American television audiences have long been accustomed to the celebration of rawkus police action via the Fox Network’s signature exploitation, COPS. And while, for many, the show is a tell-tale sign of our militarized world, for others, it represents something far more sinister and far-reaching. Namely, the broad inculcation and deep internalization of the notion that society cannot exist without the men and women in blue who patrol the perimeter of our increasingly gated communities. By carefully omitting coverage of police brutality and corruption, COPS has succesfully sanitized the image of our urban police forces in ways that few propagandists could have ever imagined possible.
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