"The cultural creation of social reality is a political act," write prominent cultural criminologists Jeff Ferrell and Clinton Sanders in their introduction to their 1995 essay collection titled Cultural Criminology. A growing body of scholarly works in the nascent fields of theoretical and cultural criminology show that police stories not only reflect but also reaffirm and reproduce policing and police power. As Nickie Phillips and Staci Strobl observe, cop stories reflect the criminogenic nature of neoliberal capitalism. For Travis Linnemann, cultural representations of police reflect the horror of coercion-based policing. In light of what appears to be the second phase of Rudolph Giuliani's zero tolerance policing expanded to a nation wide scale by the second-term Trump administration, police stories provide useful material for critical analysis. Popular cop shows such as The Rookie (2018-present), Brooklyn 99 (2013-2021), and Chicago PD (2014-present); cop movies such as Colors(1988), Bad Lieutenant (1992), End of Watch (2012), and Havoc (2025); cop games such as Police Quest series; cop comics such as C.O.P.S. (1988), cop prose such as Michael Connelly's novel series Bosch (1992-2024) and Ballard (2017-2024) all provide ample material for discussing the post-Reagan American policing characterized not only by militarization but also by militarism, notable in the wars on crime, drugs, terror, and anti-cops. As political theorist Mark Neocleous shows in his much recognized works on policing, police power should be understood as a means of preserving and fabricating capitalist order. As such, cultural imaginations of policing negotiate, challenge, justify, glorify, and reproduce police power. This seminar aims at contributing to the scholarly conversations on policing and police power, and it invites speakers to present papers on:

• cop drama
• cop prose
• detective movies and/or shows
• cultural representations of intelligence agencies (CIA, FBI, NSA, DIA)
• cultural representations of immigration policing
• cop games
• policing and cops in crime fiction
• policing and cops in crime movies and/or shows
• cultural representations of paramilitary policing (SWAT culture)
• policing in zombie apocalypse
• representation of gender in cop stories (gender-based police violence, political policing, anti-queer tendencies in police stories)

Presentations will take 20 minutes in a designated 90-minute panel, which will consist of three presentations followed by a 30-minute discussion and Q&A.