History Main / ByTheBookCop

* Citadel Security (C-Sec for short) in ''Franchise/MassEffect'' is apparently made up of nothing ''but'' By-the-Book Cops, if the player is to believe their leader. The outwardly-reserved CowboyCop on your crew split with the force over increasing frustration with C-Sec's regulations; [[PlayerCharacter Commander Shepard]] has the option to either encourage him in his CowboyCop behavior or convince him of the value of doing things by the book.

* Katsuya from ''VideoGame/{{Persona 2}}'' is by the book to a ridiculous degree, even in supernatural situations where the law shouldn't really apply. (In a reversal of the usual way of this trope, he's quite young; his rule-breaking, dubious-method-using foil Baofu is much older.)

* This fuels much of the B-Plot conflict between Vince Larkin and Duncan Malloy in ''Film/ConAir''. Malloy is by-the-book to an absolute fault, and thus fails to anticipate [[BigBad Cyrus The Virus']] almost prophetic ability to organize a massive prison break. Larkin is far more [[CowboyCop open-minded and reckless]], but ''also'' to a fault. [[spoiler:In the end they've [[FireForgedFriends made peace]] and ''both'' admit they really should have listened to each other more -- Malloy is glad he called off the attack copter and didn't shoot the plane down, stopping the criminals but killing [[TheHero Cameron Poe]] in the process, while Larkin looks over the absolute ''destruction'' letting the plane land in Las Vegas caused and quips "Oh, yeah, it worked out ''much'' better this way!"]]

Appears less regularly as a main character, in which case they're likely to be presented with a ToBeLawfulOrGood dilemma.

* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'': Commissioner James Gordon, if it was not for his frequently calling upon the services of an unofficial masked vigilante to help police his city. ''ComicBook/BatmanYearOne'', ''ComicBook/TheLongHalloween'' and ''ComicBook/DarkVictory'' track his growing relationship with Batman and rising position in the Gotham City Police Department, and they all reiterate his commitment to Law & Order and refusal to compromise his integrity and the rules, even to convict criminals he knows are guilty. He slips once when ComicBook/TheJoker was on death row for a crime he might not have committed [[spoiler:and didn't]]. He suggested to Batman that they let Joker fry despite the possibility that he's innocent of this particular crime. Batman tells Gordon that he's going to [[IllPretendIDidntHearThat pretend he didn't say that]], and the matter is dropped.
* In ''Comicbook/BlackMagick'', Detective Rowan Black balks at the mere ''suggestion'' that she remove evidence from police possession in order to track down the people who tried to ruder her. However, [[DeconstructedTrope she goes through with it anyway because the police will not be able to use magic to learn from it.]]
* Inspector Ginko from ''ComicBook/{{Diabolik}}'' plays with this: most of the time he's this trope but only because otherwise the criminals will be able to loophole their way out of prison, and, when the book has failed, shows his true temper as a CowboyCop.
* ''ComicBook/GothamCentral'' is a PoliceProcedural focusing on the Major Crimes Unit of the Gotham City Police Department. Each member of the MCU is hand-picked by the Commissioner of Police in order to ensure their integrity and commitment to honest police work, and the series follows them as they try to act honorably [[BadCopIncompetentCop in a police department filled with corruption and graft]].
* The title character of ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'' is about as extreme as this trope can get. However, the character does grow to [[ToBeLawfulOrGood question the law]] every once in a little while, notably just before the "Necropolis" arc when he feels remorse for suppressing a democratic movement, and the later issue concerning [[FantasticRacism mutant rights]]. There are also numerous minor aversions to this trope where Dredd himself brings up that part of being a Judge is using one's own discretion, meaning he occasionally ignores minor crimes or makes allowances for mitigating circumstances. Just like a real cop, only less often.
* A detective tried to come off as one of these during an encounter with ComicBook/ThePunisher. Subverted, as Frank has been around the block numerous times and knows the score.

* The [[InvertedTrope trope is flipped]] in ''{{Literature/Takotsubo}}''--Henderson is the older, experienced cop who is the CommissionerGordon to the vigilante gang East 13 and their leader, the Tin Man. Her new partner Detective Blake is a young man fresh out of the academy and needs a crash course in street law. The difference is also implied to be because Blake is white since most of the cast are minorities.

* Miyuki Kobayakawa in ''Manga/YoureUnderArrest'' plays this role to contrast with her CowboyCop partner, Natsumi Tsujimoto. She's the most level-headed and rule-abidding of the two, although she also has her moments to show how much Natsumi has rubbed off on her.

* Inspector Ginko from ''ComicBook/{{Diabolik}}'' plays with this: most of the times he's this trope, but only because otherwise the criminals will be able to loophole their way out of prison, and, when the book has failed, shows his true temper as a CowboyCop.

