Editing Police procedural (section)

{{short description|Subgenre of detective fiction}}
The '''police procedural''', '''police show''', or '''police crime drama''' is a [[subgenre]] of [[procedural drama]] and [[detective fiction]] that emphasises the investigative procedure of [[police officer]]s, police [[detective]]s, or [[law enforcement agency|law enforcement agencies]] as the [[protagonist]]s, as contrasted with other genres that focus on non-police investigators such as [[private investigator]]s (PIs).{{citation needed|date=April 2022}}

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]], [[Autopsy|autopsies]], gathering [[Evidence (law)|evidence]], [[search warrant]]s, [[interrogation]], and adherence to legal restrictions and procedures.<ref>Roger Sabin, with Ronald Wilson, et al. ''Cop Shows: A Critical History of Police Dramas on Television'' (McFarland, 2015).</ref>

While many police procedurals conceal the criminal's identity until the crime is solved in the [[Climax (narrative)|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 allegations that the genre is "[[copaganda]]", or promotes a one-sided depiction of police as the "good guys".