Lieutenant Scanlon

Lieutenant Ben Scanlon is a recurring nemesis on the long-running police sitcom, Barney Miller. A member of the Internal Affairs Division of the New York City Police Department, his appearances always meant tense times for the detectives and officers of the 12th Precinct, in particular their leader, series protagonist Captain Barney Miller. In many respects, he was a nightmare version of a police officer to other police officers, the quota-driven cop who wants to find petty crimes to expose, and viewing everyone he deals with as guilty to start with. While tensions always exist between regular police and internal affairs, Scanlon is not the one who could receive grudging respect for someone just doing his job. In fact, on many occasions, it was implied and sometimes even stated outright that Scanlon targeted the 12th Precinct precisely because of its clean tenure under Miller.

TBC...