History Main / PoliceBrutalityGambit

* ''Series/CSINewYork'':
** A random crook tries this, and Mac simply points out how easy it would be for them to prove that neither he nor detective Flack could have injured him, so he hurt himself for nothing.
** An accidental version occurs a few episodes later when a teenager collapses while alone with Flack. It turns out that [[spoiler: he was responsible for framing the Victim Of The Week as being a paedophile and took an overdose of pills, which caused him to collapse]]. He's cleared in the following episode.
** In a previous episode, a SerialKiller whom Mac had been chasing for some time decided to throw himself off a building after being handcuffed so Mac would be accused of murder.

* ''Series/{{JAG}}'': In "Survivors", a [[ShellShockedVeteran Shell Shocked Marine colonel]] intends to take his son, whom he believes to be the reincarnation of a war buddy from UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar, to a cabin in the woods. Faced with an arrest warrant, he has a scuffle with an unsympathetic deputy sheriff at a gas station. Having almost reached the cabin, with the help of Harm, the cops also arrive. The incensed deputy sheriff tries to arrest Harm, but Meg claims that she has a tape from a surveillance camera at the gas station, which would show that the deputy sheriff had committed acts of PoliceBrutality. Although it's later revealed that Meg had no such video, the deputy sheriff had in fact been more brutal than necessary at the gas station and backed off from arresting Harm as a precaution.

Officer O'Troper is in an interrogation room with Professor Evil, he's started getting somewhere. They found his fingerprints all over the DeathRay and they have a receipt for a [[{{Phlebotinum}} fluxoid charger]] from Radio Shack paid for with [[ForeignMoneyIsProofOfGuilt Foreign Money]] out of Professor Evil's account. It's an open and shut- HEY! Why's the professor clawing at his own face? Prof. Evil then proceeds to cry PoliceBrutality and they're forced to release him, and he then finds an AmbulanceChaser and proceeds to unleash a FrivolousLawsuit on poor old [[ButtMonkey O'Troper]]. A {{subtrope}} of WoundedGazelleGambit which occurs in {{Police Procedural}}s. Basically a suspect injures himself and accuses the police of PoliceBrutality in order to try and get the charges dropped. Alternately, the suspect may incite the officer into hitting him.

Officer O'Troper is in an interrogation room with Professor Evil, he's started getting somewhere. They found his fingerprints all over the DeathRay and they have a receipt for a [[{{Phlebotinum}} fluxoid charger]] from Radio Shack. It's an open and shut- HEY! Why's the professor clawing at his own face? Prof. Evil then proceeds to cry PoliceBrutality and they're forced to release him, and he then finds an AmbulanceChaser and proceeds to unleash a FrivolousLawsuit on poor old [[ButtMonkey O'Troper]]. A {{subtrope}} of WoundedGazelleGambit which occurs in {{Police Procedural}}s. Basically a suspect injures himself and accuses the police of PoliceBrutality in order to try and get the charges dropped. Alternately, the suspect may incite the officer into hitting him.

* ''Webcomic/{{Gaia}}: Viviana combined this with BatmanGambit: She allowed herself to be captured by the Canian military, as part of her plan to incite rebellion. She snuck recording devices in with her, betting on the Canians looking going straight to torturing her, due to her past as leader of [[ArmyOfThievesAndWhores The Shadowdancers]]. She figured her people would get her out before the Canians could do any real damage to her (or at least was prepared to make that sacrifice). She ''didn't'' count on [[BigBad Eldor]] strolling in, slaughtering half her captors, and kidnapping her for his own purposes.

* ''Webcomic/{{Gaia}}: Viviana combined this with BatmanGambit: She allowed herself to be captured by the Canian military, as part of her plan to incite rebellion. She snuck recording devices in with her, betting on the Canians looking going straight to torturing her, due to her past as leader of [[ArmyOfThievesAndWhores The Shadowdancers]]. She figured her people would get her out before the Canians could do any real damage to her (or at least was prepared to make that sacrifice). She ''didn't'' count on [[BigBad Eldor]] strolling in, slaughtering half her captors, and kidnapping her for his own purposes.

[[folder: Western Animation ]]
* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'': In [[Recap/StarWarsRebelsS3E15ThroughImperialEyes "Through Imperial Eyes"]], [[spoiler:Ezra]] makes it look like [[spoiler:Agent Kallus]] was beating him to get a confession. Unlike most examples, however, this is because the person supposedly using PoliceBrutality is actually the ReverseMole, and they're trying to avoid getting him caught. [[TheEmpire The government in question]] couldn't care less about their officers committing police brutality, and would even encourage it (said ReverseMole is implied to have willingly beat up prisoners in the past when he was still loyal, hence why the characters are trying to keep this image up).

