History Main / CluelessDeputy

* Deputy Bart of ''HarryPotterComics''. Because Sheriff Ned is immune to memory charms, Bart's brain has been fried a bit too much from wizards hitting him in their attempts to mind-wipe the Sheriff. Bart remains effective at what he needs to do, though.

* In order to make sure the audience knows that Deputy Fife is one these type of officers, the very first show has a kid scrawl this limerick on a wall to taunt Barney:
-->"There once was a Deputy named Fife,
-->who carried a gun and a knife.
-->The gun was all dusty, the knife was all rusty,
-->'Cause he never caught a crook in his life."

* ''{{Fillmore}}'': In the episode where Fillmore visits his old partner in Tennessee, the CorruptHick Safety Patrol sheriff has a CluelessDeputy who's among the few non-corrupt members of the Safety Patrol.

* Lassie (Det. Lassiter) from ''Series/{{Psych}}'' is a borderline case: not nearly as outrageously stupid as most of the characters listed here, he's still distinctly, and by a fair margin, the dumbest of the major characters, mostly used to provide a very easy mark for Shawn's antics.
** Interestingly he happens to be an extremely competent police officer. It's implied that he has the same problem that Randy, above, has.

* In order to make sure the audience knows that Deputy Fife is one these type of officers, the very first show has a kid scrawl this limerick on a wall to taunt Barney.
"There once was a Deputy named Fife,
who carried a gun and a knife.
The gun was all dusty, the knife was all rusty,
'Cause he never caught a crook in his life."

* Enos in ''Series/TheDukesOfHazzard''; his SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute, Cletus, is even more of one.
** Actually, Enos was a quite competent lawman in his own right. It was more that he was restrained by the incompetence and corruption of Boss Hogg and Roscoe. Boss and Roscoe also deliberately kept him in the dark to what was really going on. When he worked for the LAPD, he built up an impressive record. As well, he was completely honest in all of his activities and the Dukes often said he was the only real law in Hazzard that people could trust and rely on.

** Nolly Gardener, of ''Literature/SalemsLot'', sort of fits the trope.

* Officer Jong-goo, the protagonist of ''Film/TheWailing'', starts the movie as a fat, bumbling idiot who constantly shows up late at crime scenes, forgets to take his rain coat when it's clearly pouring outside, can't take any initiative on his own and needs to be told everything, and is so terrified by a lone, frail (though very AxCrazy) woman that he's completely unable to do anything to defend himself, let alone to restrain her and ends up lying on the ground, embarassing himself and all the police force at once. One of the point of the movie is to show [[TakeALevelInBadass how far he's willing to change]] when his family is in danger.

* ''Every'' cop in ''DrowningMona'' is a complete idiot, except (possibly) the Chief of Police.

* The ''entire cast'' of ''{{Reno 911}}''. (Except Dangle, who's a lieutenant.)

* Jake in the western spoof ''Film/SupportYourLocalSheriff'', although he manages his GenreSavvy moments as well. (It's more a lack of enthusiasm than his being genuinely clueless.)

* Officer Lou, Marge Gunderson's assistant in ''{{Fargo}}''.

* Brett Mobley from ''Series/{{Eagleheart}}'' ccan't read and is more often used as a club than a police officer by Marshal Chris Monsanto. [[spoiler: It's all ObfuscatingStupidity designed to torment Chris, of course: Brett is actually ''{{Satan}}''.]]

* Inverted in the WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes shorts ''Drip-Along Daffy'' and ''My Little Duckaroo'', in which the sheriff (Daffy Duck) is [[LordErrorProne far more clueless]] than [[TheRadar his deputy]] (Porky Pig).

[[quoteright:351:[[TheAndyGriffithShow http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Fife_Security.jpg]]]]

* Barney Fife, of ''TheAndyGriffithShow'', is perhaps the paradigmatic example of this trope.

* Enos in ''TheDukesOfHazzard''; his SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute, Cletus, is even more of one.

* Randy Disher from ''{{Monk}}''. A few episodes show that while he's a good cop he simply isn't prepared to deal with the sort of cases that Monk gets.
** Other episodes...[[CloudCuckoolander not so much]].
* Lassie (Det. Lassiter) from ''{{Psych}}'' is a borderline case: not nearly as outrageously stupid as most of the characters listed here, he's still distinctly, and by a fair margin, the dumbest of the major characters, mostly used to provide a very easy mark for Shawn's antics.

* Sgt. Nails of ''EagleEyeMysteries'' falls most unfortunately into this category, although he's actually quite competent as an arresting officer; it's his skills as a detective that are pretty poor, as he tends to overlook certain critical clues when carrying out investigations.

* Jake in the western spoof ''SupportYourLocalSheriff'', although he manages his GenreSavvy moments as well.

* Gus Grimly in ''Series/{{fargo}}'' admits that he isn't a very good cop, and that he mostly deals with stray animals. He is much happier when he becomes a mailman.

* Sam Wood, in ''InTheHeatOfTheNight''.

* Deputy Perkins, of ''B.J. and the Bear'' and ''The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo''.

* Deputy Bart of HarryPotterComics. Because Sheriff Ned is immune to memory charms, Bart's brain has been fried a bit too much from wizards hitting him in their attempts to mind-wipe the Sheriff. Bart remains effective at what he needs to do, though.

* Nutsy and Trigger in Disney's version of ''RobinHood''. Not that the sheriff was much better.

* Enos in ''TheDukesOfHazzard''; his SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute, Cletus, is a little less so.