The legacy of Blue Bloods

The desire to create the reality of police work in the entertainment industry has been ongoing. Dragnet taught us “just the facts”; Adam12 showed the work of patrol cops; Police Story attempted to inject reality into cops; Hill Street Blues showed the divergent personalities of cops; and Law and Order showed the process of crime to prosecution.
Blue Bloods incorporated all of the facets from Administration to Investigation to Patrol and then added the family to make it relatable. The amily dinner became an integral part of our lives every Friday.
Injecting realism in police work is a tricky task because ninety percent of it is boring and mundane. Most arrests are without incident and end peacefully. In order to keep the interest of the viewer, violence is a regular part of each episode. The reality is that less than one percent all American cops never fire their guns anywhere other than the firing range.
The show brought to light police use of force, the politics of law enforcement and the unseen stressors that come tieh the profession.
The finale was not anything I expected, but it was handled with the grace, dignity and respect that viewers have come to love.
What separates this from the other police procedural shows, from the perspective of a law enforcement professional, is that it was fair. It showed bad cops, who paid the consequences of their actions as well as good and GREAT cops whose heroism deserves recognition.
The writers, cast and crew of this show deserve judos for entertaining us for fourteen years.