History Main / StandardCopBackstory

* On ''Series/{{Bones}}'', Brennan, Booth,Sweets and later Aubrey show this trope. All three of them have a history of abuse, Brennan and Sweets both spent time in foster care, and Brennan and Booth both have a dead parent and a string of failed romances. Brennan's mother's murder [[spoiler:was unsolved until the end of the first season.]] Aubrey’s dad was an embezzler who abandoned the family when Aubrey was a kid. He comes to town near the end of the series and Aubrey has to arrest him.

* Ray Vecchio in ''Series/DueSouth'', who had an alcoholic, good-for-nothing father.

* On ''Series/{{Bones}}'', Brennan, Booth,Sweets and later Aubrey show this trope. All three of them have a history of abuse, Brennan and Sweets both spent time in foster care, and Brennan and Booth both have a dead parent and a string of failed romances. Brennan's mother's murder [[spoiler:was unsolved until the end of the first season.]] Aubrey’s dad was an embezzler who abandoned the family when Aubrey was a kid.

* On ''Series/{{Bones}}'', Brennan, Booth, and Sweets show this trope. All three of them have a history of abuse, Brennan and Sweets both spent time in foster care, and Brennan and Booth both have a dead parent and a string of failed romances. Brennan's mother's murder [[spoiler:was unsolved until the end of the first season.]]

* Multiple characters on ''Series/CriminalMinds'' have backstories that include elements of this trope, such as Reid's father's absence and his family's history of schizophrenia and JJ's sister's suicide, but the only character with enough of them to fit the trope is Morgan, who grew up in a low-income, inner-city neighborhood, lost his father at a young age, and suffered abuse at the hand of a leader in his community. Garcia's parents died when she was a teenager and she had to take care of herself. Rossi epitomizes failed relationships, having never been able to maintain a marriage. Hotch ''eventually'' falls prey to this and later to [[spoiler: a dead ex-wife - they still loved each other, though]]. His technically isn't a backstory though. Like most of the characters, his father did die when he was pretty young.

It's almost a certainty that they were abused as a child, probably by an alcoholic parent. Was the other parent dead? Maybe even both parents were dead. A stint in foster care is common. How about an irresponsible or troubled younger sibling that said character spent their earlier years taking care of? Do they have a history of failed romances and a fairly dismal personal life?

* Callen from ''Series/NCISLosAngeles'' lost his family (and his first name) when he was a child and went from one foster home to another before Hetty recruited him.

* Mike Logan of ''Series/LawAndOrder'' was seriously messed up. AbusiveParents, an alcoholic mom, a Catholic priest who molested him, and a failed relationship when his girlfriend got an abortion against his wishes. No wonder he's a CowboyCop with an explosive temper and no regard for any structured authority.

** As a child, Jane was used by his father to con desperate people out of their money. His wife and daughter were also killed by a serial killer after he psychoanalyzed said killer on national television.
* Multiple characters on ''Series/CriminalMinds'' have backstories that include elements of this trope, such as Reid's father's absence and his family's history of schizophrenia and JJ's sister's suicide, but the only character with enough of them to fit the trope is Morgan, who grew up in a low-income, inner-city neighborhood, lost his father at a young age, and suffered abuse at the hand of a leader in his community. Garcia's parents died when she was a teenager and she had to take care of herself. Rossi epitomizes failed relationships, having never been able to maintain a marriage. Hotch ''eventually'' falls prey to this and later to [[spoiler: a dead ex-wife - they still loved each other, though]]. His technically isn't a back story though. Like most of the characters, his father did die when he was pretty young.

** Gibbs has the dead spouse/child back story in spades. After that, it's failed marriage after failed marriage.

* While he is more of a vigilante than a cop, Michael from ''Series/BurnNotice'' has most of these in his back story. His father was an abusive, alcoholic gambler, which caused his family to live in poverty (not to mention an irresponsible younger brother). Like the troubled cop character, Michael chose his career as a spy because it got him away from his old life.

** Rayalan's fellow deputy US Marshalls have similar back stories. Tim also had an abusive father, drinks too much and is a ShellShockedVeteran from serving in Afghanistan. Rachell's younger sister was murdered by her abusive husband and Rachell's marriage is on the verge of collapse.

** Danny grew up fairly poor in "a family of cops." It was his ''older'' brother who was the irresponsible one, joining a local gang while Danny took the responsible path into law enforcement, giving him BigBrotherResponsibility by proxy.