** In ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManAcrossTheSpiderVerse'', Gwen Stacy's father is the same way [[spoiler:to the point that he initially tries to arrest her after learning she's Spider-Woman, even almost raising his gun to his own daughter in panic. However, in her absence, he comes to his senses and reconciles his values with her vigilantism by [[TakeAThirdOption quitting the force]] so he doesn't have to turn her in]].

* In ''Film/AlienNation'', a human cop who breaks all the rules is paired with a new detective from an alien race that has assimilated on Earth. At first, the alien follows all the rules but them finds out the danger to his own people and goes off on his own. When the human mentions following procedure, the alien says [[spoiler: "Fuck procedure"]].

** Lieutenant Bogomil actually invokes the trope name when he explains to Axel why he won't let him investigate a customs bonded area without a warrant after discovering coffee grounds in the building.

* Detective Carlson in ''Film/BlueStreak'' is fairly new as a detective and is paired up with the "more experienced" Lead Detective Malone. Carlson tries his best to follow the letter of the law. He is very confused about Malone skirting the law and police procedure. There's a good reason for Malone's behavior, though. He's actually a jewel thief who's posing as a cop trying to retrieve the stolen diamond he has hidden in the police station two years before. By the end, though, Carlson has learned enough to understand how it all really works ([[spoiler:he deliberately lets "Malone" cross the Mexican border before revealing that he knows who he is and then pointing out that "Malone" is out of his jurisdiction]]).

* ''Film/TheConfirmation'': The Police officer who pulls Walt and Anthony over for supposedly being prowlers is pretty strict and cuts him of every time he tries to explain the circumstances while just cutting down to the facts of the case, although she does let them go with just a ticket.
* ''Film/{{Dobermann}}'': The Captain is just as determined to bring in Dobermann as Christini. He just wants to it by the book. When his plan fails and Christini is given command of the operation, his disgust at Christini's CowboyCop methods is palpable.

* ''Film/OpenDoors'': By-the-book prosecutor/judge. Signora Spadafora, who clammed up when she was brought to court to testify, approaches Vito outside of court and offers to spill her secrets of whatever her husband and Scalia and the others were up to. Vito, however, is very serious about following proper legal procedure, and tells the widow that he can't talk to her. As a result he never does learn what she wanted to tell him.

* In P D James comparatively realistic ''Literature/AdamDalgliesh'' series, Kate and Dalgliesh both fit this trope well. When Daniel, the third member of the squad, lets a suspect commit suicide rather than face prison, it really shines through. Daniel is disgusted by their (especially Kate's) belief in the absoluteness of the law, and they actually have an intelligent conversation about it. Paraphrased a little:

** "The Book" in this case being ''The Laws and Ordinances of The Cities of Ankh and Morpork'', published some six generations previously. Carrot isn't just the only copper who follows the book, he's probably the only one who's ''read'' it, since the equally by the book, but much more pragmatic, Commander Vimes got the Librarian to hide it because it was just causing trouble. Also, it's quite heavy, so if Captain Carrot threatens to "throw the book at you", duck.

* In ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'', Nale is very careful to follow the laws of whatever country he's in. He doesn't necessarily follow the spirit of these laws, nor show respect to the people who wrote them, but he does follow what's written down. His true purpose seems to be to kill people with Surgebinding abilities, but he'll only do so if he can get a legal writ of execution for some crime they committed. When someone thinks to pardon his current quarry, he has no choice but to leave her alone. It's also implied that this is true of every Skybreaker (the Radiant Order Nale founded). Many of them choose to follow the law above all else for their Third Ideal, though they can choose to follow something else (many swear to follow Nale himself, for example).

* Parodied in ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'' with the ShowWithinAShow ''Wrench'', about a cop who is so by-the-book that he will stop at a stop sign ''during a car chase''.

* In ''Series/FreddysNightmares'', the cop who arrested Freddy Krueger but forgot to sign a warrant was actually one of these, and frowned upon the idea of the parents of Springwood getting together and administering justice on Freddy themselves when the case against him was dismissed.

* ''Series/ScotSquad'' has PC Singh, who is so incredibly by-the-book about his traffic duties that he won't even let ''his own mother'' off with a warning when he catches her speeding.

* Odo in ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' is from a species that has by the book as [[PlanetOfHats its hat]]. As the head of law enforcement on the station, he does have mercy with people who meant no harm or acted out of desperation, but that does not stop him from taking loitering children to his office and calling their parents to get them.
** Odo is unique in that he was a by the book cop for both the Cardassians during the Occupation ''and'' the Federation/Bajorans afterwards, despite them having very different concepts of what law and order are supposed to be. He himself [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] this by saying no matter whose rules he's enforcing, he holds to a personal belief of what justice is.
** He is so by-the-book that Sisko asked him to be the umpire of their baseball game with a team of Vulcans. Odo tossed Sisko ''and'' the Vulcan coach from the game because each, on separate occasions, tapped him on the shoulder (to get his attention) and violated the rule against ''intentionally'' touching the umpire.
* Peter tries to be this on ''Series/WhiteCollar'', but Neal's brilliant-but-not-quite-legal schemes make it hard for him. More often than not he ends up looking the other way, or even ''helping'' Neal if he knows it means catching the criminal.

