History Main / StrangeCopInAStrangeLand

* In ''Series/TimeTrax'' this trope crosses over with FishOutOfTemporalWater, wherein late 22nd-century Fugitive Retrieval Section Captain Darien Lambert pursues convicts who've escaped to the late 1990s. StrangeCopInAStrangeTime, perhaps?

** Mac in Chicago. The CPD does not like him waving his badge to get into a vacant Tribune building floor on ''Series/{{CSI NY}}''.

* In ''Film/RedHeat'', Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger plays a humorless Soviet cop on a special mission to arrest a drug kingpin that has fled to Chicago. Creator/JamesBelushi is the laid-back American cop paired with him.

[[folder:Film]]

* The ''Film/RushHour'' movies. In the first, Inspector Lee (Jackie Chan) is the (very) Strange Cop in the (very) Strange Land, in this case Los Angeles. In the second movie, Detective Carter (Chris Tucker) has to figure out how to fit in in Hong Kong. In the third movie, both are Strange Cops in Paris.
** [[SpiritualSuccessor Spiritual]]... "Predecessor" ''Film/ShanghaiNoon'' stars Jackie Chan as Chinese ''Imperial Guard'' Chong Wang (pronounced Creator/JohnWayne), who travels to TheWildWest to rescue a kidnapped Chinese princess and later [[IChooseToStay decides to stay]] and become a sheriff in Nevada. In the sequel ''Film/ShanghaiKnights'', Chong and his American pal Roy team with UsefulNotes/ScotlandYard to catch an international criminal in VictorianLondon.

* The ''Literature/RiversOfLondon'' book ''Foxglove Summer'' drags DC Peter Grant into the countryside. According to Ben Aaronovitch, it was originally going to be the second book, but the publishers felt there should be more books set in London to establish Peter as a CityMouse before taking him out of his comfort zone.

* Beka Cooper of the Literature/TortallUniverse experiences this in ''Bloodhound'' when her investigation takes her out of Corus to Port Caynn. Fortunately, part of her cover is being flighty and incompetent, so she can get away with not knowing where everything is. Unfortunately, [[spoiler:the head of the Provost's Guard is totally cowed by the local crime lord]].
* ''[[Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse Star Wars: The Essential Guide to Droids]]'' recounts an anecdote where a [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/501-Z_police_droid 501-Z police droid]] pursued a crime lord to Nar Shaddaa, one of many {{Wretched Hive}}s in the Galaxy Far, Far Away. Not really getting that its authority wasn't any good there, it attempted to proceed according to normal procedure and got blasted.
* In the ''Literature/AnnaPigeon'' novels, Anna is a law enforcement park ranger whose usually works in the wilds of various large national parks. In ''Liberty Falling'', she visits New York City and ends up solving a crime while staying on the ranger accommodation on Liberty Island.
* The ''Literature/RiversOfLondon'' book ''Foxglove Summer'' drags DC Peter Grant into the countryside. According to Ben Aaronovitch, it was originally going to be the second book, but the publishers felt there should be more books set in London to establish Peter as a CityMouse, before taking him out of his comfort zone.
* In ''[[Literature/SonchaiJitpleecheep Bangkok 8]]'', FBI Agent Jones is the Strange Cop in Thailand, cheerfully attaching herself to local cop Sonchai Jitpleecheep.

* ''The Film/FrenchConnection II'' finds Detective Popeye Doyle, the New York narc from the first film, traveling to Marseilles to catch the French drug kingpin. He isn't fond of the French law officials, and they aren't very fond of the alleged "true American hero".

* In ''[[Literature/RoyalThaiDetective Bangkok 8]]'', FBI Agent Jones is the Strange Cop in Thailand, cheerfully attaching herself to local cop Sonchai Jitpleecheep.

* Sam Vimes in the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novels ''Discworld/{{Jingo}}'' ([[{{Qurac}} Klatch]]), ''Discworld/TheFifthElephant'' ({{Uberwald}})), ''Discworld/{{Thud}}'' (Uberwald again) and ''Discworld/{{Snuff}}'' ([[UsefulNotes/HomeCounties the Shires]] [[spoiler: and [[TheCityOfLight Quirm]]]]). And also ''Discworld/NightWatch'', where the strange and foreign country is his own native Ankh-Morpork -- but thirty years previously in his past...

