History Main / MeddlesomePatrolman

This is the beat cop who wears a uniform, patrols the neighborhood, controls traffic at cross-sections, and watches for infractions to the road code. Heroes who break the law whether unwittingly or out of childish mischief will likely end up on his wrong side, and be given a fine or taken to the local police precinct. Neither a RabidCop, a CowboyCop, nor an OldFashionedCopper, the MeddlesomePatrolman is still liable to be as annoying as the ObstructiveBureaucrat.

* There's a cop in ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'' who shows up in a few episodes giving out tickets to characters ([[ButtMonkey Usually Squidward]]) for really petty crimes; in at least one episode where he shows up he blatantly ignores a more serious crime to ticket Squidward for littering.

!!Examples

* Agent 15 in ''ComicStrip/QuickAndFlupke''.

* ''ComicStrip/PietPienterEnBertBibber'': Commissaris Knobbel and his police officers.

** Funny story, actually; Paul [=McCartney=] wrote this one as a sarcastic love song to a woman who had given him a ticket not too long prior. When asked about the woman's name, his reply was something along the lines of "She looked like a Rita to me." It is no doubt merely coincidence that choosing that name made it easier to find rhymes for "parking meter"...

[[folder:Theatre]]

* The French movie ''Film/LeGendarmeDeSaintTropez'' and its five sequels are a film series were not only the main character (played by Creator/LouisDeFunes) but most of the supporting cast is this kind of cop, of the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Gendarmerie National Gendarmerie]] subtype.

* ComicBook/BouleEtBill: Agent 25.

* Also a stock character in the Belgian comic strip ''ComicStrip/PietPienterEnBertBibber''.

* Also a stock character in the Belgian comic strip ''PietPienterEnBertBibber''.

Compare SympatheticInspectorAntagonist.

!!Examples:

* Hotori, the main character of ''Manga/SoredemoMachiWaMawatteiru'', has a long running feud with the stressed neighbourhood cop Matsuda, although besides being cheeky, playing hooky and sneaking out at night she isn't exactly a delinquent.

* ''{{Agent 212}}'' is an interesting case of a Meddlesome Patrolman who is also the protagonist of a series rather than a supporting character.
* Agent Bodard in ''{{Corinne et Jeannot}}''. His main purpose seems to add insult to injury caused by Corinne on Jeannot.

* Agent Tieter in the Belgian comic strip "De Vrolijke Bengels" by Willy Vandersteen.
* De Champetter in the Belgian comic strip "De Lustige Kapoentjes" by Marc Sleen.
* In the German comic ''ComicBook/{{Werner}}'': Bruno and Helmut. %% This entry was added automatically by FELH2. In case the wording doesn't make sense, rewrite it as you like, remove this comment and tell this troper.
* In ''MsTree'', the title character originally worked as a parking attendant who met her future husband when she ticketed him.

* Also a stock character in the Belgian comic strip PietPienterEnBertBibber.

* ''Literature/TheElenium''

* A ''Webcomic/{{PvP}}'' arc had Brent get on the wrong side of a bike cop that turned into a mixture of one of this with a full-blown stalker.

* There's a cop in ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarepants'' who shows up in a few episodes giving out tickets to characters ([[ButtMonkey Usually Squidward]]) for really petty crimes; in at least one episode where he shows up he blatantly ignores a more serious crime to ticket Squidward for littering.

* Agent 22 was a recurring nemesis of ''BouleEtBill'' in the early albums.

* Lokal police officer Flipsen in the Dutch children's novel "Dik Trom" is always the ButtMonkey of Dik Trom's jokes.

* Agent 15 in QuickAndFlupke.

A frequent recurring minor character in classic FrancoBelgianComics and an obvious foil to protagonists who are either street urchins or just regular children who use the streets as a playground. So, expect some examples to be found in older American shows and comic strips (basically dating from before the rise of suburbia). The meter maid is a possible variation.

* ''ComicBook/GastonLagaffe'': Joseph Longtarin is Gaston's nemesis, forever looking for a reason to give him a fine for this or that alleged traffic violation. Gaston retaliates with various practical jokes that often involve parking meters.