* In ''[[Literature/HerculePoirot Hercule Poirot's Christmas]], Magdalena Lee goes into hysterics and rushes away as she and her husband George are being interrogated, and George (who's in Parliament) promises to raise questions of police brutality in the House and slams the door. She returns later alone to admit [[spoiler:she was calling her lover on the night of the murder and therefore wanted to get George away]].

* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'': In [[Recap/StarWarsRebelsS3E15ThroughImperialEyes "Through Imperial Eyes"]], [[spoiler:Ezra]] makes it look like [[spoiler:Agent Kallus]] was beating him to get a confession. Unlike most examples, however, this is because the person supposedly using PoliceBrutality is actually the ReverseMole, and they're trying to avoid getting him caught. [[TheEmpire The government in question]] could care less about their officers committing police brutality, and would even encourage it (said ReverseMole is implied to have willingly beat up prisoners in the past when he was still loyal, hence why the characters are trying to keep this image up).

* In the climax of ''Film/HorribleBosses'', [[spoiler: Harken tries to frame Nick Dale and Kurt for Bobby Pellit's murder by shooting himself in the leg and playing the victim in front of the police. Fortunately, [[EngineeredPublicConfession the trio used a recording on Kurt's car to expose Harken as the real culprit.]]

* A memorably funny instance on an episode of ''The Smoking Gun Presents: World's Dumbest _______'': a guy punched a cement wall, then started screaming about how the police had broken his hand during the arrest. When informed he was on camera, he curled up on his bunk and started crying.
** At least two other instances has a guy banging his head against the partition in the police car in full view of the car's camera saying how they was going to get out/get back at the cop due to 'police brutality'.

* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'': In [[Recap/StarWarsRebelsS3E15ThroughImperialEyes "Through Imperial Eyes"]], [[spoiler:Ezra]] makes it look like [[spoiler:Agent Kallus]] was beating him to get a confession. Unlike most examples, however, this is because the person supposedly using PoliceBrutality is actually the ReverseMole, and they're trying to avoid getting him caught.

* ''Series/{{JAG}}'': In "Survivors", a [[ShellShockedVeteran Shell Shocked Marine colonel]] intends to take his son, whom he believes to be the reincarnation of a war buddy from TheVietnamWar, to a cabin in the woods. Faced with an arrest warrant, he has a scuffle with an unsympathetic deputy sheriff at a gas station. Having almost reached the cabin, with the help of Harm, the cops also arrive. The incensed deputy sheriff tries to arrest Harm, but Meg claims that she has a tape from a surveillance camera at the gas station, which would show that the deputy sheriff had committed acts of PoliceBrutality. Although it's later revealed that Meg had no such video, the deputy sheriff had in fact been more brutal than necessary at the gas station and backed off from arresting Harm as a precaution.

* A memorably funny instance on a recent episode of ''The Smoking Gun Presents: World's Dumbest _______'': a guy punched a cement wall, then started screaming about how the police had broken his hand during the arrest. When informed he was on camera, he curled up on his bunk and started crying.

* One episode of ''Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex'' starts with an off-duty Togusa coming to the aid of a woman being chased by an armed cyborg; Togusa has no choice but to aim at the cyborg's arms and legs just to disable him, but the cyborg still manages to shoot the woman and kill her anyway. The cyborg's defence (with the help of a corrupt District Attorney) tries to claim Togusa has a grudge against cyborgs (on the grounds that being the only baseline human in a team full of them gave him an InferioritySuperiorityComplex) and accuse him of excessive force (with the intention of [[BullyingTheDragon blackmailing Section 9]] through it). [[spoiler: There was enough incriminating evidence to give the criminal his own proper trial for murder anyway, but Section 9 weren't happy about [[EveryonesBabySister how Togusa was treated]]; the cyborg and his attorney had an [[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident unfortunate car accident]].]]

* In the Australian thriller ''The Interview'' (not to be confused with [[Film/TheInterview a controversial Seth Rogen/James Franco comedy]]), the suspect tells the police he will confess to several murders they don't even know about in exchange for some lunch. He confesses in detail while sharing a huge plate of fish and chips with the two cops, but then recants, claiming they intentionally starved him and he made up everything he told them just to get something to eat.

* ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'':
** There was once a case where Stabler beat up a suspect who fought back and accidentally hit Benson. When asked about the badly beaten man's injuries, Cabot claimed that the only ones he had were on his fist were from punching the detective and threatened to charge him with assaulting a police officer. Another time, after it was pointed out that Fin and Stabler could be charged with assault after a particularly brutal interrogation, Fin just dismissed it and said he would like to see a lawyer try it. (Of course, it would have been hard in that case, because the assault was their response to the suspect saying he needed an attorney, so he was unlikely to ask for one again even if he had not committed suicide in the interrogation room.)
** One episode had a perp pull this on Stabler, claiming he followed him home after he was released and jumped him. The stuffy, unlikeable, InternalAffairs agent naturally brings Stabler in on these charges, believing the perp in an instant, but that might be because Elliot has a history of using the JackBauerInterrogationTechnique.
** SVU ''really'' likes this trope... In the episode "Delinquent", a variant of this trope is invoked when an arrested teen loudly accuses Stabler of "touching his junk" as a patrolman is walking by. Since they were in a storage room at the time (using it as temporary lock-up rather than throwing the kid in with the adult criminals) and had their backs to the door (because the kid's hands were cuffed behind him, and Stabler was in the process of cuffing him to a rail), the patrolman could only testify in court to what he heard and what he ''didn't'' see. And once again that InternalAffairs agent instantly believes the perp.

* In ''Series/TheCloser'', Captain Raydor is royally pissed when she misses Christmas with the family because a {{creepy child}} makes some rather unconvincing claims about Pope beating him up in a closet with a baseball bat. Keep in mind, the kid's untouched, and her investigation is nothing but a technicality.
* In ''Series/TheXFiles'' the [[{{Mutants}} mutant]] serial killer [[MeaningfulName Tooms]] sneaks into Mulder's apartment and beats himself up with one of his shoes, causing Mulder to be warned to stay away from him. The fact that Mulder [[YouHaveToBelieveMe ranted that Tooms]] [[CassandraTruth was a killer mutant]] at his trial didn't help.

* This happened in an episode of ''Series/{{Life}}'' - a suspect slammed his head onto a table and then started claiming that Crews was a crazy cop who pulled a knife on him earlier (which he did, while attempting to apprehend the suspect) and now was terrorizing him. They did have to let him go - not because of the fake injury (they had tapes) but the pulled-a-knife-on-him thing, which was kind of against the rules.
* In a sketch on ''Series/AlasSmithAndJones'', a criminal having been warned that anything he says may be taken down and used in evidence starts reciting (deadpan) "What are you doing officer? Stop hitting me..." as the constable dutifully writes it down.
* Referenced in ''Series/TheWire'': Bird is injured during his arrest, so Landsman takes a Polaroid of his existing injuries so he can't claim they were inflicted in custody. But Bird is so insulting to his interrogators that [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUAbRwgkDZ0 Daniels ritually tears up the Polaroid in front of him before he, Landsman and Greggs commence with a three-man beat-down]].

* On ''Series/TheInside'' a [[EnfantTerrible psychopathic little girl]] threw herself out of a treehouse and broke her arm, pointing the finger at Agent Locke who had just confronted her with evidence she was the [[MonsterOfTheWeek murderer of the week]].
* In the pilot episode of ''Series/RoboCopTheSeries'', during Robo's first attempt to arrest Cray Mallardo, Mallardo screams and bends over in a manner that makes it look like Robocop is beating him from the perspective of the security camera in the corner. It wouldn't have held up in court against Robo's memory files, but Robocop was shot by TheDragon with an enormous rifle the moment he left the building, rendering him unable to testify.
* ''Series/{{JAG}}'': In "Survivors", a [[ShellShockedVeteran Shell Shocked Marine colonel]] intends to take his son, whom he believes to be the reincarnation of a war buddy from TheVietnamWar, to a cabin in the woods. Faced with an arrest warrant, he has a scuffle with an unsympathetic deputy sheriff at a gas station. Having almost reached the cabin, with the help of Harm, the cops also arrive. The incensed deputy sheriff tries to arrest Harm, but Meg claims that she has a tape from a surveillance camera at the gas station, which would show that the deputy sheriff had committed acts of PoliceBrutality. Although it's later revealed that Meg had no such video, the deputy sheriff had in fact been more brutal than necessary at the gas station and backed off from arresting Harm as a precaution.

[[folder: Literature ]]

* In the book ''The Invisible'' by Mats Wahl, one of the suspects smugly points out that the female cop who had struck her earlier (after said suspect rambled after killing and beating up the victim, who the female cop sympathized with) could be used as evidence against the cops.
* There's no violence involved, but in ''An Uncertain Place'', by Fred Vargas, part of [[spoiler: Emma Carnot]]'s plan to demolish Adamsberg's career involves planting false evidence in order for the rest of the police to think that [[spoiler:Adamsberg himself planted the evidence in order to accuse Vaudel's son of being the murderer.]]

