good cop-bad cop

English

Noun

good cop-bad cop (uncountable)

1. Alternative form of good cop bad cop.
   • 1980, Clues:

     An additional decision in The Judas Goat that sets Spenser apart from Hawk is that he becomes unwilling to continue playing good cop-bad cop with Kathie for information when he sees how terrorized and humiliated this game has made her […]

   • 1980, Hal Aigner, Faint Trails: An Introduction to the Fundamentals of Adult Adoptee/birth Parent Reunification Searches, Paradigm Press, →ISBN:

     I stayed on the telephone for forty-five minutes with a caseworker back there and played good cop-bad cop with him. I’d be very demanding and insistent one minute and very sympathetic and supportive the next.

   • 1994, Celerino Castillo, Dave Harmon, Powderburns: Cocaine, Contras & the Drug War, Oakville, Ont.: Sundial:

     Playing good cop-bad cop, Ricevuto and Petty tried to push words into my mouth, starting sentences with, “Isn’t it true that....”

   • 1994, Ron Arnold, Alan M. Gottlieb, Trashing the Economy: How Runaway Environmentalism is Wrecking America, Merril Press, →ISBN:

     Their favorite harassment ploy is to covertly play “good cop-bad cop” in joint actions with openly aggressive environmental groups.

   • 1995, William J. Reynolds, Drive-By: A Nebraska Mystery, Ex Machina Publishing Company, →ISBN:

     Elmo was waiting for us there. In case we had to play good cop-bad cop.

   • 1996, Time:

     Nixon and Agnew played good cop-bad cop.

   • 1997, Consumers’ Research Magazine:

     They play good cop-bad cop with you, hoping to wear down your resistance to the shuck-and-jive.

   • 1997, Michael Ludwig Fischer, Executive Director of the Sierra Club, 1987-1992:

     I actually worried that if it came down to playing good cop-bad cop, neither of us was cut out to be the bad cop.

   • 1997, Proceedings of New York University ... Annual Institute on Federal Taxation:

     Second, it is easier to, in effect, play “good cop-bad cop” with the Appeals Officer by portraying yourself as the person who, like the Appeals Officer, believes in settlement (“good cop”), while your absent client (“bad cop”) is just adamant about not paying much to settle.

   • 1997, Pacific Northwest Quarterly:

     Canwell and Houston, alternately patronizing and insulting, played good cop-bad cop with Rader; both clearly regarded his explanations as academic double-talk.

   • 1998, Don Hellriegel, John W. Slocum, Richard W. Woodman, Organizational Behavior, South Western Educational Publishing:

     In fact, don’t tell me what you’re doing. That will allow us more time and help us play good cop-bad cop with the doctors.

   • 1999, Richard Forrest, Sign of Terror, NTC/Contemporary Publishing Company, →ISBN:

     ‘You guys are playing good cop-bad cop with me. Knock it off because I didn’t kill her.’

   • 2000, Joan Brock, Unless You Were There, You Wouldn't Believe It!: My Reflections of the Classroom, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 34:

     We often played “good cop-bad cop” with me being the “bad cop” to get the kids to do what we wanted. She had to be the “good cop” because she was their teacher; I was just a substitute teacher who should be strict to be taken seriously.

   • 2002, Apolo Anton Ohno, A Journey: The Autobiography of Apolo Anton Ohno, Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers, →ISBN:

     He couldn’t play good cop-bad cop with a wife or girlfriend. If he was too extreme, he’d alienate me. If he was too soft, I’d alienate him.

   • 2002, George Putney, Co-Factors, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 385:

     We were stopped twice for not wearing helmets. Each time we played good cop-bad cop with the state troopers.

   • 2004, India Today:

     If the IHF’s aim is to play the role of good cop-bad cop, it has done a fine job of keeping the players and public confused, on the defensive and perpetually running for cover.

   • 2004, The North Dakota Quarterly:

     The captains played good cop-bad cop. Lewis was generally bad cop.

   • 2005, CQ Weekly:

     […] arrangement as that of playing “good cop-bad cop,” […]

   • 2006, Out at home: why most Nats fans can't see their team on TV : hearing before the Committee on Government Reform, House of Representatives, One Hundred Ninth Congress, second session, April 7, 2006, page 242:

     Of course, you know, I think that the Mayor should have played good cop-bad cop, because the bad cops are always the Council, and they might have helped him earlier in those other negotiations.