** Skinner is no stranger to cowboyish attitude but he is also perfectly aware how dangerous the environment he is moving in is.

** Kim Kitsuragi, the PlayerCharacter's partner, is this, at least by the standards of the setting. He cares about more about rules and procedure than most police officers, and will often try to encourage the player to stay on the straight and narrow, and will frown upon them acting like a CowboyCop or a DirtyCop, but he's ultimately not above bending the rules if he sees it as necessary, though he never does so lightly. It is worth pointing out that Kim's by-the-bookness is an image he intentionally cultivates -- he trash-talks you at board games by proclaiming that when he wins, he always does it by-the-book, and in one especially harrowing scene your character will note that professionalism is used by him as a way of soothing himself when in despair.

* The titular character from ''VideoGame/{{Mappy}}'' is a police officer sent to retrieve stolen artifacts from thieving cats, and sticks to his given task with few issues.

** Of course, in the second game a C-Sec officer admits during Thane's loyalty mission that he's been looking the other way of a certain criminal as long as he "buys tickets to the C-Sec charity ball." The same cop will later [[spoiler:skirt rules to let Thane's son off the hook for attempted murder (and, if you choose the Renegade option, the murder you ''finished'')]], although that's shown as an act of compassion. Overall, not exactly a CowboyCop, but he's certainly breaking a few rules at this point.
* Katsuya from ''VideoGame/{{Persona 2}}'' is by-the-book to a ridiculous degree, even in supernatural situations where the law shouldn't really apply. (In a reversal of the usual way of this trope, he's quite young; his rule-breaking, dubious-method-using foil, Baofu, is much older.)

** The playable characters also fall under this, since gameplay forces them to adhere to the rules of the court system, which insist on providing evidence to back up ''everything''. This is lampshaded to hell and back in ''VisualNovel/ApolloJusticeAceAttorney'', when several cases are specifically designed for it to be obvious who the real murderer is, only for the Judge to have to keep turning down Apollo's claims on the grounds of lack of decisive evidence. [[spoiler:This is the main reason Phoenix goes about setting up the Jurist System, to try to get around those sorts of issues.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/SuperNoobs'': Memnock and Zenblock, who are alien virus warriors, are revealed to be strict followers of rules from the Benevolent Alliance. This is shown in "Count Noob-A-Nus" when after they arrest Count Venomous and his minions for their crimes of distributing the virus to other planets, they use a manual from the Benevolent Alliance to show that they must treat any prisoners they arrest with kindness and fairness. Of course, Venamus uses these regulations against them to trick them into entering a prison pod and launching them into space, though Both Mem and Zen survive unharmed and end up defeating Venamus with the pod. Its also shown when Mem and Zen have to repeatedly disguise themselves as human men in order to not blow their cover aliens, which they sometimes forget to do.

* Kuroko Shirai from ''Literature/ACertainMagicalIndex'' franchise.
* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': [[{{Tsundere}} Soi]] [[{{Ninja}} Fon]] is the head of the Keigun (lit. "punishment force"), which enforces the laws of Soul Society and detains or assassinates violators. She's a stickler for proper procedure and [[MyMasterRightOrWrong follows the law to the letter]], no exceptions.
* ''Manga/OnePiece'' has Captain Hina, who serves as the {{Foil}} to CowboyCop Smoker. It is heavily implied that she is the main reason why he gets away with so much.

* ''Manga/CityHunter'' has the one-shot character Hirotaka Kitao, out to arrest [[HitmanWithAHeart Ryo]] due to his hate for professional killers but unwilling to actually break the law to do so... And [[ArrangedMarriage engaged to Saeko]], the CowboyCop who uses Ryo to take down some of the worst criminals around. HilarityEnsues before he understands Ryo's true character and decides to leave the city.

* ''Film/OsmosisJones''. Drix is the BTBC, Osmosis is the CowboyCop.

* Eliot Ness in ''Film/TheUntouchables1987'', at first. But he's quickly taught the folly of this when faced with the likes of UsefulNotes/AlCapone. He then goes full CowboyCop, raids places without a warrant, and, in one case, outright murders a guy whom he just arrested.
* Sergeant Roger Murtaugh in ''Film/LethalWeapon'', at least initially.

