Steven Thrasher has long been critical of the entertainment world's ubiquitous portrait of the police officer as an unassailable figure of authority. Following the recent killing of George Floyd in police custody and worldwide protests against police brutality and systemic racism, many people are questioning their long-held assumptions about law enforcement. (Submitted by Steven Thrasher)That reflection extends to the broader influence of TV, which has long focused cop shows on sympathetic depictions from the officers' perspectives, from Dragnet to Hill Street Blues, Cops to Law & Order, Flashpoint to Blue Bloods. This week, Paramount Network cancelled Cops, a controversial TV stalwart that ran for more than three decades. (David Donnelly/CBC)Sutherland is opposed to eliminating the genre of police shows, since "police brutality has been going on from day one."

Source: CBC News June 12, 2020 08:01 UTC