I always thought he was just way too:
"Coppier than thou"
He was just always berating the others for being too weak, too stupid, not suited for the job,not paying enough attention, etc. Nobody was immune.
He just portrayed himself as God;s gift to the LAPD. and nobody else was good enough.
Coppier than Thou
I didn't get that impression at all. He was a good cop and he wasn't afraid to tell people when what they did was wrong. As for the "too weak etc. etc", I can understand him. In his line of work, people(friends/other cops, civilians, himself) can get seriously hurt or killed if an insecure, weak or incompetent cop fails to do his/her job properly.
Also, he was a Training Officer. If he doesn't correct his "Boots" when they screw up, he's not doing his job.
It's a good call though - he didn't display many likeable qualities (admirable maybe) and was actually a liability himself when he was using. In the earlier episodes especially he had a very brusque, sometimes abusive, way with the public which he would certainly not get away with in the UK. I found him overbearing and bullying with Ben - and I know Ben needed to learn, but there should be some carrot as well as some stick. With anyone less tolerant than Ben, Cooper would have found himself complained about. Ben not only tolerated the abuse, he actually then went out of his way to help Cooper.
I didn't think he had any right to bawl out Chickie ("you're a crap cop!") for trying to be loyal to Dewey. What was the difference between Dewey's and Cooper's substance abuse, apart from the substance of choice?
Awight we're The Daamned we're a punk baand and this is called Carn't Be Appy T'day!
About the substance abuse, he was kind of a hippicrite. But the "crap cop" speach was because she had become less of a good cop over the years than she used to be. We see later that it turned out to be the kick in the butt she needed and became a better cop after that. It's a shame she was written out of the show, so we didn't see more of her as a better cop.
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AGREED! Plus Cudlitz said he would STAND BY Chickie if she turned Dewey in which she did then he dropped her
shareBut for all his brute strength and holier than thou stuff he also had lots of weaknesses. He felt he had to continue to press on though he struggled with pain and addictions. I loved his character because he was conflicted with his own personal issues and he wanted to do "good" . Shows everyone is just human.
shareAh, I thought he was the best character on the show, for many reasons. He obviously cared about the people he was working with and for the community. He just didn't take any crap.