Fleming's journalism background certainly helped in setting the exotic locales and the mood of Bond's missions.  Robert Benson, in his James Bond Bedside Companion, talked about the "Fleming Sweep," which is what he termed his descriptive passages about the locale and also things like what he was wearing and eating, at dinner.  They gave you some definite visuals to imagine the story.  O'Donnell was better at character traits, in my opinion and had more realistic characters.  It's a shame that his work has never been adapted well, as a good Modesty Blaise script could launch a serious, yet fun, franchise.  That last attempt, My Name Is Modesty, was a bit more serious and better written, but the actress desperately needed a sandwich (she looked to be about 30+ lbs underweight) and you just can't do Modesty without Willie Garvin.

For that matter, Denny O'Neil also came from a journalism background, which certainly aided his comic book scripts.

Hadn’t seen that before!

I like how they called him “Sarge” in that sketch. Never understood why the constables kept calling him by his surname. Who calls a superior officer by his last name?

I saw the show In its entirety when Channel 5 aired it. No hats at all.

I was also confused by LCPD. Their uniforms looked like LAPD, they were clearly on the west coast. LASD are sheriffs with brown uniforms. Couldn’t find an LCPD with that uniform when I Googled years ago.

Most of the cop shows I grew up with used real forces, whether it be NYPD, California Highway Patrol, SFPD, etc. And real federal agencies. You might occasionally get a fictional agency, of course. But I was confused by T.J. HOOKER: was it a case of the LAPD not approving the show? Are shows required to seek approval? Or just a case of a show wanting to keep it vague?

If you are going to call it the LAPD, then, yeah, you are going to need approval to have the uniforms and insignia and they would probably want input on the script.

Back in the 60s and early 70s, Jack Webb's Mark VII LTD productions did a bunch of police and fire emergency shows:  Adam-12 (about a police patrol unit), Emergency (fire department paramedics, Dragnet (a continuation of Webb's radio show, with himself as Sgt Joe Friday).  He went out of his way to work with the actual agencies for authenticity and to demonstrate respect for the work they did, which is part of why he got an unfair label as being conservative, during turbulent times.  There were shows where Friday addressed more Right Wing ideas, from a constitutional viewpoint, while also showing a traditional respect for law and order.

US police departments are run a bit differently than the UK.  We don't really have a national police force; each state, county and municipality creates its own law enforcement.  The Federal Bureau of Investigation has jurisdictional limits on it, as do other Federal law enforcement agencies.  Each state has its own laws (and counties and municipalities) and regulations governing the conduct of the police department , their jurisdiction (and limits) and the administration of them.  In the modern age, they are well connected for sharing information; but, there are jurisdictional squabbles and some police departments have higher standards than others.  

Police shows on American tv really reflect the time period.  Up through the 60s, they were heroic figures, protecting the citizens against despicable criminals.  However, with police appearing on television news, acting like storm troopers in support of segregation, attacking peaceful political protests, carrying our racially motivated arrests and violence, attacking striking workers, and similar scandals, the news media began to take a more nuanced look at police and Hollywood joined in.  In the 70s, you started seeing tv shows and movies that showed things like racist cops, corrupt police departments, politically motivated bias and the like.  Movies like Serpico, based on a true store of uncovering massive corruption in the NYPD, led to tv series that copied that.  They started to look at the dirtier worlds of drug dealing and prostitution (sometimes for social consciousness, sometimes for a bit of T&A, like Police Woman, in some episodes).  The 80s saw a bit of a swing back towards the idea of "law & order", but, there were still shows with more nuanced portrayals (stuff like Hill Street Blues), while others just wanted action and car chases (Stephen J Cannell shows).

When I was a kid, in the 70s, I devoured stuff like Adam-12, Emergency, Dragnet, The Mod Squad.  As I got a little older, I came to appreciate the detective shows, like McCloud, Macmillan & Wife and, especially Columbo.  I also enjoyed Hec Ramsey, a sort of later era Western shows, with early criminological techniques, starring Richard Boone (of Have Gun, Will Travel fame).  In the mid-70s, it was The Rookies, SWAT, Police Woman, Police Story, Starsky & Hutch and stuff like Toma and Baretta.  We couldn't tune in CBS, so not much of things like Barnaby Jones or Cannon and I was a little young for Mannix or Bannicek (or was watching something else).  By the 80s, we had Hill Street Blues, Miami Vice, CHiPs (started in the mid-late 70s, though) and detective shows like Remington Steele, Moonlighting and Magnum PI.

It wasn't until the 90s that I started to watch some of the British police and detective material, on PBS' Mystery and Masterpiece Theater, with Prime Suspect, Tough of Frost, Inspector Morse, Sherlock Holmes, Poirot, Lovejoy, Cracker, the PD James Mysteries, etc.  They were a nice change from the Hollywood police and detective shows, often with better scripts and acting.  Fewer stupid car chases, too.

I once had an American ask me why there was a need for the City of London Police and the Metropolitan Police. Easily explainable, but I understand the question. As a kid, while watching crime dramas, I wasn’t too sure about U.S. terminology and the like. Why were those cops (who I now know are state troopers) wearing wide-brimmed hats while the cop besides them had a different uniform - and a bus driver style cap?

State troopers, sheriffs, city cops, federal agents, etc. Very confusing as a kid, but I understood it as an adult. 

There is one thing that confuses me, though: sheriffs are elected (they cover counties, right?) while city police chiefs and state police colonels are, if I have it right, appointed. Why is that out of sheriffs, state troopers and police chiefs, that only sheriffs are elected? 

And I really don’t understand, in city forces, what the difference is between a Chief of Police and Commissioner (I did Google once)? Obviously, Commissioner is higher, but Chief of Police would imply to me top guy (or woman) running the force. Just curious as to the difference between the two.

And I’d really like to know why the ATF and DEA need to exist, could not the FBI handle alcohol, tobacco, firearms and drugs?

I'm a huge fan of James Garner.  The Rockford Files holds up very well for a show of its time.  He always came across like the fun uncle who would let you in on the joke and let you get into just a little bit, but not too much trouble.