Months before the 2016 presidential election, Alternet writer Adam Johnson used the term “copraganda” to describe any media story that “that uncritically advances a police department’s image or helps undermine reform efforts.” The same label can be applied to the way film and television have carefully sculpted the way we view law enforcement for nearly a century. Rookie cops, hero cops, crooked cops, buddy cops, supernatural cops, even a series devoted to a “Maniac Cop.” Filmmakers like David Ayer have practically built careers out of rehashing the “dirty cop” story in films like “Training Day” and “End of Watch.” Networks have flooded our TV screens for decades with stories like “Dragnet,” “Law & Order,” NYPD Blue,” “C.S.I.,” and enough spin-offs, reboots, and copycats to fill its own streaming channel.

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