   • 2007 11, Robert McNulty Editor, Hoi Polloi: A Literary Journal for the Rest of Us, Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 44:

     I wondered if they were playing ‘good cop-bad cop’ like they did on T.V.

   • 2008, The New Yorker:

     […] Matty, playing good cop-bad cop, try to grind Eric down.

   • 2009, Joyce and Jim Lavene, A Corpse for Yew, Penguin, →ISBN:

     “But you’re welcome to search me if you think the phrase book is somewhere on my person. We could play good cop-bad cop.” “You mean good forensic botanist-bad veterinarian. Technically, I’m not a cop.”

   • 2010, Peter Golenbock, Dynasty: The New York Yankees, 1949-1964, Courier Corporation, →ISBN, page 493:

     Weiss and his assistant, Roy Hamey, worked a ploy on the players that was particularly effective in keeping the salaries low. It was an adaptation of the good cop-bad cop game the police often use when trying to pry confessions from suspects.

   • 2012, E.N. Joy, And You Call Yourself a Christian, Urban Books, →ISBN:

     “Look, Miss,” Unique said desperately, “you two don’t have to play good cop-bad cop with me. I’m going to tell you just like I told him, I don't sell drugs. I was only at that house to see about child support for one of my sons.”

   • 2013, Sandy Rivers, By His Grace: Delivered from Jezebel, AuthorHouse, →ISBN, page 68:

     This Jezebel spirit is very good at playing the good cop-bad cop game. It will always start out playing the good cop. It will seem to have its act all together. It will know how to talk the talk and walk the walk.

   • 2014, Don Pendleton, Blood Tide, Harlequin, →ISBN:

     He had been sure that his night with Fass had been the opening round of interrogation. If they were going to play good cop-bad cop, she had been a very good cop. If his story didn’t stand up, Bolan suspected Jusuf would be a very bad cop.

   • 2014, E. Thomas Garman, Raymond Forgue, Personal Finance, Cengage Learning, →ISBN, page 238:

     Play “Good Cop-Bad Cop” When Buying a Vehicle Many people are uncomfortable negotiating with sellers. Sellers understand this and are very good at putting people at ease with friendly talk and a supportive tone. But underneath, they are all business. How should you play the game? If you are a good negotiator, bring a friend along to be the friendly good cop while you focus on the deal and ask the hard questions. If you dislike negotiating, you can be the good cop, while your friend can ask the hard questions and focus on getting a good deal.

   • 2014, Patrick McAloon, Studying in China: A Practical Handbook for Students, Tuttle Publishing, →ISBN:

     The ideal situation may be for a program to have both American and local Chinese staff on site. This is not always possible for personnel or economic reasons, but this mixture allows them to play good cop-bad cop, to play the “foreigner card” when something uncomfortable needs to be said, and to apply their relative strengths to the student experience.

   • 2017, John A. Sarconi, In Pursuit of Dreams, Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 92:

     The major and colonel played “good cop-bad cop” with him for about ninety minutes, but couldn’t break him down.

   • 2017, Phillip Jennings, Nam-A-Rama, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN:

     Gearheardt smiled and patted my shoulder, watching Whiffenpoof arguing with a soldier vehemently, “That was just the boys playing ‘good cop-bad cop,’ Jack. They’re just dicking with us.”

   • 2018, Melody Johnson, Day Reaper, Lyrical Press, →ISBN:

     Rowens and Greta had already teamed up, playing good cop-bad cop, and when that hadn’t worked, bad cop-bad cop. When that hadn’t worked, Greta had let Rowens try to peel the truth from her by himself.

   • 2018, Andrew Vincent Metalhorn, Eminence of Evil, iUniverse, →ISBN:

     The two feds played good cop-bad cop as the tall fed talked in a warm, low-key voice and the short one like fingernails on a chalkboard.

   • 2020, Genie Gabriel, Royal Street Dogs, Rogue Phoenix Press, →ISBN:

     Two officers played good cop-bad cop with Laycee.

   • 2022, Arlene F. Marks, Weekends Can Be Murder, Brain Lag, →ISBN:

     “You two make a good team. I wish I could say the same about me and Charlie.” “What broke you up?” Selena asked, curious. “I guess we played good cop-bad cop a few times too many. Lost ourselves in the roles.”