How The Shield Redefined Police On TV

According to a recent write-up in Jacobin, The Shield helped to progress middle America’s understanding of modern policing as it exists within the real world.

Unlike previous police programs, which displayed cops as a unilaterally positive force, stopping killers and busting terrorism, The Shield portrays a shockingly realistic and nuanced peak into law enforcement operations.

The show, which saw its 20th anniversary last year, focused on a highly corrupt anti-gang unit in the LAPD, whose illegal approach to policing ironically caused the police force to behave like a gang all their own.

In the show, Michael Chiklis’ Detective Vic Mackey violates just about every law he’s sworn to uphold, including taking bribes, planting evidence, selling drugs, and committing murder.

While modern audiences may be used to seeing corrupt cops, both fictional and real, flooding their television screens today, The Shield‘s portrayal was revolutionary for its time.

The show’s pilot was apparently based on the Rampart Scandal, which saw LAPD officers pilfering millions of dollars worth of confiscated cocaine from an evidence locker, with the intent to sell it for personal wealth.

Series creator Shawn Ryan conducted a series of ride-alongs in preparation for the full series order, and described his time shadowing real LAPD officers as intensely dark and harrowing.

Through its portrayal of the dark and twisted underbelly of the crime world, The Shield paved the way for shows like True Detective, Street Kings, Narcos, Homeland, and even other modern anti-hero shows such as Breaking Bad and Mad Men.

The show is widely considered to be the first television program to depict police officers being openly racist, having sex with their suspects, using and selling narcotics, and showing a flagrant lack of respect for the rights of due process and civil liberties of the American citizen.

Unfortunately, these issues are not rooted entirely in fiction, as the show simply holds a mirror to the world of true policing.

The public has seen scandals echoing the themes of The Shield time and time again in the decades since the show first aired, with police officers abusing their power at an alarming rate.

While some individuals wish they could simply reduce or eliminate police misconduct by removing a few so-called “bad apples” from the police force, the truth of the matter is significantly more permeative within American society.

Though many police officers are good people in their heart, and may not abuse the law themselves, shows like The Shield inform the public just how deep the tendrils of poor policing go.

Without addressing the root cause of crime and societal failings like poverty, a state-sanctioned police force essentially serves as a militia funded with the intent of harming poor and underprivileged communities.

The Shield serves as a prime example of art functioning as a lens to view the human condition from new and fascinating angles.

Source: Jacobin