good-cop bad-cop

A form of good cop bad cop — A psychological tactic used for interrogation, involving one police officer playing the role of intimidating adversary, and another that of friend with whom the subject is encouraged to bond.

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Meanings

noungood-cop bad-cop (uncountable)
  1. alternativeuncountableAlternative form of good cop bad cop.

    Just think, if we run into bad guys, there’s two of us, and we can play good-cop bad-cop.

    2000, John Shannon, The Poison Sky, Berkley, →ISBN
    4 more examples

    They spent about an hour playing good-cop bad-cop and making a dent in my supply of dark French Roast from The Castro Bean (Tango 87).

    2000, Meredith Ahner Wood, Re/sisters in Crime: Politics and Sexuality in Lesbian Detective Novels

    Together they can play good-cop bad-cop, while Cubans wait for word on their nation’s future.

    2007, Information Services Latin America

    His personnel file, an inch thick with commendations, recounts hunches he played, good-cop bad-cop routines, shoot-outs with Glocks and Berettas.

    2010, Ken Armstrong, Nick Perry, Scoreboard, Baby: A Story of College Football, Crime, and Complicity, U of Nebraska Press, →ISBN, page 12

    JENKINS AND LUCAS played good-cop bad-cop for a while, Jenkins suggesting that Honey Bee had helped some, and she might help more, and so deserved another chance. Lucas wanted to put her in jail.

    2010, John Sandford, Storm Prey, Penguin, →ISBN
Cite this entry
APA

good-cop bad-cop. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/good-cop%20bad-cop

MLA

“good-cop bad-cop.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/good-cop%20bad-cop. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “good-cop bad-cop,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/good-cop%20bad-cop.

Source: good-cop bad-cop on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.