FX’s gritty cop drama The Shield is so realistic that it could be a true story, but was it really inspired by real events or is it just a believable work of fiction? Set in the fictional Farmington district of Los Angeles, The Shield revolves around the day-to-day operations of an experimental anti-gang Strike Team in the LAPD, led by crooked cop Vic Mackey. Mackey’s illegal methods of law enforcement (planting evidence, torturing suspects, etc.) earned him a place in the TV antihero pantheon alongside Tony Soprano, Don Draper, and Walter White.
The stories of police brutality and harassment depicted in The Shield are, unfortunately, very similar to real-life events involving corrupt police officers. Across its seven seasons, The Shield held a mirror up to amoral cops all over America. The series’ exploration of police ethics earned it an Emmy, a Golden Globe, and an AFI Award, as well as widespread critical acclaim. Shawn Ryan’s visceral police procedural could’ve been ripped straight from the headlines – but does it simply reflect real life or is it a true story?
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The Shield Is Loosely Inspired By A True Story
Technically, The Shield is a work of fiction with fictional characters, fictional storylines, and even a fictional setting (within the real city of Los Angeles), but it was loosely inspired by the corruption scandal that unfolded in the Los Angeles Police Department’s Rampart Division in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The Rampart scandal saw dozens of officers from the Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums (CRASH) unit implicated in various types of misconduct. They were accused of perjury, bank robbery, unprovoked violence, planting fake evidence, and stealing and selling illegal drugs.
The show was even going to be called Rampart at one point, but the producers changed their minds and retitled it The Shield (presumably to avoid problems with production and legal trouble with the LAPD). The Shield isn’t the only piece of popular media to have been inspired by the Rampart scandal. Corrupt LAPD officers based on the cops implicated in the scandal can be seen in the movies Training Day, Cellular, and Straight Outta Compton, as well as the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
The LAPD Threatened To Sue If They Were Mentioned
Glen Mazzara, a writer and producer who worked on The Shield, has revealed that the LAPD threatened to sue the makers of the series if they were mentioned. “LAPD s*** itself,” Mazzara explained. “They threatened to sue Fox if we ever mentioned that our show was based on the LAPD.” As a result, the term “LAPD” is never uttered in a single episode of The Shield. Instead, the characters say, “police,” or “P.D.,” or “Farmington.” Despite these threats of legal action, Mazzara said that it was “important to show the ugly side of policing” in The Shield.
