Police procedural

The police procedural, police show, or police crime drama is a subgenre of procedural drama and detective fiction that emphasises accurate depiction of the investigative procedure of police officers, police detectives, or law enforcement agencies as the protagonists, as contrasted with other genres that focus on non-police investigators such as private investigators (PIs).

Many mysteries that feature a policeman as the protagonist—for example, Earl Derr Biggers's novels featuring Honolulu Police detective Charlie Chan, Ngaio Marsh's novels and short stories about Roderick Alleyn of Scotland Yard, and the TV series Columbo—are not meant as authentic depictions of the law enforcement profession, but are merely giving the protagonists an official position so that they have a "franchise," so to speak, from which to work.

As its name implies, the defining element of a police procedural is the attempt to accurately depict law enforcement and its procedures, including police-related topics such as forensic science, autopsies, gathering evidence, search warrants, interrogation, and adherence to legal restrictions and procedures.

While many police procedurals conceal the criminal's identity until the crime is solved in the narrative climax (the so-called whodunit), others reveal the perpetrator's identity to the audience early in the narrative, making it an inverted detective story.

The police procedural genre has faced criticism for its inaccurate depictions of policing and crime, depictions of racism and sexism, and that the genre is "copaganda" that promotes a one-sided depiction of police as the "good guys".

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