Original title: Representation of Police in Television, 2020 Anti-Police Movements, and Audience Reception
Jenny Lee · September 2026
Police shows are among the most popular programs on television. For many viewers, these fictional and reality series are their first look at the criminal justice system. Many people even believe these shows reflect reality. However, after the 2020 anti-police brutality movements, public opinion toward law enforcement became much more negative. The researcher wanted to know if television changed how it portrays police following these protests, while still crafting a specific image of officers. To find out, the author conducted a qualitative observationWatching and taking detailed notes on what happens in the shows, rather than measuring things with numbers. of two television shows. The study looked closely at how officers were depicted across these two programs. The researcher found that portrayals of police officers became more varied in specific categories. Even so, the shows still frame officers as the only way to maintain social order and control deviance. Ultimately, both shows continue to promote "ideal cop" principles to present police as effective regulators of society.
Imagine you watch a cooking show every week that claims to teach you how to make perfect pasta. After a big scandal where a famous chef is caught using spoiled ingredients, the show starts showing chefs who sometimes make mistakes. But every single episode still ends with the message that only professional chefs can make a meal worth eating. In this paper, the cooking show is police television, the scandal is the 2020 anti-police movements, and the message that only chefs can cook well is the 'ideal cop' principle that police are the only ones who can keep order.
For millions of viewers, police shows are their first lesson in how the justice system works. Many believe what they see is real. This paper shows that even after the 2020 anti-police brutality movements forced a public reckoning, these shows still present officers as the only way to keep order. That shapes how people think about policing in real life.
The abstract does not specify how many episodes were observed, which shows were selected, or how the categories of portrayal were defined. It also does not measure actual audience beliefs or compare portrayals before and after 2020 with a control. The findings are based on two shows and may not generalize to all police television.
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Representation of Police in Television, 2020 Anti-Police Movements, and Audience Reception — Jenny Lee — SocArXiv — doi:10.31235/osf.io/wknh3_v1
Abstract licence: CC BY
Explanation generated by Synthesis from the abstract — it is not the original paper. This is a preprint, so it hasn't necessarily been peer reviewed.