Officer Douglas "Doug" Stanton was a recurring character in Season 3 of The Rookie. He became the new training officer for Jackson West after Angela Lopez was promoted to detective. Stanton's badge number is 72279. He was played by Brandon Routh. Stanton was most notable for his racist policing.
Biography[]
Stanton first appears in the episode "In Justice" where he is assigned to be Jackson West's new training officer. Stanton tells West that he is married with two children and that his wife, Giselle, is a teacher. Tim Bradford later tells West that Stanton was an LA county sheriff before joining the LAPD. Stanton is revealed to have a problem with stereotyping people by the color of their skin.
In subsequent episodes, Stanton provides more proof of his racism when he consistently stops, interrogates, and sometimes arrests Black and Brown people, and makes prejudiced assumptions about "gang-bangers" and "bros". At the end of "Sabotage", Stanton finds out that he's being watched for such behavior and pushes back by reporting his new rookie, Jackson West, and hinting that West might wash out of the FTO program.
In "Lockdown", West tells Grey he's even more determined not to let Stanton get away with his racist and violent behavior. He goes back to Stanton, begging for a second chance, and Stanton puts on a stern but forgiving face, until West steps in to intervene when it looks like Stanton is about to use physical violence on a man who has not, apparently, broken any law. When Stanton tells West that he's going down even if his daddy works for Internal Affairs, West snaps back that his dad runs IA and that it's Stanton who's going down. Stanton appears to be taken aback.
Stanton and West then follow a suspected stolen car to an apartment complex known for its criminal residents; they split up to find the driver, and West is ambushed and beaten badly by four thugs. Stanton turns a corner and sees the beating in progress, but instead of coming to West's rescue, he stealthily backs away without being seen. He meets up with Bradford and Chen and pretends not to know where West is. When they find West, left lying on the concrete in bad shape, Stanton leans close to hear what West is saying, at which point West reaches up and turns Stanton's body cam on.
Stanton had turned it off, but earlier in the episode we learned that the unit automatically records the two minutes prior to its activation, so Stanton's deliberate inaction is obvious in the footage - which is then viewed by Grey and Bradford. At the end of "Lockdown", Stanton is placed on administrative leave and made to surrender his badge and gun, pending IA investigation.
In "Triple Duty", Stanton is shown to have appealed his termination and won. With his successful termination appeal, he is reinstated in the LAPD by the Police Commissioner and the Board of Rights, demoted to Police Officer II, stripped of his FTO role and seniority, and assigned to the Hollywood Division. Sergeant Grey and Officer West reach out to Stanton's new watch commander, Sergeant Stella Porter, who agrees to show her division Stanton's bodycam video footage of the attack on West at the Manor Apartments, where it is obvious that Stanton deliberately refused to take action in "Lockdown", as a training aid. Stanton's colleagues then change their opinion of him.
Quotes[]
Stanton: You're done, Boot. What you just did is a fireable offense. I'm going straight to the city manager. I don't care if your daddy works for I.A. He's not gonna be able to save you now.
West: You know what, dumbass? My daddy, he doesn't work for I.A. He runs it. So if you're coming for my job, he'll come for yours. You know, I-I'm done tiptoeing around your racist ass. You're a dead man walking.
Grey: Officer Doug Stanton. I am hereby placing you under administrative leave, effective immediately Gun and badge. You will not leave town. You will not act as a police officer in any capacity, including court. You will make yourself available to the Chief of Police within 30 minutes notice. Pending review, you will be brought up before a board of rights.
Stanton: This isn't over.
Grey: No. But you are.
Sergeant Stella Porter: As you all know, I have instituted new training protocols with the goal of moving us towards a more modern approach on policing. We're gonna watch and discuss a new training video about ensuring your partner's safety.
(shows video of Stanton allowing West to be beaten)
Stanton: This is not what it looks like.
West: Yes, it is. This is the truth about Doug Stanton, what kind of cop he is. One who won't have your back when you need it the most.
Stanton: Come on, guys. Come on, you—you know me.
West: They do now.
Notes and trivia[]
- In episode 3x13, Stanton's full name (Douglas) is revealed on Sgt Grey's computer.
- In episode 3x05, Stanton is suspended due to racism and abuse of power.
- As an Officer III Stanton badge number is 72279.
- As an Officer II Stanton badge number is 77733.
- Stanton has 15 years and 6 months of service.
- Stanton was formerly a Deputy with the LA County Sheriff's Department. It is unknown if he held the equivalent rank of Bonus Deputy prior to transferring to the LAPD.
Body cam footage[]
Regarding the "Jackson turned his camera on/off" bit: They kind of explain it earlier in the episode when Doug and Jackson had their man to man chat. Body cameras are ALWAYS recording; however, if they are not "on" then I believe the footage is quickly deleted, not viewable, and unrecoverable. What they say in the episode is that as soon as the camera is switched "on", all footage from 2 minutes previous to the second it's turned on is now saved and viewable. So it was off, but the second Jackson hits the on button, his last 2 minutes are now able to be reviewed and saved, including him seeing Jackson getting tuned up, and not interfering. Possible reasons for this: First is technological limits, as in just having them always recording, isn't feasible based on storage capacity and battery life, let alone privacy concerns. Second is to ensure cops are on their best behavior; while it's not "on", it could be at any moment, and catch what the officer did when they knew it was off, so they should act accordingly. Third is procedural: sometimes it might be off and cops suddenly witness something without time to turn it on. If they can do that right after seeing something and know that it's still captured, it becomes crucial evidence.[Citation needed]
Appearances[]
| The Rookie: Season 3 | ||||||||||
| "Consequences": | "In Justice": | "La Fiera": | "Sabotage": | "Lockdown": | "Revelations": | "True Crime": | ||||
| Absent | Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | Absent | Absent | ||||
| "Bad Blood": | "Amber": | "Man of Honor": | "New Blood": | "Brave Heart": | "Triple Duty": | "Threshold": | ||||
| Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Appears | Absent | ||||
External links[]
| THE ROOKIEe | |
|---|---|
| Characters | John Nolan • Wesley Evers • Celina Juarez • Nyla Harper • Bailey Nune • Angela Lopez • Wade Grey • Lucy Chen • Aaron Thorsen • Tim Bradford • Zoe Andersen • Talia Bishop • Jackson West |
| Cast | Nathan Fillion • Shawn Ashmore • Lisseth Chavez • Mekia Cox • Jenna Dewan • Alyssa Diaz • Richard T. Jones • Melissa O'Neil • Tru Valentino • Eric Winter • Mercedes Mason • Afton Williamson • Titus Makin |
| Recurring characters | Isabel Bradford • Ben McRee • Percy West • Jessica Russo • Nick Armstrong • Grace Sawyer • Rachel Hall • Doug Stanton • Tamara Colins • Quigley Smitty • Miles Penn • Seth Ridley |
| Recurring cast | Mircea Monroe • Currie Graham • Michael Beach • Sarah Shahi • Harold Perrineau • Ali Larter • Jasmine Mathews • Brandon Routh • Dylan Conrique • Brent Huff • Deric Augustine • Patrick Keleher |
| Seasons | 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 |