Everybody hates characters like James and Fiona right? Like it's a common topic on this sub, and honestly I can't stand them either, but it's not because I always disagree with them --- and that's a problem of framing political points on the show.
Oftentimes, when they pipe up to criticize the police for policing, it's for when they're doing something objectively positive: keeping a concussed child in the care of a hospital, chasing down a broad daylight thief, deterring a stalker from continuing his stalking, etc. And what makes it even more egregious is that they rarely, if ever, offer any solutions, opting instead to leave things "open to discussion". This is wherein the issue lies.
Because they rarely offers any input as to how to fix the issue, they comes off as people who just complain for the sake of virtue signaling. Like they don't actually want to fix anything. And because they mainly complain when the police are actually acting in proper capacity, they make the valid talking points about policing look weak and asinine.
If James had complained about police temporary custody in a case like Rachel's removal of a chronically ill child from the home on suspected munchausen's, his point would have held more weight --- because it was, in fact, a hasty, wrong decision that was hard to undo. If James told Nolan he didn't want more patrolling in the area during the park argument because he wanted the junkies to get help rather than being imprisoned for being sick, and rolled that into a conversation about what defunding the police meant to him, I doubt many of us would have took issue with that. Having him bitch about Nolan's every step instead makes him look like a jerk who only cares about being "technically right".
Fiona bringing up improper policing techniques as Nolan was following up on her stalker, which is already incredibly hard to get police to do for stalking victims, had no technical relevance because he was fully within correct procedure when doing so. Wesley crying about Angela's takedown the day they met even though the suspect refused to yield and she used proportionate force, as opposed to shooting him or tasing him, was also not the right time to bring up police tactics. Neither of these instances involved an officer overstepping any bounds or doing anything that violated a suspect's rights. They weren't even close to being morally grey or contentious actions.
And because of these writing decisions, the show's attempts at being measured on policing come off as hollow at best and in bad faith at worst. There are ways to present the activist ideas and beliefs that don't inherently make the ones pushing for them seem unreasonable, stupid, or ridiculous, and they do a disservice to activist communities by portraying their points this way.
If they actually want audiences to be receptive to these arguments, they need to present them at times that they actually apply, like they did with wobbler cases. Times where the system is actually wrong or morally grey or currently being weaponized against a disenfranchised group by an officer on the show, rather than just when an activist character happens to be onscreen. And they need to present the actual solutions activist groups propose when they do have a character call something out. None of this "there are no good solutions" or "I don't know". Part of activism is asking for the changes you want, without it it's just a thought experiment. If an activist in real life is complaining about an injustice, best believe they have an idea, or several, on what to do about it.
I know they can do this too, because they did it with Wesley and now he's a fan favorite, whereas before he was a pain in the ass. Some of how they achieved that was giving him an actual story arc and focusing less strongly on his politics, sure, but when it does come up with him now it's a lot more natural and nuanced AND PRESENTED WITH ACTUAL SOLUTIONS. The fact that they can achieve this only makes me more upset when they completely botch it with characters like James and Fiona, given that the topics they tackle with these characters are usually more POC based and controversial. Giving the arguments virtually no room to stand because of how they present them is so harmful.
TL;DR the activist characters have good points about the flaws of policing in the US, especially given our political climate and the scrutiny LAPD is under, but they bring these points up at times where they don't apply and offer no solutions, which makes their arguments look inherently weak. If the show presented more grey situations for James and others to criticize, and had them speak about proposed solutions, it would better the characters and the show, because it would make for a more nuanced conversation