A very effective story-telling tool, this trope can set the stage for many interesting deconstructions, reconstructions, or parodies of cop/detective tropers. One of the most popular byproducts of this trope is the CultureClash between a CowboyCop and his ByTheBookCop partner. Indeed, the Cowboy Cop may come from a place where his rule-breaking antics are not only not punished, but are necessary to his job, but he relocates to a place where such initiative is frowned upon. Naturally JurisdictionFriction may occur.

** [[SpiritualSuccessor Spiritual]]... "Predecessor" ''Film/ShanghaiNoon'' stars Jackie Chan as Chinese ''Imperial Guard'' Chong Wang (pronounced Creator/JohnWayne), who travels to TheWildWest to rescue a kidnapped Chinese princess and later [[IChooseToStay decides to stay]] and become a sheriff in Nevada. In the sequel ''ShanghaiKnights'', Chong and his American pal Roy team with UsefulNotes/ScotlandYard to catch an international criminal in VictorianLondon.

** [[SpiritualSuccessor Spiritual]]... "Predecessor" ''ShanghaiNoon'' stars Jackie Chan as Chinese ''Imperial Guard'' Chong Wang (pronounced Creator/JohnWayne), who travels to TheWildWest to rescue a kidnapped Chinese princess and later [[IChooseToStay decides to stay]] and become a sheriff in Nevada. In the sequel ''ShanghaiKnights'', Chong and his American pal Roy team with UsefulNotes/ScotlandYard to catch an international criminal in VictorianLondon.

* In ''RedHeat'', Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger plays a humorless Soviet cop on a special mission to arrest a drug kingpin that has fled to Chicago. Creator/JamesBelushi is the laid-back American cop paired with him.

* In ''{{Narcos}}'', DEA Agent Murphy didn't even speak Spanish when he arrived in Colombia.
* ''MartialLaw'' [[FollowTheLeader repeats the formula]] of ''Rush Hour'' with the very FishOutOfWater Shanghai cop Shammo Law travelling to Los Angeles on a special mission and then staying as part of a new exchange program. The trope is averted with his pupil Pei-Pei, who was raised in America and is familiar with the local culture.

* In ''Film/BlackRain'', a simple task to return a Yakuza back to the Japanese authorities leads to two NYPD cops getting embroiled in a gang war in Tokyo.

* ''Film/DemolitionMan'': a [[CowboyCop loose cannon]] LAPD cop from the late '90s wakes up in a pacifist dystopia.

* One of the best examples is TheEighties hit ''Film/BeverlyHillsCop''. The eponymous character is not a policeman in Beverly Hills, but rather a UsefulNotes/{{Detroit}} cop whose CowboyCop ways clash with the more straight-laced Bevery Hills PD. To be fair, his CowboyCop ways clash with his own superiors in Detroit as well.

* In ''RedHeat'', Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger plays a humorless Soviet cop on a special mission to arrest a drug kingpin that has fled to Chicago. Creator/JimBelushi is the laid-back American cop paired with him.

** OriginalFlavor ''Series/CSICrimeSceneInvestigation'' also had "Jackpot", where Grissom travels to a small mountain town after a severed head is mailed to Las Vegas from there; and "Hollywood Brass" and "Two and a Half Deaths", where Grissom and Brass travel to Los Angeles as part of their current investigations (though ironically, this is where ''CSI'' was [[CaliforniaDoubling actually filmed]]).

** OriginalFlavor ''Series/CSICrimeSceneInvestigation'' also had "Jackpot", where Grissom travels to a small mountain town after a severed head is mailed to Las Vegas from there; and "Hollywood Brass" and "Two and a Half Deaths", where Grissom and Brass travel to Los Angeles as part of their current investigtions (though ironically, this is where ''CSI'' was [[CaliforniaDoubling actually filmed]]).

** OriginalFlavor ''Series/CSICriminalInvestigation'' also had "Jackpot", where Grissom travels to a small mountain town after a severed head is mailed to Las Vegas from there; and "Hollywood Brass" and "Two and a Half Deaths", where Grissom and Brass travel to Los Angeles as part of their current investigtions (though ironically, this is where ''CSI'' was [[CaliforniaDoubling actually filmed]]).