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A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Monday 15 June 2020
Floyd's death hastens shift in police pop culture portrayals

NEW YORK (AP) — Gary jaded and self-contained
Phillips, a prize-winning in the fiction of Raymond
crime novelist from Los An- Chandler and Dashiell
geles, grew up on TV shows Hammett, comical and
that showed a world noth- bumbling like the Keystone
ing like the one he lived in. Kops or the misfits of "Police
"I watched them all, 'Drag- Academy," rumpled and
net,' 'Adam 12,' 'The Wild, savvy like Peter Falk's Co-
Wild West,' 'Mannix,' 'Can- lumbo, or witty and indomi-
non,' 'Peter Gunn' reruns table like Bruce Willis' New
and on and on. Now these York City detective John
were white guys and they McClane in the "Die Hard"
were tough but fair and movies.
even-handed," he told The Walter Mosley, known for
Associated Press in a recent his "Easy Rawlins" novels
email, referring to popular about a black detective
programs mostly from the in Los Angeles, noted that
1960s and 1970s. even if the plot included
"I remember a 'Dragnet' a bad cop "it wouldn't be
episode where tight-ass institutionalized. It would be
Joe Friday solved racism that cop is bad because
among black and white he or she is a bad person."
officers in a weekend re- For Gary Phillips and many
treat. But I was a kid grow- In this image released by NBC, Jason Beghe portrays Hank Voight, left, in a scene from the crime others, it took years to find
ing up in South Central and series "Chicago PD." stories in which they could
even then some part of me Associated Press see themselves. Naomi Hi-
knew a lot of this was jive. rahara, the Edgar Award
We knew the cops out of helped shape an autho- peared as a detective on depicted as good, coura- winning author of the Mas
Newton and 77th Division rized narrative that allowed the CBS series "Blue Bloods," geous, and brilliant," says Arai detective novels, re-
policed the 'hood a lot dif- viewers to sympathize and announced he was donat- Otto Penzler, the crime fic- membered the "fantasy" or
ferent than shown on TV." identify with real police on ing his earnings from the tion publisher and book- watching the white male
The May 25 killing of patrol, was dropped this show to help raise bail for seller. protagonists in "Columbo,"
George Floyd, a black man week by the Paramount arrested protesters. In the 20th century, shows "The Rockford Files" and
who died after a white Network. A&E did the same The divide between crime such as "Dragnet" and other shows. As an adult,
Minneapolis police officer with a similar show, "Live fiction and real life dates "Highway Patrol" were col- she was drawn to African
pressed a knee to his neck, PD," one of its mostly highly back to the genre's ori- laborations between law American crime writers
has set off protests world- rated programs. Earlier this gins, more than 200 years enforcement and the en- such as Mosley and Ches-
wide and transmitted imag- year, five police procedur- ago. Law enforcement vio- tertainment business, to ter Himes, and now ad-
es of law enforcement that als were consistently in the lence and corruption were the point where J. Edgar mires Rachel Howzel Hall's
long remained far outside Nielsen company's top 20 extreme in the mid-19th Hoover was permitted to novels about the African
the narratives of crime sto- ratings, including NBC's century and some police vet the politics of the ac- American LAPD homicide
ries — beatings and lethal "Chicago PD" and CBS's forces were rooted in the tors appearing in "The FBI," detective Elouise "Lou"
chokeholds of handcuffed "FBI." Now, even those por- patrols that used to chase the long-running series star- Norton, books "revealing
suspects, firing mace and traying law enforcement down runaway slaves. ring Efrem Zimbalist Jr. Oth- the complexity of a black
rubber bullets at peaceful officials are pulling back: Meanwhile, "The police in erwise, police and other woman in a system that has
protesters, harassing and Griffin Newman, who ap- early crime fiction were officials were portrayed as traditionally disempowered
cursing at journalists. minorities."
Police stories have evolved Penzler and others cite Jo-
far from the prime of Sgt. seph Wambaugh's 1971
Friday. But the idealized novel "The New Centurions"
crime fighter remains a as a turning point in show-
cultural touchstone even ing a more realistic por-
when countered by such trait of police, although no
recent narratives as Ava single trend has prevailed.
DuVernay's Netflix series Over the past 50 years, the
"When They See Us," about image of law enforcement
the wrongfully convicted has sometimes mirrored
Central Park Five, and An- debates between liberals
gie Thomas' "The Hate U and conservatives. Sidney
Give," a best-selling novel Lumet's 1973 film "Serpico"
about a black teen mur- dramatized the corruption
dered by police that was of New York City police
adapted into a feature film and the heroism of the real-
of the same name. life title character's willing-
"Hopefully what we're see- ness to speak out. Around
ing on TV now, and on so- the same time, Clint East-
cial media, is that bubble wood's "Dirty Harry" mov-
being popped," Thomas ies positioned Eastwood's
told the AP. San Francisco lawman as
Protests have already This image released by CBS shows, Jay Harrington, from left, David Lim, Shemar Moore, Kenneth a needed rule-breaker in
changed television. "Cops," "Kenny" Johnson, Lina Esco and Alex Russell in a scene from the series "S.W.A.T." a system too permissive of
which for 33 seasons Associated Press crime. q