Summary: The TV show “Castle” shows how the police have become a strange tribe that TV explores, like National Geographic used to write about central Africa. The season 8 premier episode shows how far TV has evolved from the 1950’s idealized portrayals of Dragnet and Highway Patrol to today’s dark fantasies. Spoilers!
Warning: spoilers to the first episode of “Castle” season 8
Today’s police procedurals show how we’ve become accustomed to our New America, and disconnected from the government and its security services. Police procedurals tend to idealize police, but modern ones tend to accept their corruption and see police as Lone Rangers fighting evil despite their organization. While immersed in correct details, overall they make early procedurals — like Dragnet (1951 – 1959) — look like documentaries (there are exceptions to this, of course).
Who knew in 1971 that Dirty Harry would become the model for 21st century policing in US fiction?
The law-breaking cop Danny Reagan (co-star of “Blue Bloods” (especially criminal in the first 2 season) is one example; we should root for Internal Affairs to get him fired. The Gestapo-like agents of “NCIS Los Angeles” are another. Last week we saw an extreme version of this problem in “XY”, the Season 8 opener of “Castle”. Like the film Independence Day, every scene was bizarre in its own way — but unlike that great film, it was not funny.
Richard Castle (Nathan Fillion) is a licensed Private Investigator (PI), consultant to the NYPD, and the husband of a Captain in the New York Police Department. Hayley Shipton (Toks Olagundoye) is a PI with whom he partners in season 8, although she freely admits she is a criminal — and immediately demonstrates it.
Castle: “Hayley, we can just walk through the front door. There’s no bolt cutters required.”
Hayley: “Oh, you’ve been playing at being a cop too long, Rick. As a P.I., you don’t have a badge, don’t have search warrants. You’ve got to get creative. Lie, cheat.”
Castle: “And the occasional B&E {breaking & entering}, apparently?”
Hayley: “Yeah, if that’s what it takes.”
While this is odd, the main plotline is even less believable. Two NYPD detectives learn that Captain Kate Beckett (Stana Katic) killed 3 men, and is now missing — leaving behind only her bracelet lying in a pool of her blood. That would set off alarms at the highest levels of the NYPD; there are only 400 Captains among the NYPD’s 34 thousand officers. Later they learned that she was alive but failed to report in, at which point senior officers would run the investigation, perhaps from Internal Affairs.
Extreme measures would be taken after she kills a fourth person, a woman, and again runs away — becoming a rogue killer cop. But in “Castle” two detectives (her friends) continue to work the case, along with her husband and his 22-year old daughter (who works as an unlicensed PI, a misdemeanor in NY). Business as usual. Putting this in context, the FBI defines a “serial killer” as someone who kills three people.
Perhaps this week we’ll see the logical conclusion to this two-part episode when the NYPD fires Beckett (as she was fired by the FBI in season 6). I doubt the NYPD would tolerate a senior officer’s wholesale rule-breaking on the first day of her probationary period. The best she could hope for would be reassignment back to the streets as a detective.
Oddities, & lessons for us
Beckett could not become Captain. As a Detective First Grade (earning slightly less than a lieutenant), she was on the investigative career track. She could switch to the supervisory track by taking the exam for sergeant (13% of the total force, base pay $80 thousand) — then become eligible to take the exam for Lieutenant (5% of the total, base pay $102 thousand), and then take the exam for Captain (1% of the total, base pay $115 thousand).
Note that the NYPD has, like more American police forces, an extremely flat (i.e., efficient) organizational structure. They have the same ranks as the military, but without the officer bloat.
But more important than that detail are those salaries. A sergeant is the police equivalent of a corporate department manager, but carries a gun and far greater responsibilities. A Captain is much like a district manager of a large corporation, but makes life and death decisions. Their salaries (even with the benefits) are low for people with their responsibilities working in one of America’s most expensive cities, and more so compared with salaries of people of similar rank working in NYC’s corporate headquarters.
One result: few Lieutenants take the Captain’s exam, believing the small extra pay (but no overtime) is not worth the longer hours and heavier responsibility (see the NY Post articles here, and here).
No wonder corruption — often venial, sometimes serious — is a pervasive problem in the police of our major cities.
For More Information
I recommend seeing this insightful review by Joy D’Angelo of the season 8 opener.
If you liked this post, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. See all posts about the police, and especially these about Castle. It gives us a mirror in which we can see ourselves, skillfully constructed by the best producers, actors, and technicians in Hollywood.
- Spoilers for “Castle”: explaining the finale & season 7. It’s a metaphor for America.
- What the TV show “Castle” teaches us about America, and ourselves, — About our myths
- The TV show “Castle” challenges us to see our changing values. Most fans decline, horrified.
- “Castle” shows us marriage in America, a fault line between our past & future
- “Castle” shows us a dark vision of Romance in America
- Richard Castle shows us the dark reality of justice in 21st C America
- “Castle” shows that many of us don’t defend New America because we don’t like it
- The bitter fruits of our alienation from America — more lessons from “Castle”
- “Castle” helps us adjust to a new America, with women on top.
- Beckett shows our future. She chooses wisely & marries Castle, but dreams at night of her alpha ex-boyfriend.