[[/folder]]

* MiltonJones has dunnit, in ''TheVeryWorldOfMiltonJones''. He starts slapping himself when the interview recorder is turned on.

* This happened in an episode of ''{{Life}}'' - a suspect slammed his head onto a table and then started claiming that Crews was a crazy cop who pulled a knife on him earlier (which he did, while attempting to apprehend the suspect) and now was terrorizing him. They did have to let him go - not because of the fake injury (they had tapes) but the pulled-a-knife-on-him thing, which was kind of against the rules.

[[AC: {{Anime}} and {{Manga}}]]

[[AC:{{Film}}]]

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]

[[AC: {{Literature}}]]
* In the book ''The Invisible'' by Mats Wahl, one of the suspects smugly points out that the female cop who had struck her earlier (after said suspect rambled after killing and beating up the victim, who the female cop sympathized with) could be used as evidence against the cops.

[[AC:{{Radio}}]]

[[AC:VideoGames]]

[[AC:RealLife]]

* Doesn't work so well in RealLife. Most of the time it comes down to the police officer's word against the suspect's, and most judges will end up siding with the cop, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Eric_Garner even when there is video evidence of very real police brutality.]]

* Referenced in ''Series/TheWire'': Bird is injured during his arrest, so Landsman takes a Polaroid of his existing injuries so he can't claim they were inflicted in custody. But Bird is so insulting to his interrogators that Daniels ritually tears up the Polaroid in front of him before he, Landsman and Greggs commence with a three-man beat-down.

* Referenced in ''Series/TheWire'': Bird is injured when he's arrested, so Daniels takes a Polaroid of his existing injuries so he can't claim they were inflicted in custody. But Bird is so insulting to his interrogators that Daniels ritually tears up the Polaroid in front of him before commencing with a three-man beat-down.

* [[{{Inverted Trope}} Inverted]] in ''{{Reno 911}}''. After giving up chasing a {{Burger Fool}} mascot who disrespected them, officer Jones and Garcia have a friendly conversation with him about the chase. It comes the reasons why he was able to get away was because his milkshake costume was so heavily padded; the mascot invited the two to beat up on him with nightsticks to prove his invulnerability, to no avail. The three depart on friendly terms and soon after the milkshake guy gets hit by a speeding vehicle due to not looking both ways. But since the entire chase was filmed, it was easy work for {{Internal Affairs}} to recut it to look like the Reno cops intentionally beat up and pushed the poor man into traffic.

* In ''Film/MyNewPartner'', the CorruptCop pays a perp to do this on the rookie, as part of his ploy to corrupt him. He then tells poor rookie he's doing it all wrong, and proceeds to demonstrate ways of hitting perps without leaving a mark.

* French buddy cop comedy ''Film/LesRipoux'' has the rookie cop interrogating a suspect who immediately stands up and slams his face in the file cabinet repeatedly to fake police brutality. His senior partner arrives just after and scolds the rookie for not using a phonebook instead, because that wouldn't leave any traces.

* This trope is also discussed in ''Homicide: A Year On The Killing Streets'', from which ''HomicideLifeOnTheStreet'' took much of its inspiration. Whilst acknowledging that genuine police brutality does exist, the author notes that since most of the murders that the detectives face occur either between criminals or to people that the detective has no particular personal stake in, there's actually not a great deal of incentive for the cops to risk the case, their clear-up rates and their careers to rough up some local criminal simply to get him to confess to killing another local criminal.

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[[AC:VideoGames]]
* Inverted in ''VideoGame/{{Ripper}}'', where Detective Magnotta beats up Jake Quinlan in the interrogation room, then scratches himself with a knife so he can claim he was defending himself.

* This trope is also discussed in ''Homicide: A Year On The Killing Streets'', from which ''HomicideLifeOnTheStreet'' took much of its inspiration. Whilst acknowledging that genuine police brutality does exist, the author notes that since most of the murders that the detectives face generally tend to occur to people that the detective neither has a particular personal stake in or occur between criminals, there's actually not a great deal of incentive for the cops to risk the case, their clear-up rates and their careers to rough up some local criminal simply to get him to confess to killing another local criminal.

* Virtually every police officer has encountered this multiple times. (CitationNeeded)

* Virtually every police officer has encountered this multiple times.