* Deputy Police Chief Dwayne T. Robinson in ''Film/DieHard''.
* ''Franchise/RoboCop'', which is understandable since he literally has The Book programmed into his brain. He's more violent than a typical example, but that's more a reflection of the [[CrapsackWorld world he lives in]].
* Nick Angel in ''Film/HotFuzz''. Even after defeating the villains CowboyCop style he still does paperwork.
** ''Blowing Up The Movies'' observes that the movie actually ''inverts'' the CowboyCop trope, as Nick Angel drives his superiors crazy not by ignoring procedure, but following it to an obsessive degree.

* Lt. Ed Exley in ''Film/LAConfidential''. [[spoiler: at least at first]].
* Inspector David Tosci in ''Film/{{Zodiac|2007}}'' is very by the book both in life and in the film. The film shows all the steps he goes through while pursuing a key suspect in a pretty fair aversion of HollywoodLaw, and even in the end, he knows there's no smoking gun to prove the killer's identity.
* Joe Friday in the 1987 ''Film/{{Dragnet}}'' AffectionateParody movie.
* Detective Mitch Preston (Creator/RobertDeNiro) in ''Film/{{Showtime}}'' is a typical example. His first scene has him explaining his job to a class of little kids, dispensing with all the CowboyCop tropes they might know from Hollywood. However, he fairly quickly breaks rules when necessary (or if he's pissed). For example, the act that results in him being forced to participate in a reality TV show involves shooting a video camera mere inches from the cameraman's head. Officer Trey Sellars wants to be a CowboyCop, or at least play one on TV.

* Detective Carlson in ''Film/BlueStreak'' is fairly new as a detective and is paired up with the "more experienced" Lead Detective Malone. Carlson tries his best to follow the letter of the law. He is very confused about Malone skirting the law and police procedure. There's a good reason for Malone's behavior, though. He's actually a jewel thief who's posing as a cop trying to retrieve the stolen diamond he has hidden in the police station two years before. By the end, though, Carlson has learned enough to understand how it all really works ([[spoiler:he deliberately lets "Malone" cross the Mexican border before revealing that he knows who he is and then pointing out that "Malone" is out of his jurisdiction]]).

* Kaz in Film/BeyondTheLights is the very definition. He values truth, honesty, and justice above all else. Even when he's mad at and doesn't want to talk to Noni, he refuses to start driving his truck until she buckles up her seat belt.
* This leads to a tragic turn in ''Film/TheJackal''. The FBI is protecting a witness with every agent told to ensure absolutely no word gets out about her location. But Agent Witherspoon still feels the need to fill out the paperwork and enter into a taped log the exact address of the woman and her family, which, thanks to TheMole, the titular assassin discovers, leading to several deaths (including Witherspoon's).
-->'''Deputy Director Preston''': ''(listening to recorded transcript giving away all the information'') Witherspoon, you by the book ''asshole''!
* Inverted in ''Film/MiamiBlues'', in which Detective Sanchez gives Detective Moseley a detailed explanation as to how he happened to track down the psycho Fred Frenger to use in his report. (And which is in total contradiction to what actually happened -- [[spoiler:which is that Moseley was stalking Frenger to get his false teeth back]]). Moseley answers, "Yeah, something like that." Sanchez insists, "No -- EXACTLY like that."
* In ''Film/AlienNation'', a human cop who breaks all the rules is paired with a new detective from an alien race that has assimilated on Earth. At first, the alien follows all the rules but them finds out the danger to his own people and goes off on his own. When the human mentions following procedure, the alien says [[spoiler: "Fuck procedure"]].
* ''Film/{{Dobermann}}'': The Captain is just as determined to bring in Dobermann as Christini. He just wants to it by the book. When his plan fails and Christini is given command of the operation, his disgust at Christini's CowboyCop methods is palpable.
* ''Film/TheConfirmation'': The Police officer who pulls Walt and Anthony over for supposedly being prowlers is pretty strict and cuts him of every time he tries to explain the circumstances while just cutting down to the facts of the case, although she does let them go with just a ticket.
* ''Film/MajorGromPlagueDoctor'': Dima Dubin dislikes excessive violence and questions his unlikely parthner Igor Grom's CowboyCop methods.
* Korean film ''Film/GoingByTheBook'' takes its name from this trope. Main character Jung Do-Man is introduced when he gives a ticket for an illegal turn--to his district's new chief of police.

