To folks arguing in notes whether this trend is “intentional” programming……. It literally doesn’t matter. It is a media trope for bad reasons and encourages a bad outlook in which a wildly dangerous and morally corropt character is sympathized with, which, in turn, results in people maybe more forgiving of matching behavior in real life. While you argue over whether it’s “really propaganda” it is objectively having the effect of propaganda… And it isn’t really far fetched anyway. The government has had movies greenlit many times that they hoped would affect their public image in a desirable way.
Propaganda is effective when its subjects repeat it to each other.
I’m not intending to shame people who’ve bought into the tropes that permeate our storytelling, just want to point out that this one is not one to use without considering it, at least.
This is why nearly every writer I know went “I need to re-examine the role of the police in my current work” this summer.