Editing Police procedural (section)

==Early history==
The roots of the police procedural have been traced to at least the mid-1880s. [[Wilkie Collins]]'s novel ''[[The Moonstone]]'' (1868), a tale of a [[Scotland Yard]] detective investigating the theft of a valuable diamond, has been described as perhaps the earliest clear example of the genre.<ref>{{cite book |title=Noir in the North Genre, Politics and Place |date=2020 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |page=247|isbn=9781501342882 |quote=Some critics point back to ''The Moonstone'' (1868) by Wilkie Collins as an early novel describing police work at Scotland Yard|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kQ_0DwAAQBAJ}}</ref><ref>Wheat, Carolyn (2003) ''How to Write Killer Fiction: The Funhouse Of Mystery & The Roller Coaster Of Suspense''. Santa Barbara, PA: Perseverance Press, {{ISBN|1880284626}}</ref>

As detective fiction rose to worldwide popularity in the late 19th century and early 20th century, many of the pioneering and most popular characters, at least in the English-speaking world, were private investigators or amateurs. See [[C. Auguste Dupin]], [[Sherlock Holmes]], [[Sam Spade]], [[Miss Marple]] and others. [[Hercule Poirot]] was described as a veteran of the Belgian police, but as a protagonist he worked independently. Only after World War II would police procedural fiction rival the popularity of PIs or amateur sleuths.<ref>Sabin, 2015.</ref>

[[Lawrence Treat]]'s 1945 novel ''V as in Victim'' is often cited as the first police procedural, by [[Anthony Boucher]] (mystery critic for the ''[[New York Times]] Book Review'') among others. Another early example is [[Hillary Waugh]]'s ''[[Last Seen Wearing ... (Hillary Waugh novel)|Last Seen Wearing...]]'' 1952. Even earlier examples from the 20th&nbsp;century, predating Treat, include the novels ''Vultures in the Dark'', 1925, and ''The Borrowed Shield'', 1925, by [[Richard Enright]], retired [[New York City Police Commissioner]], ''Harness Bull'', 1937, and ''Homicide'', 1937, by former Southern California police officer [[Leslie T. White]], ''P.C. Richardson's First Case'', 1933, by Sir [[Basil Thomson]], former [[Assistant Commissioner]] of [[Scotland Yard]], and the short story collection ''Policeman's Lot'', 1933, by former Buckinghamshire High Sheriff and Justice of the Peace [[Sir Henry Aubrey-Fletcher, 6th Baronet|Henry Wade]].

The procedural became more prominent after [[World War II]], and, while the contributions of [[novelist]]s like Treat were significant, a large part of the impetus for the post-war development of the procedural as a distinct subgenre of the mystery was due, not to prose fiction, but to the popularity of a number of American films which dramatized and fictionalized actual crimes. Dubbed "[[semidocumentary]] films" by film critics, these motion pictures, often filmed on location, with the cooperation of the law enforcement agencies involved in the actual case, made a point of authentically depicting police work. Examples include ''[[The Naked City]]'' (1948), ''[[The Street with No Name]]'' (1948), ''[[T-Men]]'' (1947), ''[[He Walked by Night]]'' (1948), and ''[[Border Incident]]'' (1949).

Films from other countries soon began following the semi-documentary trend. In [[France]], there was ''[[Quai des orfevres]]'' (1947), released in the United States as ''Jenny Lamour''. In [[Cinema of Japan|Japanese cinema]], there was [[Akira Kurosawa]]'s 1949 film ''[[Stray Dog (film)|Stray Dog]]'', a serious police procedural [[film noir]] that was also a precursor to the [[buddy cop film]] genre.<ref>{{cite journal|title=FilmInt|journal=Film International|year=2006|volume=4|issue=1–6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y50qAQAAIAAJ|access-date=28 April 2012|page=163|publisher=[[Arts Council Norway|Kulturrådet]]|location=Sweden|quote=In addition to being a masterful precursor to the buddy cop movies and police procedurals popular today, Stray Dog is also a complex genre film that examines the plight of soldiers returning home to post-war Japan.}}</ref> In the [[UK]], there were films such as ''[[The Blue Lamp]]'' (1950) and ''[[The Long Arm (film)|The Long Arm]]'' (1956) set in London and depicting the Metropolitan Police.

One semidocumentary,  ''[[He Walked By Night]]'' (1948), released by [[Eagle-Lion Films]], featured a young radio actor named [[Jack Webb]] in a supporting role. The success of the film, along with a suggestion from [[Los Angeles Police Department|LAPD]] Detective [[Sergeant]] Marty Wynn, the film's [[technical advisor]], gave Webb an idea for a [[radio drama]] that depicted police work in a similarly semi-documentary manner. The resulting series, ''[[Dragnet (drama)|Dragnet]]'', which debuted on radio in 1949 and made the transition to television in 1951, has been called "the most famous procedural of all time" by mystery novelists [[William L. DeAndrea]], [[Katherine V. Forrest]] and [[Max Allan Collins]].

The same year that ''Dragnet'' debuted on radio, [[Pulitzer Prize]]-winning playwright [[Sidney Kingsley]]'s stage play ''[[Detective Story (play)|Detective Story]]'' opened on [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]]. This frank, carefully researched dramatization of a typical day in an [[NYPD]] [[police station|precinct]] detective squad became another benchmark in the development of the police procedural.

''[[Dragnet (1951 TV series)|Dragnet]]'' marked a turn in the depiction of the police on screen. Instead of being corrupt laughingstocks, this was the first time police officers represented [[bravery]] and [[heroism]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=Grady|first=Constance|date=2020-06-03|title=How 70 years of cop shows taught us to valorize the police|url=https://www.vox.com/culture/2020/6/3/21275700/police-show-procedurals-hollywood-history-dragnet-keystone-cops-brooklyn-nine-nine-wire-blue-bloods|access-date=2020-08-24|website=Vox|language=en}}</ref> In their quest for authenticity, ''[[Dragnet (1951 TV series)|Dragnet]]''<nowiki/>'s producers used real police cars and officers in their scenes.<ref name=":0" /> However, this also meant that in exchange, the [[Los Angeles Police Department|LAPD]] could vet scripts for authenticity.<ref name=":0" /> The LAPD vetted every scene, which would allow them to remove elements they did not agree with or did not wish to draw attention to.<ref name=":0" />

Over the next few years, the number of novelists who picked up on the procedural trend following ''Dragnet''<nowiki/>'s example grew to include writers like Ben Benson, who wrote carefully researched novels about the [[Massachusetts State Police]], retired police officer [[Maurice Procter]], who wrote a series about North England cop [[Harry Martineau]], and Jonathan Craig, who wrote short stories and novels about New York City police officers. Police novels by writers who would come to virtually define the form, like [[Hillary Waugh]], [[Evan Hunter|Ed McBain]], and [[John Creasey]] started to appear regularly.

In 1956, in his regular ''[[New York Times Book Review]]'' column, mystery critic [[Anthony Boucher]], noting the growing popularity of crime fiction in which the main emphasis was the realistic depiction of police work, suggested that such stories constituted a distinct subgenre of the mystery, and, crediting the success of ''Dragnet'' for the rise of this new form, coined the phrase "police procedural" to describe it.{{citation needed|date=July 2012}}

As police procedurals became increasingly popular, they maintained this image of heroic police officers who are willing to bend the rules to save the day, as well as the use of police [[consultants]].<ref name=":0" /> This would allow [[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood]] to form a friendly relationship with law enforcement who are also responsible for granting shooting permits.<ref name=":0" /> This, however, has garnered criticisms.