** Jim Brass had an affair, followed by a divorce from the wife who was also having an affair, and a daughter, Ellie, who went completely off the rails and turned to prostitution and drugs.[[spoiler: It eventually turns out his daughter isn't actually his daughter.]] Oh, yeah, and he accidentally shot another policeman once.

** Morgan didn't have much contact with her dad, Ecklie, after her mom took her and left. At least til she started working around him in Las Vegas.

** Calleigh Duquesne has an alcoholic father

** Stella was an orphan almost from birth.
** Mac is a 9/11 widower who buried himself in work afterward to cope with the pain. He also had an incident as a teenager where he tagged along with a friend who had a delivery job and the friend's brother. The group was attacked, and Mac grabbed a nearby gun, but was too scared to fire it, and the friend's brother was killed. The now ex-friend still blamed Mac for it even as an adult.

* ''Series/{{NCIS}}'': Gibbs has the dead spouse/child back story in spades. After that, it's failed marriage after failed marriage. Tony's father was a useless alcoholic who neglected him and sent him to live in boarding schools after his mother died. Ziva's sort of difficult to place. Her upbringing was rough; she grew up surrounded by violence, her father admitted to having "raised her to be a killer", and most of her immediate family had died by the time she joined the show. [=McGee=]'s father, a Naval admiral, was absent during most of his childhood and a neglectful WellDoneSonGuy when he ''wasn't'' absent. [=McGee=] also has a troubled little sister. And Palmer, while not an agent, also revealed that his daddy wasn't exactly Father of the Year.

* ''Series/{{CSI}}''
** Until he hooked up with Sara Sidle, Gil Grissom was a workaholic with no personal life and hinted at an unhappy childhood -mainly the death of his father; things were ok with his mom. Asked what he was at high school, he replied "A ghost."

** Warrick lost his parents as a young child and was raised by his grandmother. He had a hard time staying out of trouble.
* ''Series/{{CSI Miami}}''

* ''Series/{{CSI NY}}''

* Just about everyone on ''Series/ChicagoPD'' has some tragedy in their past: Voight's father, who was also a cop, was killed when Voight was eight. Lindsay, whose mother was a junkie and father was in prison, bounced around foster homes. Halstead, Olinsky and Mouse were all in the service. Atwater has custody of his ten-year-old sister. Ruzek's parents had an extremely vicious divorce when he was a child. Platt was shot in the line of duty and ended up on desk duty for the rest of her career. Nadia was a teenage drug addict working as an escort.

* Just about everyone on ''Series/ChicagoPD'' has some tragedy in their past: Voight's father, who was also a cop, was killed when Voight was eight. Lindsay, whose mother was a junkie and father was in prison, bounced around foster homes. Halstead, Olinsky and Mouse were all in the service. Atwater has custody of his ten-year-old sister. Ruzek's parents had an extremely vicious divorce when he was a child. Nadia was a teenage drug addict working as an escort.

-->-- ''Film/{{Deadpool}}''

** Also from NY,Don Flack has spent a lot of time trying to keep his troubled sister on the right track, even before the show started.

** Jo-divorced,lost her sister to a drunk driver

* ''Series/{{NCIS}}'': Gibbs has the dead spouse/child back story in spades. After that, it's failed marriage after failed marriage. Tony's father was a useless alcoholic who neglected him and sent him to live in boarding schools after his mother died. Ziva's sort of difficult to place. Her upbringing was rough; she grew up surrounded by violence, her father admitted to having "raised her to be a killer", and most of her immediate family had died by the time she joined the show. [=McGee=]'s father, a Naval admiral, was absent during most of his childhood and a neglectful WellDoneSonGuy when he ''wasn't'' absent. [=McGee=] also has a troubled little sister.
** Fortunately, this is balanced out by several characters who seem to have had happy, normal childhoods, including Abby and Palmer.

** Notably averted with Don. Charlie's being a prodigy caused a few small issues, but he was always loved and cared for. There's a reason he's still so close with his family.

* MissingMom and/or DisappearedDad. Bonus points if this is due to murder. Double bonus points if the murder is unsolved.

* A Military Career.
* Little to no personal life, often a result of the character being MarriedToTheJob.

** Detective Olivia Benson from believed for many years that she was a ChildByRape. Her mother was also an alcoholic, and her half-brother is an irresponsible ManChild she feels responsible for. She also struggles to have a personal life because of the nature of her job.

It�s almost a certainty that they were abused as a child, probably by an alcoholic parent. Was the other parent dead? Maybe even both parents were dead. A stint in foster care is common. How about an irresponsible or troubled younger sibling that said character spent their earlier years taking care of? Do they have a history of failed romances and a fairly dismal personal life?