Police procedural drama is a detective fiction. It investigates the procedure of one or multiple police officers (the protagonists). The main purpose of a police crime drama is to aim to display the law enforcement profession. In order to try to accurately depict what the profession entails, procedures such as autopsies, forensic science and interrogations are used within the dramas.
Many police procedurals hide the criminals identity until the crime is solved at the narrative climax, and some reveal the criminals identity just to the audience earlier, which makes it an inverted detective story.
It is thought that police procedurals date back to around mid-1800s, with the novel ‘The Moonstone’ by Wilkie Collins being the earliest example of the genre.
Police procedural increased in popularity mainly after the second world war. ‘The Street with No Name’ (1948) and ‘T-Men’ (1947) are just two examples of police procedurals from around that time.
This genre has continued to grow in popularity and still holds great entertainment value today. A commonly known modern example of police procedural is the series ‘Brooklyn Nine Nine’.
Why do we enjoy watching this genre?
Police procedural dramas can be quite addicting to watch. I think that this is because it gives the audience an insight into the world of law enforcement, commonly in a more comedic way.
Also, when the audience knows that someone had committed a crime, it is very satisfying to see them get locked up and for justice to be served.
The fact that police procedural dramas are fiction means that investigations can go on that are far more interesting than what we see in real life. We get a detailed look at the way the protagonists handle certain situations and it hooks the audience in.
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