The Shield (20022008)

The Shield (20022008) The Shield follows the activities of an experimental division of the Los Angeles Police Department set up in the fictional Farmington district ("the Farm") of Los Angeles, a district rife with ethnic gang-related violence, drug trafficking, and prostitution. Operating out of a converted church, known as the Barn, the Farmington police work to maintain the peace in the district and reduce crime. The centerpiece of the division is the Strike Team, led by Detective Vic Mackey and his friends Shane Vendrell, Curtis Lemansky, and Ronnie Gardocki. They are to use force as necessary to deal with the more violent and dangerous crimes in the area, and they try to abide by the law to the best of their abilities. Secretly, Mackey and the Strike Team use criminal methods to coerce information and stage arrests when police procedures fail them and take a share of various drug busts. The Strike Team's questionable success rate leaves the division's head, Captain David Aceveda, suspicious of their methods but values their success as they help his political efforts to become the mayor of Los Angeles. Attempts to place a fifth member on the Strike Team not in Mackey's circle go astray. The pilot episode concludes with Mackey, suspicious of the loyalty of the latest Strike Team recruit, Terry Crowley, fatally shooting him during an arrest and framing their suspect. This sets in motion events that loom over the Strike Team and continue throughout the series....