# Your favorite tough female cop/detectives **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 23, 2009, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-tough-female-cop-detectives/511182 "2009-09-23T02:01:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-tough-female-cop-detectives/511182/41 "2009-10-15T00:39:43Z")
Another vote for Kinsey Millhone. I wouldn’t mind _being_ her. ---
**Author:** ![Terraplane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@Terraplane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terraplane)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-tough-female-cop-detectives/511182/42 "2009-10-15T01:21:29Z")
Do meter maids count? I always liked Roxy from Dead Like Me. A tough exterior with some insecurities beneath the surface. Push her far enough and she will rip the freaking soul out of your body. ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-tough-female-cop-detectives/511182/43 "2009-10-15T01:54:26Z")
The fate-accursed Det. Diane Russell, NYPD. And Det. Laura Ballard, Baltimore Homicide. Yum! ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-tough-female-cop-detectives/511182/44 "2009-10-15T01:57:35Z")
Marge Gunderson is insufficiently hard ass? ☹ ---
**Author:** ![missred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/missred/32/14096_2.png) [@missred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missred)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-tough-female-cop-detectives/511182/45 "2009-10-15T03:45:33Z")
Literary: Marcia Muller’s Sharon McCone Sara Paretsky’s V.I. Warshawsky Linda Barnes’ Carlotta Carlisle Karen Kijewski’s Kat Colorado Laura Lippman’s Tess Monaghan Small screen: Law and Order’s Lt. Van Buren For laughs: Joan Hess’ Arly Hanks ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-tough-female-cop-detectives/511182/46 "2009-10-15T03:50:41Z")
+10 for Lt. Van Buren ---
**Author:** ![Pigs\_in\_Space](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9d8465/32.png) [@Pigs\_in\_Space](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pigs_in_Space)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-tough-female-cop-detectives/511182/47 "2009-10-15T04:46:43Z")
I’m really the first to mention Dee Dee McCall from Hunter? And I’ll add a vote for Lt. Van Buren. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-tough-female-cop-detectives/511182/48 "2009-10-15T08:06:51Z")
Does Major Kusanagi count as a “cop”? ---
**Author:** ![Critical1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Critical1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Critical1)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-tough-female-cop-detectives/511182/49 "2009-10-15T09:46:09Z")
um Dana Scully??? you guys are slackers almost 50 posts with no mention of her. ---
**Author:** ![Lunar\_Saltlick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/977dab/32.png) [@Lunar\_Saltlick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lunar_Saltlick)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-tough-female-cop-detectives/511182/50 "2009-10-15T14:21:59Z")
Kay Howard, from Homicide. I especially liked the fact that she was always so tightly wound up and utterly convinced that no one could do things correctly except herself. I believe in one episode, her sister complains that on an overnight flight, Kay never goes to sleep, in case there’s an emergency and the captain needs help flying the plane. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-tough-female-cop-detectives/511182/51 "2009-10-15T14:37:30Z")
> [@Claude\_Remains](#): > > In my mind I see Robert Blake with a blonde wig slapped on top. That’s simple madness. Angie Dickinson was a babe and a half. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-tough-female-cop-detectives/511182/52 "2009-10-15T14:49:41Z")
> [@alexandra](#): > > Benson on SVU. The show is basically crap, but I like her and her door-kicking skills. Seconded. The show wasn’t **always** crap, but even when it was good, Mariska Hargitay’s performance was always the best thing about it. This would be true even if she weren’t ridiculously hot. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-tough-female-cop-detectives/511182/53 "2009-10-15T15:06:58Z")
I take it there aren’t many fans of The Shield here. Danny and Claudette are both way up there on my list of favorite tough female cops - and they’re actually believable, not generic hotties-with-badges. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-tough-female-cop-detectives/511182/54 "2009-10-15T16:06:21Z")
Chris Cagney. Jane Tennison. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-tough-female-cop-detectives/511182.md?page=2)