Why do Law & Order: SVU and other police dramas serve as "comfort TV" for many viewers?

NBC News

"For many white progressives, shows like SVU, with its focus on rape culture, and Bones, with its feminist, science-fueled storylines, have long been given a pass — or at least less scrutiny," says Sage Young. "And yet all of them exist under the same umbrella. All of them are built on the concept that policing as it exists now is necessary for the greater good, rather than fundamentally flawed and oppressive. Much like the police in general, cop procedurals cannot be easily reformed into entities that do no harm. The very things that make them 'comfort TV' to me — that I can be confident that Olivia Benson and Seeley Booth will always have their hearts in the right place, that Jake Peralta can turn any investigation into a diverting game — are also damaging. These shows make us feel at ease with this power structure, helping us to imagine that it’s mostly populated by public servants doing their best. And yet however true or false that statement may be, it’s the structure itself that is the problem, not the individuals within it."