C.O.P.S. (Central Organization of Police Specialists) is a 1988 animated television series released by DIC Animation City, and distributed by Claster Television. The series focuses on a team of highly trained police officers tasked with protecting the fictional Empire City from a group of gangsters led by the "Big Boss". The tag lines for the series are "Fighting crime in a future time" and "It's crime fightin' time!" In 1993, the series was shown in reruns on CBS Saturday mornings under the new name CyberCOPS, due to the 1989 debut of the unrelated primetime reality show of the same name. The show was based on Hasbro's 1988 line of action figures called C.O.P.S. 'n' Crooks, which were designed by Bart Sears.Wizard: The Guide to Comics, #4, December 1991; "Pursuing Justice in a Dark Knight: the Bart Sears Interview", by Patrick Daniel O'Neill; p. 8, "I was working at Hasbro at the time. I designed the C.O.P.S. toys".
Overview
In the near future, Brandon "Big Boss" Babel and his gang of crooks are causing crime to run rampant in Empire City enough for the Empire City Police Department to be unable to stop him.
Mayor Davis requests federal assistance. The FBI sends in Special Agent Baldwin P. Vess (Codename: Bulletproof) to help take down Big Boss, but Vess suffers serious injuries in a car wreck during a fight with Big Boss' criminal henchmen and has to be taken to the hospital. Mayor Davis appoints Vess as the new chief of police of Empire city. Facing years of rehabilitation, Vess is outfitted with a cybernetic bulletproof torso that allows him to walk again.
While staying at the hospital and knowing he cannot do all of this alone, Bulletproof sends out Empire City police officer P.J. O'Malley (Codename: LongArm) and rookie officer Donny Brooks (Codename: Hardtop) to round up the best law enforcers from all over the country. With these men and women consisting of David E. "Highway" Harlson, Colt "Mace" Howards, Stan "Barricade" Hyde, Tina "Mainframe" Cassidy, Walker "Sundown" Calhoun, Suzie "Mirage" Young, Hugh S. "Bullseye" Forward, and Rex "Bowser" Pointer and his robot dog, Blitz, he forms a team that is "the finest law enforcement agency there is in the country". Bulletproof becomes the proud founder and commander of COPS. Together, he and his COPS team are able to take down Big Boss and his gang of crooks and thwart the first of many of Big Boss' criminal schemes.
Each episode has a title that begins with "The Case of..." with a different phrase being added to it (e.g. "The Case of the Iron C.O.P.S. and Wooden CROOKS"; "The Case of the Half-Pint Hero"; and "The Case of the Crime Nobody Heard") along with the COPS file number. Bulletproof would narrate at the beginning of the episode as well as at the end, concluding by repeating the COPS file number and title, ending it with "Case Closed" with a "Closed" mark being stamped onto the file folder. The two exceptions are the first parts of each of the two-part episodes, "The Case of Big Boss' Master Plan" and "The Case of C.O.P.S. File #1", where the conclusion of the episode is marked with a "Case Continued" plastered on the files.
In the cartoon, the COPS frequently shouted, "It's crime fighting time!" as a battle cry when it was time to bag the CROOKS and solve a caper. Meanwhile, the CROOKS would shout "Crime's a-wasting!" whenever they went to do another caper, whether it was pulling another heist (as in so many episodes such as "The Case of the Blur Bandits"), giving C.O.P.S. a hard time to the point of replacing (actually disposing) them for good (as in "The Case of the Big Boss' Master Plan") or taking captive a certain individual to be held prisoner for ransom (as in "The Case of the Ransomed Rascal").
The music for the series was created by Shuki Levy, while the COPS theme music was written and composed by Haim Saban.
Numerous characters were featured in the cartoon that did not have action figures (including Mainframe, Brian O'Malley, Whitney Morgan, Nightshade, Ms. Demeanor, and Mirage).
Characters C.O.P.S. C.O.P.S. is short for Central Organization of Police Specialists. They were assembled in order to combat C.R.O.O.K.S. and other bad guys. Its known members include:
Baldwin P. "Bulletproof" Vess (voiced by Ken Ryan): The leader of COPS and the only COP to appear in every single episode, Baldwin P. Vess is an FBI agent who was called in to help take down Big Boss. During the fight, he ends up seriously injured in a car wreck and is taken to the hospital. To save his life, Mayor Davis had the research scientists from the Overdine Institute perform an operation that gives Baldwin a cybernetic torso to save his life as it would take years for his torso to recover. Going by the name "Bulletproof" due to the cybernetic torso being able to deflect bullets, Baldwin assembles a team of highly trained police officers from across the country to form COPS and stop Big Boss and his gang of crooks with Baldwin becoming the group's chief of police of Empire City. His cybernetic torso is computer-compatible as seen when he accessed the computer on Big Boss's Ultimate Crime Machine to stop it from crashing into Empire City as seen in "The Case of C.O.P.S File 1" Part 2 and is able to carry a six-pack of small electronic grenades as seen in "The Case of the Bogus Justice Machines". He is representative of a Police Detective or an F.B.I. Agent. The catchphrase he often says is "It's Crime Fighting time!" P.J. "LongArm" O'Malley (voiced by John Stocker) serves as a police sergeant for the Empire City Police Department. Second-in-command of COPS, he is a very compassionate officer who has the talent to convince juvenile delinquents to give up their criminal ways and become law-abiding citizens. He wears a wrist device that extends out a handcuff-like device to grab criminals escaping the law, or as an improvised grappling hook. LongArm is representative of a beat cop. Long arm has a wife and a son