* Geoffrey Briggs, DaChief of the NCD in Jasper Fforde's ''Literature/NurseryCrime'', always does things by the book... the crime fiction book, that is. He habitually suspends the detective once in every case for intentional dramatic effect, and trains his cops for the job by making them watch reruns of ''Columbo''.
* In P D James comparatively realistic ''Adam Dalgliesh'' series, Kate and Dalgliesh both fit this trope well. When Daniel, the third member of the squad, lets a suspect commit suicide rather than face prison, it really shines through. Daniel is disgusted by their (especially Kate's) belief in the absoluteness of the law, and they actually have an intelligent conversation about it. Paraphrased a little:

* ''Literature/WhoCensoredRogerRabbit?'': Toon police Captain "Clever" Cleaver, working on the Rabbit murder case doesn't want any loose cannons (e.g. Eddie Valiant) wrestling the long arm of the law away from him. In the not-quite-sequel ''Who Plugged Roger Rabbit?'', Sargeant "Bulldog" Bascomb takes a similar role, but somewhat more similar to DaChief. (Though Cleaver is still mentioned as the one who habitually hounds Eddie).

* Literature/SanoIchiro, in the series bearing his name, is an interesting twist as he is also a {{Samurai}}. Unlike many of his compatriots, he actually follows the code of Bushido and is an honest man. While this direct approach works for his first few cases, he has to adopt a more CowboyCop approach as the series goes on since his enemies are more than willing to push and break the rules themselves.

* John Strock, hero of the Creator/JulesVerne thriller ''Literature/MasterOfTheWorld'', is an experienced police agent willing to do his duty and play by the rules, even when it means risking his own life.
* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' is a world where the powerful break the rules, often simply because they ''can''. Murphy is a cop who Believes in the power of law. [[BreakTheCutie That doesn't last.]]
** On the magical hand is Donald Morgan, who is the frequent enforcer of the Laws of Magic. At first, he seems to have it out for Harry specifically, but by the events of ''Turn Coat'', Harry realizes that Morgan ''seems'' rabid only because Morgan has been enforcing the laws for ''centuries'', and has extensive experience with black magic practitioners. He hounds Harry and shows no mercy because it's never worked in the past, so he instead enforces the law by the letter.
* In Creator/SergeyLukyanenko's ''[[Literature/NightWatchSeries New Watch]]'', Staff Sergeant Dima Pastukhov of the Moscow Police considers himself an honest cop, by Russian standards. Granted, he'll occasionally accept a small bribe (e.g. more change than what he paid) from a cafe owner when stopping by for lunch or rough up a drunk or two when they get rowdy and refuse to go to a sobering-up station. However, he will also chase down any perp without a second thought, won't harass store owners, and will let those who are only a little drunk go home (provided they don't drive). However, he avoids the Others like the plague, having been accidentally granted the ability to see them by Anton's carelessness in the first novel (he's one of the two cops he tells to go get drunk on his first case, nearly costing them their careers).
* Joe Leaphorn in Creator/TonyHillerman's mystery novels.

* ''Literature/MagicalCatsMysteries'': Main character Kathleen Paulson's semi-love interest is Marcus Gordon, a cop of this type who investigates most (if not all) of the major crimes in Mayville Heights, Minnesota, and is adamant about sticking to the facts and physical proof rather than gut instinct like Kathleen. And no matter how helpful she and her discoveries are, he keeps telling her to just keep away from whatever case he's working on and not to go snooping around (advice that she continually ignores, despite her own best efforts, seeing as she tends to be a MysteryMagnet and the evidence just keeps coming her way). This puts a major strain on their relationship, such as it is. He mellows out considerably by the end of book 5, when they become an official couple, and is more open with her in books 6 and beyond.

* ''Series/AlienNation'': George Francisco.

* ''Series/TheXFiles'': Not quite a cop, but a similar example: Director Walter Skinner of the FBI likes things clean and easy, with Mulder and Scully turning in matching reports, preferably with no mention of aliens, [[MadScientist mad science]], or [[MonsterOfTheWeek miscellaneous monstrosities]]. In a way, Scully herself plays stern By-the-Book Cop to Mulder's enthusiastic [[CowboyCop cowboyesque]] shenanigans.
** Skinner is no stranger to cowboyish attitude but he is also perfectly aware how dangerous the environment he is moving in is.
** The real by-the-book-cop here is Doggett, who actually got his start as a cop. Once you get over the fact that [[ReplacementScrappy he replaced one of the most beloved characters in the series]], the poor fellow's attempts to adapt from his world of by-the-numbers L&O to the weird and wacky world of the X-Files can be somewhat charming.
* Peter tries to be this on ''Series/WhiteCollar'', but Neal's brilliant-but-not-quite-legal schemes make it hard for him. More often than not he ends up looking the other way, or even ''helping'' Neal if he knows it means catching the criminal.

