| “ | You helped an enemy of Democracy escape. She was stealing an apple of the people. | „ |
| ~ The Cop |
The Cop is a minor antagonist in the Red Dwarf episode "Back to Reality". He is an unnamed police officer who lives in Fascist Earth from a alternate reality (In truth, a shared hallucination). He is armed with firearms and rocket launchers, and loves using his powers to kill suspects without trial.
He was portrayed by the late Lenny Von Dohlen, who also portrayed Burton Jernigan in Home Alone 3.
Biography[]
On a mission, the crew of Red Dwarf (Lister, Cat, Kryten and Rimmer) is exposed to the venom of the Despair Squid; it causes them to experience an extremely vivid, intense shared hallucination. They 'wake up' in the alternate reality, only to find out Red Dwarf is only the Total Immersion Video game they have played for four years. They explore their new identities that are very different from the people they remembered themselves to be. They decide to leave the arcade to find out more.
As they reach Lister's car in the garage, they see a cop who chases a small girl for "stealing an apple of the people" and tries to shoot her. The crew stops him, only to be sentenced to death by the cop. However, as soon as he sees Lister's face, he puts his firearm away. He identified Lister as Colonel Sebastian Doyle, a high-ranking member of the secret police. It is then revealed that the crew is in the fascist world where everyone betrays their own family and friends to authorities and where the police "purify" democracy by killing people who oppose the government.
The cop suddenly notices the girl trying to escape and is about to shoot her. Kryten can't allow that to happen, so he shoots the cop dead. This causes that other fascist policemen run after the crew across the city. Also, Kryten feels sorry as he killed the human instead of knocking him out and almost commits a suicide before Holly is able to bring the crew back to reality.