# Things I learned from watching TV cop shows **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted\ **Created:** [May 9, 2023, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-learned-from-watching-tv-cop-shows/983820 "2023-05-09T18:54:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 27
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2023, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-learned-from-watching-tv-cop-shows/983820/521 "2023-06-27T07:44:04Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > From Andy Sidaris movies, I learned that vitally important clues can be found at nude beaches, women’s locker rooms, and mud-wrestling matches. You’d never be accused of being soft on crime. ---
**Author:** ![Wallaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dc4da7/32.png) [@Wallaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallaby)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2023, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-learned-from-watching-tv-cop-shows/983820/522 "2023-06-28T03:36:34Z")
If a female villain needs to be physically taken down and arrested, this will be done by the female police officer on the case. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2023, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-learned-from-watching-tv-cop-shows/983820/523 "2023-06-28T04:14:47Z")
What was the deal with that radio station? ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Krupe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Leo\_Krupe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Krupe)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2023, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-learned-from-watching-tv-cop-shows/983820/524 "2023-09-18T13:59:12Z")
Anytime anyone (especially the hero) realizes there’s a bomb nearby and it’s going to explode, it goes off within seconds. The lesson is obvious: don’t realize there’s a bomb about to explode. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2023, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-learned-from-watching-tv-cop-shows/983820/525 "2023-09-18T14:19:24Z")
> [@Leo\_Krupe](#): > > Anytime anyone (especially the hero) realizes there’s a bomb nearby and it’s going to explode, it goes off within seconds. Fortunately for the cop though, every bomb always has a big red digital readout that clearly shows how much time is left before it goes off. If the bad guy was really smart, they’d use a fake timer that showed more time left than the actual detonation time. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2023, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-learned-from-watching-tv-cop-shows/983820/526 "2023-09-18T14:38:07Z")
It’s not a big problem. Just cut the blue wire. Wait… no, don’t cut the blue wire, cut the red wire…oops no… never cut the red wire… > [@solost](#): > > If the bad guy was really smart, they’d use a fake timer that showed more time left than the actual detonation time. And all the wires would be the same color, and not red or blue. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Krupe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Leo\_Krupe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Krupe)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2023, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-learned-from-watching-tv-cop-shows/983820/527 "2023-09-18T14:42:57Z")
I should add being near a bomb when it explodes is perfectly safe – no risk of burst eardrums or getting impaled by shrapnel (I’m amazed at how much splintered wood flies around without hitting anyone). ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2023, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-learned-from-watching-tv-cop-shows/983820/528 "2023-09-18T15:23:48Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > And all the wires would be the same color, and not red or blue. I think that would be a bad idea. Whoever is building the bomb probably wants to know which wire is which. If he hooks things up wrong, he could blow up. Colored wires can help with that. On the other hand, colored wires don’t really help the guy who’s trying to disarm the bomb. He can tell the wires apart; that doesn’t mean he knows which one to cut. And the best bomb-disarming scene was in _Scarecrow and Mrs. King_. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2023, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-learned-from-watching-tv-cop-shows/983820/529 "2023-09-18T15:28:48Z")
I liked the scene in Elementary when Sherlock and Joan found a huge remotely triggered bomb in their brownstone. Joan’s freaking out (she’d already seen the results of a similar bomb going off) and while she;s wondering what to do, Sherlock calmly walks up and tears the cell phone off. Can’t detonate it if it can’t get the signal. ---
**Author:** ![Steven\_Maven](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steven_maven/32/3272_2.png) [@Steven\_Maven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steven_Maven)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2023, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-learned-from-watching-tv-cop-shows/983820/530 "2023-09-20T21:33:53Z")
I don’t know anything about bomb building, but I know a little basic electronics. It seems to me that regardless of how many wires in how many colors there are, if you cut the one from the positive terminal of the battery, that should do it. ---
**Author:** ![Steven\_Maven](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steven_maven/32/3272_2.png) [@Steven\_Maven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steven_Maven)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2023, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-learned-from-watching-tv-cop-shows/983820/531 "2023-09-20T21:36:12Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > In my high school in the mid-80s, typing was for all sexes. I was in high school in the mid-1960s in an upper middle class suburb. The assumption was that everyone was going to college so everyone took typing. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2023, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-learned-from-watching-tv-cop-shows/983820/532 "2023-09-20T22:00:05Z")
> [@Steven\_Maven](#): > > I don’t know anything about bomb building, but I know a little basic electronics. It seems to me that regardless of how many wires in how many colors there are, if you cut the one from the positive terminal of the battery, that should do it. All bombs have 3 basic parts, an initiator, a detonator and an explosive charge. It needs all three to go boom. Separate one part from the other two and it won’t go boom. Everything else is basically Hollywood. They rarely show a bomb that has a realistic anti-tamper booby trap. They mostly fall back on the Hollywood trope of cutting the correct wire. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2023, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-learned-from-watching-tv-cop-shows/983820/533 "2023-09-21T01:18:01Z")
> [@Steven\_Maven](#): > > I was in high school in the mid-1960s in an upper middle class suburb. The assumption was that everyone was going to college so everyone took typing. When I was in college, one of the requirements for a Journalism degree (beyond that of the ordinary BA/BS sequences) was a minimum typing proficiency of 20 words per minute. ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2023, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-learned-from-watching-tv-cop-shows/983820/534 "2023-09-21T01:54:29Z")
Shorthand was pretty stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2023, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-learned-from-watching-tv-cop-shows/983820/535 "2023-09-21T13:04:30Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > They mostly fall back on the Hollywood trope of cutting the correct wire. To expand on this, there are two basic things you want your bomb to do: Explode when you want it to Not explode when you don’t want it to. Any anti-tamper mechanisms hinder both of these goals. Nothing is as embarrassing as your bomb not going off (that’s what she said!) when you want it to, and making a mistake wiring your anti-tamper triggers can end your mad bomber career real quick. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Q](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/898d66/32.png) [@Johnny\_Q](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Q)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2023, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-learned-from-watching-tv-cop-shows/983820/536 "2023-09-22T19:27:47Z")
There’s always the scene in _Sherlock_ where Holmes simply hits the off switch. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2023, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-learned-from-watching-tv-cop-shows/983820/537 "2023-09-22T19:57:38Z")
Like Felix Leiter in _ **Goldfinger** _. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2023, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-learned-from-watching-tv-cop-shows/983820/538 "2023-09-22T20:28:29Z")
Bond villains will make a bomb that can blow up the earth but they’ll always have a big red self-destruct button right out in the open in their headquarters. No wires, secret code or key, just hit the button and everything blows up with just enough time to escape before everything crashes down. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2023, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-learned-from-watching-tv-cop-shows/983820/539 "2023-09-22T22:48:38Z")
They also keep shit like cannisters of rocket fuel and the controls for their easy-to-overload nuclear reactor in plain view, right in the middle of their command center. And they never, ever seem to be guarded. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-learned-from-watching-tv-cop-shows/983820.md?page=26)