!!Examples

* ''Agent 212'' is an interesting case of a Meddlesome Patrolman who is also the protagonist of a series rather than a supporting character.
* Agent Bodard in ''Corinne et Jeannot''. His main purpose seems to add insult to injury caused by Corinne on Jeannot.
* Agent 22 was a recurring nemesis of BouleEtBill in the early albums.
* Agent Dussiflet or his peers get to slap a fine on ComicBook/AchilleTalon, or drag him in handcuffs to the local police precinct, on more than one occasion.

* The motorcycle cop played by Tim Robbins in Creator/RobertAltman's ''Short Cuts'' takes advantage of his uniform to pull over good-looking women and ask them for dates.

* ''Marie Pervenche'', a French live-action TV series from the 1980s. Although the eponymous character doesn't spend much time doing that job before adventure calls. OTOH, Danièle Evenou, the actress who played her, is wacky enough in real life to be compared to Gaston Lagaffe.
* Bruce "The Goose" Hopkins, the council bylaws officer from the Australian kids show ''Streetsmartz''.

A frequent recurring minor character in classic {{Franco-Belgian Comics}} and an obvious foil to protagonists who are either street urchins or just regular children who use the streets as a playground. So, expect some examples to be found in older American shows and comic strips (basically dating from before the rise of suburbia). The meter maid is a possible variation.

* ''GastonLagaffe'': Joseph Longtarin is Gaston's nemesis, forever looking for a reason to give him a fine for this or that alleged traffic violation. Gaston retaliates with various practical jokes that often involve parking meters.

* The French movie ''[[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058135/ Le Gendarme de Saint-Tropez]]'' and its five sequels are a film series were not only the main character (played by Creator/LouisDeFunes) but most of the supporting cast is this kind of cop, of the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Gendarmerie National Gendarmerie]] subtype.

* If border guards count, then ''TheTamuli'' has a great example in the form of some Cynesgan guards who were deliberately trying to stall Sparhawk. This being a work starring Sparhawk, [[MurderIsTheBestSolution constructive Elenishism]] ends up taking care of the problem.
** In ''TheElenium'', there's two cases when officers try to hassle a troop of [[BadassArmy Church Knights]] escorting their [[GeneralBadass Preceptors]]. Intimidation (and a perfectly-legal field demotion) wins the first time, but the second time Sparhawk lets Faran work out some aggression by trampling the idiot.

* ''Marie Pervenche'', a French live-action TV series from the 1980s. Although the eponymous character doesn't spend much time doing that job before adventure calls. OTOH, Danièle Evenou, the actress who played her, is wacky enough in real life to be compared to GastonLagaffe.

* Agent 22 was a recurring nemesis of BouleEtBIll in the early albums.

* The motorcycle cop played by Tim Robbins in RobertAltman's ''Short Cuts'' takes advantage of his uniform to pull over good-looking women and ask them for dates.

* Mandatory ''{{Literature/Discworld}}'' reference: that would be Sergeant Colon and possibly Corporal Nobbs. Colon especially hits the Meddlesome Patrolman wall ''hard'' when he is temporarily promoted to Captain during the events of ''Discworld/TheFifthElephant''.

* A ''{{Webcomic/PvP}}'' arc had Brent get on the wrong side of a bike cop that turned into a mixture of one of this with a full-blown stalker.

%%Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1326683780035240100
%%Please do not change or remove without starting a new thread.

* CharlieChaplin's character of The Tramp has often to deal with a Meddlesome Patrolman (or ten) in many of his movies.

* Karen and Davis from ''Series/CornerGas'' occasionally do this.[[SmallTownBoredom Usually because they don't have anything else to do.]]

* Karen and Davis from ''Series/CornerGas'' occasionally do this. [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SmallTownBoredom Usually because they don't have anything else to do.]]

* Karen and Davis from ''Series/CornerGas'' occasionally do this.

----

[[quoteright:350:[[TopCat http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Top-Cat_copy_5468.jpg]]]]

!!Examples:

* Agent Dussiflet or his peers get to slap a fine on AchilleTalon, or drag him in handcuffs to the local police precinct, on more than one occasion.

* The French movie ''[[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058135/ Le Gendarme de Saint-Tropez]]'' and its five sequels are a film series were not only the main character (played by Louis de Funès) but most of the supporting cast is this kind of cop, of the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Gendarmerie National Gendarmerie]] subtype.

* Pretty much every episode of ''TopCat'' revolves around the cats running some shady scheme while trying to keep Officer Dibble out of the loop.

* Officer Obie from ''AlicesRestaurant'', who treats a case of littering as it were the crime of the century.