| Only the Names Have Been Changed : Dragnet, the Police Procedural, and Postwar Culture 2023 Peter C. Rollins Book Award, Northeast Texas Popular Culture and American Culture Associations (NEPCA) Only the Names Have Been Changed shows how Dragnet 's "realistic" storytelling resonated across postwar culture. Calhoun traces Dragnet 's "semi-documentary" predecessors, and shows how Jack Webb, Dragnet 's creator, worked directly with the LAPD as he produced a series that would likewise inspire public trust by presenting day-to-day procedural justice, rather than shootouts and wild capers. Yet this realism also set aside the seething racial tensions of Los Angeles as it was. Dragnet emerges as a foundational text, one that taught audiences to see police as everyday heroes not only on TV but also in daily life, a lesson that has come under scrutiny as Americans increasingly seek to redefine the relationship between policing and public safety. Claudia Calhoun is an assistant professor of visual and performing arts at Fairfield University. |