* ''Series/InspectorRex'': Chief Filippo Gori admires Lorenzo Fabbri and his successor Davide Rivera for being skillful policemen but hates their willingness to bypass the law.
* Odo in ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' is from a species that has by the book as [[PlanetOfHats its hat]]. As the head of law enforcement on the station, he does have mercy with people who meant no harm or acted out of desperation, but that does not stop him from taking loitering children to his office and calling their parents to get them.
** Odo is unique in that he was a by the book cop for both the Cardassians during the Occupation ''and'' the Federation/Bajorans afterwards, despite them having very different concepts of what law and order are supposed to be. He himself [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] this by saying no matter whose rules he's enforcing, he holds to a personal belief of what justice is.
** He is so by-the-book that Sisko asked him to be the umpire of their baseball game with a team of Vulcans. Odo tossed Sisko ''and'' the Vulcan coach from the game because each, on separate occasions, tapped him on the shoulder (to get his attention) and violated the rule against ''intentionally'' touching the umpire.

* P.C George Dixon of ''Series/DixonOfDockGreen'' is a British example.
* The police officers on shows like ''Series/LawAndOrder'' and ''Series/HomicideLifeOnTheStreet'', at least in their earlier seasons, generally tended to be this sort of cop; they might not have been quite the 'friendly police officer' of earlier tropes, but they generally tended to do their jobs following procedure. With a rather lax interpretation of the Bill of Rights, however.
** [[Series/LawAndOrderUK Matt Devlin]] once arrested a ''friend'' of his after the guy snorted cocaine right in front of him. This foreshadows his actions in a later episode where he insists on investigating another detective's murky account of a shooting, despite the fact that the man is a very good friend of his partner Ronnie.
* Just about every police officer in a [[Franchise/{{Dragnet}} Jack Webb]] production. When an exception shows up, it's usually the main characters who have to catch or stop him.
* The ''Series/TheGoodGuys'' has Jack Bailey who is extremely by the book but pisses off his superiors so much that the only way he can solve the case is to follow the lead of his CowboyCop partner.
** [[TooDumbToLive Detective Elton Hodges]] has been filling this role in a very by-the-book fashion as Jack has become more and more influenced by Stark.
* Sam Tyler in ''Series/{{Life On Mars|2006}}'' and Alex Drake in ''Series/AshesToAshes2008'' are the by-the-book-cops to Gene Hunt's OldFashionedCopper. DCI Jim Keats in ''Ashes To Ashes'' is a villainous example.

%%* Rob Hollins in ''Series/{{Doctors}}''.
* FBI example: Agent Hotchner in ''Series/CriminalMinds'', although he did have a bit of a breakdown at one point that led to him [[spoiler: walking into a house to confront an armed killer by himself and even beating a killer to death with his bare hands (but in a situation in which it's pretty easy to argue that [[IDidWhatIHadToDo he had no choice]])]].
* ''Series/TheShadowLine'':
** Jonah Gabriel gives the impression of one at first, though he has cowboyish traits like his refusal to obey his superiors' wish that he stop investigating Harvey Wratten's death and he's hinted for a while to have been an actual DirtyCop [[AmnesiacDissonance before he lost his memory]].
** Robert Beatty, though he's a customs officer rather than a cop.
** A minor example appears in the first scene of the series, with the rookie that points out all the procedures [[DirtyCop Sergeant Foley]] violates at the scene of Harvey Wratten's murder.
* ''Series/{{Community}}'' parodies this in "The Science of Illusion" when Annie and Shirley become temporary campus security guards. They end up getting into an argument about which one of them should be the By-the-Book Cop and which one should be the CowboyCop despite the fact that both of them are equally suited to both roles, and Abed, who is following them around, ends up invoking a whole load of tropes based on this.
* Detective Abby Kowalski from ''Series/AgainstTheWall''.
* ''Series/RookieBlue'' has Chris Diaz as the most By-the-Book Cop amongst rookies. Actually detrimental to his performance as he does not take initiative which is noted by his superiors.

* ''Franchise/PowerRangers'':
** Alex from ''Series/PowerRangersTimeForce.'' When he travels back in time to reclaim the Red Ranger powers from Wes, his leading style is too rigid since he refuses to accept input from anybody. When Wes returns to help them out of a tough situation, the other Rangers, even his fiance, Jen, plead with him to let Wes continue as the Red Ranger.
** Sky from ''Series/PowerRangersSPD.'' Constant head-butting with the much more laid-back Jack, naturally.
** Ravi from ''Series/PowerRangersBeastMorphers'' deconstructs this. While he's a stickler for the rules of Grid Battleforce, he's not always happy about it. He hates the rule [[InappropriatelyCloseComrades against Rangers dating Rangers]], which forces him to break up with his girlfriend in the first episode, but it's still a rule. And since the commander is his mother, his by-the-book style goes [[WellDoneSonGuy beyond]] a need to do his job right.
* The ''Series/{{CSI}}'' franchise can both play this straight and subvert it. Brass in the original series and Mac in ''Series/{{CSINY}}'' are usually very by-the-book. But, lately, Mac in particular, and Brass to a smaller extent will break rules if it comes to it.
* Wes in ''Series/CommonLaw'', lawyer-turned-homicide detective. His CowboyCop partner Travis jokes that he's a robot incapable of emotion. His expertise is analyzing the facts of the case, often tediously reading reports and looking at photographs for hours on end.

