The Shield Season 1 (2002)

The Shield is about an experimental division of the Los Angeles Police Department set up in the fictional Farmington district ("the Farm") of Los Angeles, using a converted church ("the Barn") as their police station, and featuring a group of detectives called the Strike Team, a four-man anti-gang unit based on the LAPD's real-life Rampart Division Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums (CRASH) unit. Rampart was seriously considered as the series' name and was even used in some early promotional ads for the series. The show has an ensemble cast and, as a result, usually runs a number of separate story lines through each episode. Detective Vic Mackey is the leader of the Strike Team, which also comprises Mackey's close friends Shane Vendrell, Curtis Lemansky, and Ronnie Gardocki. The Strike Team uses a variety of illegal and unethical methods to prosecute criminals and maintain peace on the streets, while making a profit through illegal drug protection schemes and robbery. The Strike Team isn't above planting drugs on, and coercing confessions out of, gang members, or framing them. Attempts to give the team a fifth member have frequently led to near-catastrophe for the group. As the series progresses, the Strike Team members struggle to cover up their crimes in the face of increasing pressure and scrutiny from their superiors.