named Brian. Rex "Bowser" Pointer (voiced by Nick Nichols) is a police officer who worked for the Chicago Police Department, he loves animals and is the handler of Blitz. Bowser is representative of a K-9 officer. Blitz is Bowser's robot dog who thinks like a human being. Walker "Sundown" Calhoun (voiced by Len Carlson) is a former Texas Sheriff that often wears a cowboy hat, he is an excellent lasso handler and sharpshooter known for conducting special investigations. Sundown is representative of a Texas Ranger. Susie "Mirage" Young (voiced by Elizabeth Hanna) is a female police officer who worked with the San Francisco Police Department, she is known for her talented work in undercover investigations. Mirage is representative of a vice officer. Sgt. Colt "Mace" Howards (voiced by Len Carlson) is a police sergeant who worked for the S.W.A.T. Philadelphia Police Department, he is known for his tactical strategies, his laser "Mazooka", and his love for a femme fatale named Nightshade. Mace is representative of a S.W.A.T. officer. Dave E. "Highway" Harlson (voiced by Ray James) is a police officer who worked for the California Highway Patrol, he is a known ace cycle trooper who is not good at baking cookies. Highway is representative of a motorcycle patrol officer. Stan "Barricade" Hyde (voiced by Ray James) is a soft-spoken police officer who worked for the Detroit Metro, he is known for his calm demeanor, his M.U.L.E. device, and crowd control. Barricade is representative of Riot Control. He also seems to have training in hostage negotiation. Donny "Hardtop" Brooks (voiced by Darrin Baker) is a rookie police officer who works for Empire City's Police Department, he is the driver of the COPS' Ironsides vehicle and has a crush on ECTV news reporter Whitney Morgan. Hardtop is representative of a patrol and pursuit officer. Hugh S. "Bullseye" Forward (voiced by Peter Keleghan) is a police officer who worked for the Miami Police Department, he is the best helicopter pilot on the force which earned him the nickname "Bullseye". Tina "Mainframe" Cassidy (voiced by Mary Long) is a police computer specialist who works for Empire City's Police Department, she is the best computer jockey ever whose talent in computer wizardry has helped solve even the most chaotic of capers. Mainframe is representative of a police technical analyst. Wayne R. "CheckPoint" Sneeden III (voiced by Ron Rubin) is a military officer who grew up in Alabama, he works for the United States Army and joins forces with COPS. He is fearful, nervous, anxious, but stays on the case with the team anyway to help get the job done. He appears in "The Case of Mukluk's Luck", "The Case of the Iron C.O.P.S and Wooden Crooks", and "The Case of the Red Hot Hoodlum" where he had major roles in those episodes. CheckPoint's toy File Card says his "father was a member of a top-secret military team in the '80s and '90s", referencing G.I. Joe character Beach Head (AKA Wayne R. Sneeden).Yo Joe: Beachhead File Card; both C.O.P.S. and G.I. Joe had File Cards made by Larry Hama. He is representative of a U.S. Army military police officer. Hy "Taser" Watts (voiced by Len Carlson) is a police officer who worked with the Seattle Police Department and is known for tasering crooks who try to resist arrest. He appeared in a few episodes, but his major role was in "The Big Boss's Big Switch". Robert E. "A.P.E.S." Waldo is a police officer who worked with the Boston Police Department, he has a pair of long grappling hand devices similar to LongArm's . A.P.E.S. is short for Automated Police Enforcement System. He appeared in "The Case of the High Iron Hoods". Roger "Airwave" Wilco is a police officer who worked with the Los Angeles Police Department and is a good communications expert. Francis "Inferno" Devlin is a firefighter who worked with the San Francisco Fire Department, he appeared in a few episodes including "The Case of the Bad Luck Burglar". Dudley "Powderkeg" Defuze is a police officer who worked with the Washington D.C. Police Department that is known for disarming and defusing bombs and other types of explosives, he helped Squeeky Kleen neutralize the Midas Glove that Squeeky wore in "The Case of the Midas Touch". Max "Nightstick" Mulukai is a police officer who worked with the Honolulu Police Department and is an expert in martial arts, he appeared in a few episodes including "The Case of the Missing Memory". Sherman A. "Heavyweight" Patton is a military officer who worked at Fort Leavenworth, he joined up with COPS where he serves as their A.T.A.C. (short for Armored Tactical Attack Craft) driver.
Villains C.R.O.O.K.S. C.R.O.O.K.S. is an organized crime group that commits crimes in Empire City. Known members include:
Brandon "Big Boss" Babel (voiced by Len Carlson imitating Edward G. Robinson) is a crime boss and the primary antagonist of the series who plans to rule Empire City with a literal iron fist. Brandon is also a businessman while in public. He is portrayed as being obese, yet is able to walk normally. Unlike the members of his organized crime, Big Boss is never apprehended and ends up getting away after COPS thwarts his criminal activities. Scratch is Big Boss' pet weasel with metal paws and cybernetic armor. He is always seen in the company of Big Boss. Berserko / Barney L. Fatheringhouse (voiced by Paul De La Rosa) is an impulsive, dim-witted thug who is the proud nephew of Big Boss. He is called "Berserko" because his methods are often seen as crazy or bizarre. Berserko once robbed a party supply store wearing a mask he just bought from the same store. Rock Krusher / Edmund Scarry (voiced by Brent Titcomb) is a super-strong thug who works for Big Boss and often wears striped-clothes reminiscent of an old prisoner's uniform. He often uses a heavy-duty jackhammer in order to get into bank vaults. At one point, Rock Krusher was romantically involved with fellow super-strong operative Ms. Demeanor.