* ''Series/MurderSheWrote'' had two of them. Cabot Cove's first sheriff was Amos Tupper, an honest cop and a close friend of Jessica. After he retired after the fourth season, he was replaced by Sheriff Mort Metzger, a former NYPD detective who took the job after mistakenly believing that the town was a peaceful place. Still, he did his job well, considering.
* In ''Series/{{NUMB3RS}}'', when Don is talking to a therapist about his team, he mentions (in a complimentary way) that he sees David Sinclair as this. David's actions throughout the series generally support this assertion.
-->'''Don:''' The thing I admire about him is, the rules don't really bother him. I mean, he's the kind of guy that just somehow -- he gets it done.

* Most, if not all parking enforcers in ''Series/ParkingWars'' are just doing their jobs and issuing tickets to illegally parked cars.
* In ''Series/BattleCreek'', FBI agent Milton Chamberlain is painfully by-the-book and polite, in stark contrast to the Battle Creek police Detective Russ Agnew, who is rude, cynical, and doesn't mind bending a few rules to get the job done. A later episode reveals that Milt hasn't always been this way. After [[spoiler:being forced to shoot a teenager and getting another one killed]], Milt starts doing everything by the book, annoying his coworkers to the point where they [[ReassignedToAntarctica reassign him to Battle Creek]].

* Inspector Bucket from ''Literature/BleakHouse'' is a by-the-book cop in ''Series/{{Dickensian}}'', although in the very early days of Detective Branch, he's mostly writing the book as he goes along.
* In early episodes of ''Series/{{The Bill}}'' characters were largely defined by their attitudes to the 1984 PACE act. Inspector Conway and DS Greig were notable adherents to the guidelines.
* Jim Gordon starts this way on ''Series/{{Gotham}}''. However, it doesn't take him long to realize that to survive this [[WretchedHive insane town]], breaking the rules is a much better way to find justice.
* ''Series/TheGoodCop'' has TJ living this trope to the extreme. He once let a suspect go because he refused to walk the street against a red light and spent hours trying to find out who dropped a quarter on the floor to return it rather than keeping it for himself. He lives by the mantra "break one rule, they all break" and his fellow officers can't believe how literally he takes rules even his own bosses don't care about.
** Ironically, his father is an infamous CowboyCop whose rule-breaking led to a stint in jail yet is still used as a police consultant. The show's comedy comes from Senior teaching TJ that a little rule-bending can be a good thing.
* In ''Series/HecRamsey'', Chief Stamp is determined to drag law enforcement into the 20th Century, and wants things done by the book; even if that means writing the book himself.
* ''Series/TheFBI'': Inspector Erskine and all of his partners throughout the series always do everything by the book. As the programme was made with the cooperation of the F.B.I., the agents had to be portrayed as straight arrows.
* ''Series/{{Hightown}}'': Alan Santille, who always insists on procedures being followed.
* In ''Series/LowWinterSun'', Detective Kahlil is shown to be one of the least corrupt in the department, even willing to alienate her relationship with Agnew by wearing a wire to get information for Internal Affairs.
* Parodied in ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'' with the ShowWithinAShow ''Wrench'', about a cop who is so by-the-book that he will stop at a stop sign ''during a car chase''.
* ''Series/{{Yellowjackets}}'', Detective Kevyn Tan's attempt to reconnect with old friend Natalie ends abruptly shortly after when he realizes his service weapon is missing a bullet. Because he has to account for every bullet, he questions her about it. He sees right through the flimsy excuse Natalie gives him since she can't tell him that [[spoiler:she went on an unsuccessful caper with Taissa and Shauna to catch the blackmailer]] and calls her bluff.
* ''Series/TheDevilJudge'' has Yoon Soo-hyun who strictly follows the law no matter what. However, this is PlayedWith when she tampers with the crime scene she found Ga-on at, but it's just a case of suicide {{mistaken for murder|er}} on her end.

