Television shows with a police force as their set of main characters have many instances of portrayal of crime that may or may not be similar to how it actually happens in real life. The storyline of the crime sequence on the show versus real life may not match to a tee (which it’s most likely not supposed to for the sake of creative fiction), but it nonetheless raises awareness of it or otherwise brings it to memory for people that recall hearing about it on the news, or are able to decipher the plot of any given episode and recognize its similarity to an actual story.

Of course, it’s not accurate to assume that all police shows are like this when some are intended to be light, funny, or kid-friendly rather than resembling real life as seen in shows like Monk or Psych, and others are even animated like Batman: The Animated Series.

Entire episodes from the Law & Order series are inspired by some well-known news stories. Similarly, every crime portrayed on Criminal Minds is a toned down version of a real one (much the same can be said of the original CSI series) that according to its executive producer would be more shocking if portrayed as it actually was, and the reason for the toning down is also for identity protection. Meanwhile, a retired Special Agent of NCIS attested point by point to what is and isn’t accurate about the television portrayal of them, and the fictional Cold Case series features a few episodes based on true stories.

Still other shows contain footage of actual crimes that go straight from real life to the screen, such as the Cops series that debuted in 1989 or America’s Dumbest Criminals. But these shows themselves can still have a biased portrayal of their own or fulfill a role of putting each of the cases in perspective by taking time to explore the background of the crimes or criminals. If they have a funny or interesting twist, these, like many other shows, can even be decent enough to be safe for kids or sensitive audiences if they have proper discretion to determine what’s suitable for them to see or hear. This will primarily depend on whether there’s any sexually explicit content, adult content, violence, or profanity that’s a point of concern.

A good many police television shows are broadcast to a large audience that can include people considered too young to watch them. So it seems to be a popular trend to do one of several things to make them at least relatively safer for viewing: to take real scenes and tone them down, or to completely make up scenarios (possibly to avoid copyright infringement or unwanted attention to certain people) that can stimulate the same kind of imagination it took to write them on a script. Since many of them are around for only a while before being cancelled, people that watch them regularly for any reason may get around to appreciating that they may be a source of the inspiration needed for similar future shows.