Police procedural
The police procedural is a sub-genre of the mystery story. It attempts to accurately depict the activities of a police force as they investigate crimes.
The genre has been popular both on TV and in print.
On TV, the serial format permits a detailed building of characters and character relationships. The police department's regular roster of work also provides a functioning plot generator of matters ranging from minor to major, permitting a certain realism that works well within the format.
Notable police procedurals featuring women in the lead include Cagney and Lacey and Cold Squad. Other police procedural TV series featuring lead female characters include:
- Cagney & Lacey (1982 to 1988)
- Prime Suspect (1991 to 2006)
- Profiler (1996-2000)
- Cold Squad (1998 to 2005)
- The Closer (2005 - current)
- Cold Case (2003 - current)
- Women's Murder Club (2007 - current)
In film, the police procedural is apt to become an action film or a legal thriller.
The police procedural has been adapted to other settings, including historical settings (medieval, Regency, Victorian) and SFnal settings.
Some SF attempts to depict police procedurals in SFnal settings, such as the future, or other planets, or integrate SFnal elements into police procedural stories.
The television series Life on Mars (2006) follows the adventures of a male police officer from the year 2006 who, after being hit by a car, wakes up in 1973, where he is still somehow a police officer, and must adapt to the different methods used at the time.
The series Day Break (2006) followed another male police officer, played by Taye Diggs, who relived the same day over and over.
Lisa Barnett and Melissa Scott's Point of Hope series, including Point of Dreams and Point of Hope, are police procedurals in a fantasy setting.
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