* Katsuya from ''VideoGame/{{Persona 2}}'' is by-the-book to a ridiculous degree, even in supernatural situations where the law shouldn't really apply. (In a reversal of the usual way of this trope, he's quite young; his rule-breaking, dubious-method-using foil, Baofu, is much older.)
* Citadel Security (C-Sec for short) in ''Franchise/MassEffect'' is apparently made up of nothing ''but'' By-the-Book Cops, if the player is to believe their leader. The outwardly-reserved CowboyCop on your crew split with the force over increasing frustration with C-Sec's regulations; [[PlayerCharacter Commander Shepard]] has the option to either encourage him in his CowboyCop behavior or convince him of the value of doing things by the book.
** Made far more meaningful considering that as a Spectre, Paragon Shepard actually ''does'' have total authority in Citadel Space to act as JudgeJuryAndExecutioner if they want to. It's implied that Shepard's actions teach Garrus that just because someone ''can'' use force to take down criminals, doesn't mean they ''should''.
** Of course, in the second game a C-Sec officer admits during Thane's loyalty mission that he's been looking the other way of a certain criminal as long as he "buys tickets to the C-Sec charity ball." The same cop will later [[spoiler:skirt rules to let Thane's son off the hook for attempted murder (and, if you choose the Renegade option, the murder you ''finished'')]], although that's shown as an act of compassion. Overall, not exactly a CowboyCop, but he's certainly breaking a few rules at this point.

* ''VideoGame/PoliceQuest'':
** Your squad in ''VideoGame/SWAT4'', the best score will be awarded to players who follow this trope--handcuff and report all suspects and civilians, subdue suspects with non-lethal methods and bring them in alive unless they're openly hostile, and confiscate all firearms and other evidence.
** The original games require the player to follow procedure to the letter, especially if they want to get the maximum score. Unsurprisingly, the main character Sonny Bonds appears in the later ''SWAT'' series.
* Caitlyn in ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'', being the sheriff of Piltover, is this, especially when compared to her CowboyCop [[OddCouple partner]], Vi.

* ''VideoGame/DiscoElysium'':
** Kim Kitsuragi, the PlayerCharacter's partner, is this, at least by the standards of the setting. He cares about more about rules and procedure than most police officers, and will often try to encourage the player to stay on the straight and narrow, and will frown upon them acting like a CowboyCop or a DirtyCop, but he's ultimately not above bending the rules if he sees it as necessary, though he never does so lightly. It is worth pointing out that Kim's by-the-bookness is an image he intentionally cultivates -- he trash-talks you at board games by proclaiming that when he wins, he always does it by-the-book, and in one especially harrowing scene your character will note that professionalism is used by him as a way of soothing himself when in despair.
** The player, however, can also themselves choose to embrace the trope, by ignoring the wackier dialogue choices and actions, and trying to adhere to regulations. This causes the game to designate the Player Character as a "Boring Cop", and notes that this kind of behavior can not come naturally for someone with his colorful past and current looks. The game will also note that the Boring Cop persona is just another one of your unhealthy coping mechanisms and does nothing to actually help you behave like a normal human being -- internalizing the Boring Cop identity will make the game congratulate you on now being [[MaskOfSanity both mad and boring]].
* [[TheHero Mappy]], from [[VideoGame/{{Mappy}} the game]] of the same name, is a police officer sent to retrieve stolen artifacts from thieving cats, and sticks to his given task with few issues.
* ''VideoGame/TheEndTimesVermintide'': TheWitchHunter Victor Saltzpyre is introduced transporting a dangerous [[PlayingWithFire pyromancer]] accused of murder to town so she could be guaranteed a fair trial, a vastly more judicious attitude than [[BurnTheWitch some of his colleagues]]. In ''VideoGame/VermintideII'', he reminisces about acquitting an alleged witch and punishing the corrupt nobleman who had [[AbominationAccusationAttack falsely accused her]].

* [[http://wondermark.com/jack-bulletproof/ The Adventures Of Jack Bulletproof, The Cop Who Plays By All The Rules.]]

* Police Chief Suarez, Frida's father, in ''WesternAnimation/ElTigre''.

* Parker and Walker, the rival detectives to the main characters in ''WesternAnimation/FunkyCops'', are a couple of dry straight-laced MenInBlack who can't think outside the box and would ''really'' rather be working for the FBI. They even specifically allude to the FBI handbook now and again.

* Renee Montoya from ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries''
* Zachary Foxx in ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfTheGalaxyRangers'' defaults to this, and was much more "by the book" at the start of the series. His more "colorful" BadassCrew sometimes rubs off on him, though.
* Evans from ''WesternAnimation/WorldOfWinx'' is this compared to her more easy going partner Gomez.

* ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987'' has the Shredder's brother.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheRidonculousRace'': Sanders, who is a cop and partners with CowboyCop [=MacArthur=], wants to win the race without breaking any international laws. She is also willing to play fair and follow all the rules of the race, which sometimes gets on [=MacArthur's=] nerves.

* Sgt. Bernie Terwilliger in ''Series/{{Hunter}}'' lives for the Book, loathes Hunter for his disregard for the rules, and never fails to point it out. He later gets transferred to InternalAffairs, a job which suits him to a T. Contrary to the trope description, he is not older than the other detectives (he seems to be in his late thirties in the first season).