History Main / DirtyCop

[[caption-width-right:350: ''This'' cop defunds ''you.'']]

See BlackmailIsSuchAnUglyWord, CutHimselfShaving, RabidCop, SuspiciouslyIdleOfficers, BigotWithABadge, PrisonRape, SmallTownTyrant, LawmanGoneBad, etc. (especially CowboyCop and TheBadGuysAreCops). If a cop outright murders people, you've got a KillerCop. A dirty cop who gets sent to prison probably becomes a PariahPrisoner, hated by regular inmates. Compare NaughtyNarcs where it is the Drug Enforcement Administration (or the equivalent drug squad) that is portrayed as corrupt and dirty.

[[caption-width-right:350:There's always a cop who ''everyone'' agrees should be defunded.]]

** ''[[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyDualDestinies Dual Destinies]]'' brings us a dirty bomb squad member in Ted Tonate, who [[spoiler:sells the bombs he dismantles in the black market and offed a detective who caught him stealing one]].
** ''Dual Destinies'' also gives us a played-with example in [[spoiler: Bobby Fulbright, a cheery and justice-loving detective who's probably ''the'' morally cleanest police officer in the games... but we never meet Bobby Fulbright; by the time the game begins the BigBad has [[KillAndReplaced killed and replaced him]]. The fake Bobby Fulbright was only there to destroy some important evidence that could have uncovered his identity, although his help was completely genuine in cases that weren't involved with his mission.]]
** In addition, ''Dual Destinies'' deals with the fallout of having so many corrupt members of law enforcement and the legal system: the public has zero faith in the legal system, and as a result, the majority of the legal profession has no qualms about being dirty, as long as it gets a victory.

* One of the game pieces added to later editions of ''TabletopGame/{{Clue}}'' is Sergeant Gray, a police detective who is himself a suspect in the murder of Black/Boddy. Supplemental materials give him other skeletons in his closet as well.
* In ''TabletopGame/{{Planescape}}'', despite the fact that the Harmonium is supposed to be most appealing to LawfulGood types, there are so many LawfulEvil members walking the beat who use their power as Sigil's police force as an excuse to extort, beat, threaten and otherwise harass anyone they don't like that every Sigil native presumes they're ''all'' dirty. Especially because the Faction is the game's poster boy for OrderIsNotGood and the rot goes all the way up to the top, meaning that even good Harmonium members will close ranks to protect their corrupt members, under the justification that solving such problems is a matter for internal affairs.
* Pretty much universal among the privatized police forces of ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}''. Lone Star and Knight Errant's privatized police are nearly all on the take; investigating crimes doesn't pay much in [[CrapsackWorld this world]], and taking criminals in means a lot more paperwork than either shaking them down for bribes or [[TheCoronerDothProtestTooMuch arranging an accident]].
* One of the vignettes in ''TabletopGame/TranshumanSpace: Toxic Memes'' concerns a pack of feral dogs that turn out to be led by [[UpliftedAnimal uplifted]] dogs working for a local cartel. The ultimate leader is revealed to be a police dog who faked his own death during a raid on the cartel.

All too often an example of TruthInTelevision, for too many reasons to count. May escalate to BadCopIncompetentCop for entire precincts.

* ''WebVideo/PokemonPals'': All Officer Jennys are corrupt. One takes bribes, another helps run a fighting ring, and another agrees to let Ash go if he doesn't report that she sicked a Growlithe on him after macing him in the face.
* ''WebVideo/BuzzfeedUnsolved'' discusses this trope frequently in the True Crime seasons since it's sometimes the reason why cases are unsolved in the first place. This was particularly notable in the Sodder Children episode, where the authorities located only a few miles away showed up hours after the house was set on fire, and in the episode about the Keddie Cabin Massacre, where it has often been theorized that the authorities were covering something up, due to the sheer negligence that was shown to the case.
-->'''Shane:''' '70s and '80s police were always just like, "Oh you murdered someone?" ''[beat]'' "Got 40 bucks?"

* Harry has a rather cynical view of law enforcement in general in ''Harry Potter and the Mind'':

See BlackmailIsSuchAnUglyWord, CutHimselfShaving, RabidCop, SuspiciouslyIdleOfficers, NobleBigotWithABadge, PrisonRape, SmallTownTyrant, LawmanGoneBad, etc. (especially CowboyCop and TheBadGuysAreCops). If a cop outright murders people, you've got a KillerCop. A dirty cop who gets sent to prison probably becomes a PariahPrisoner, hated by regular inmates. Compare NaughtyNarcs where it is the Drug Enforcement Administration (or the equivalent drug squad) that is portrayed as corrupt and dirty.

* ''Franchise/AceAttorney'':

** ''Dual Destinies'' also gives us [[spoiler:Bobby Fulbright, who seems at first to be one of the nicest and most morally good cops in the series. Except he was [[KillAndReplace killed and replaced]] by the game's BigBad, the phantom, before the game even began.]]

See BlackmailIsSuchAnUglyWord, CutHimselfShaving, RabidCop, SuspiciouslyIdleOfficers, NobleBigotWithABadge, PrisonRape, CorruptHick, LawmanGoneBad, etc. (especially CowboyCop and TheBadGuysAreCops). If a cop outright murders people, you've got a KillerCop. A dirty cop who gets sent to prison probably becomes a PariahPrisoner, hated by regular inmates. Compare NaughtyNarcs where it is the Drug Enforcement Administration (or the equivalent drug squad) that is portrayed as corrupt and dirty.

** "'''The White Night'''" by Cledus Maggard and the Citizens Band. Written by advertising executive Jay Huguely (who recorded using the pseudonym Maggard), the song's antagonist was a Georgia highway patrolman who posed as a fellow truck driver who scouts for speed traps and, broadcasting there are no "smokies" in sight, the protagonist truck driver can drive as fast as he pleases... only to find out that it is a speed trap and that he was nailed for going 40 mph over the speed limit.

** ''[[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyDualDestinies Dual Destinies]]'' brings us a dirty bomb squad member in Ted Tonate, who [[spoiler:sells the bombs he dismantles in the black market and offed a detective who caught him in the act]].

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* Most people who only know the first few lines of the [[{{Vaudeville}} music hall]] song "If You Want to Know the Time, Ask a Policeman" think it's about how reliable the police are. The point is actually that they've lifted the pocket watches from drunks while escorting them to the cells. Subsequent verses recommend asking a policeman if you want to know where to get a drink after hours if you want to know where your housemaid ran off to, if you want to [[DirtyCoward learn to run]] and if you want someone to keep your wife company when you're away from home.