Tesha

[tomm2thumbs]

28. the two Cops in the movie 'Crash' - Matt Dillon's & Ryan Phillippe's characters

actually, that movie had a lot of true-to-life folks in it across the board
http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2006/01/31/crashcast_wideweb__470x403,2.jpg

[ColbertWatcher]

33. Weird, I thought that movie reeked of formula. TNAFT. n/t

[tomm2thumbs]

50. i can only speak for me

those people were very los angeles where the story takes place - don't mean that as a put down on la - I have literally encountered every last one of those people in my world so that is a personal reflection of mine - and yes it gets very plastic out here

[ColbertWatcher]

53. I live in LA too. n/t

[tomm2thumbs]

55. they must have been hanging on me then

of course there's always 'this guy'

[Tesha]

32. Malloy, or maybe Reed. Or maybe DiGiorgio from the "Dirty Harry" movies. (NT)

[Maru Kitteh]

34. Ed McDunnough.

http://thumbnails.hulu.com/6/861/6859_generated_tgwZxeKofUCROdU6rOtgdQ_384x288__J4G+NmBjREWtVI0a2l4pUQ.jpg

[Marr]

35. Joe Don Baker in MITCHELL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOCqlKNW9rU

Hot- merging- ACTION!

[frogmarch]

37. Barney Fife

as played by Don Knotts in The Andy Griffith Show.

In my town, anyway.

[deadmessengers]

40. Roscoe P Coltrane

A generally well-meaning guy, made to be the tool of a rich guy trying to screw with working people in his town.

[rucky]

45. Anybody watched Southland last season?

the veteran cop who plays the OC kid's partner seems pretty dead-on to me.

Also Briscoe from L&O. Maybe a bit too even-tempered to be accurate, but at least he's how I wish cops would be more like.

[Gwendolyn]

48. Yes, him too!

I watched that show just to listen to the theme song. Love it.

[KG]

46. Bobby Goren - if he gets your case, you might as well confess

even if you didn't do it! :P

[Naturyl]

49. TJ Hooker!

Obey William Shatner.

[tomm2thumbs]

52. which only reminds me of Angie Dickinson when you mention TJ

I don't know why

[Obamanaut]

54. "as played...respectfully..."?, None of the Above. nt

[ColbertWatcher]

64. Did I mix them up? Did Gless play "Lacey" and Daly play "Cagney"? n/t

[Obamanaut]

65. I think you were looking for 'respectively' nt

[ColbertWatcher]

66. D'OH!! Yes, I was!! LOL! n/t

[Matariki]

56. You forgot Harvey Keitel in Bad Lieutenant

Bribery, corruption, abuse of power. *That* never happens.

Or my favorite - Frances McDormand in Fargo.

[ColbertWatcher]

60. Oh yeah? n/t

[FarCenter]

57. Eddie Murphy in Beverly Hills Cop

[gleaner]

61. Mike Logan of Law and Order.....

it was such a beautiful acting job, that you believed the Detective existed while you were watching the show. He was cynical and idealistic at the same time. He believed in justice but wasn't opposed to tipping the scales a little to get it. He could be gentle with victims and suspects, but he was often violent and erratic as well. The esteem of other cops was the most important thing in his life.

Chris North even brought a history of child abuse to his character by drunken parents, one of whom was a policeman father whom he idolized, and a mother whom he despised. By the time he had played the character to where Logan had decided how he would live his life, he was portraying a bitter and isolated man with a perpetual sense of injustice who was incapable of a love relationship and basically not even desirous of one. His work was his life and he was still looking for esteem and approval from his peers as his most reliable form of validation.

[ColbertWatcher]

63. Interesting observation and welcome to DU!

I have only casually watched the series in reruns, but I love the chemistry between he and Annabella Sciorra's character.

[DKRC]

62. Belker

[GoCubsGo]

67. Reed and Malloy, Jon and Ponch

But, seriously... I also voted "other", since there is no "none of the above". My brother is a cop. He doesn't fit any of those listed. Neither do my cousin, my schoolmate, or any of the other officers I know. There is no stereotype. They are all different. Every last one of them. My brother is very diplomatic and has a sense of humor. Let's just say the Gates incident would not have happened had he been the attending officer. He's the kind of person law enforcement needs more of. My cousin, on the other hand, is a jerk. That being said, the fact that he is also a police officer is irrelevant.

[ColbertWatcher]

68. I didn't say "stereotype," I asked which is the most accurate depiction. n/t