Doug Stanton

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 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 3x04 ("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 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 West's and Stanton's bodycam video footage of the attack on West at the Manor Apartments, where Stanton deliberately refused to take action in "Lockdown", as a training aid. Stanton's colleagues then change their opinion of him.

## Notes and Trivia

* In episode 3x13, Stanton's full name (Douglas) is revealed on Sgt Grey's computer.
* In episode 3x05, he is suspended due to racism and abuse of power.
* As an Officer III his badge number is 72279.
* As an Officer II his badge number is 77733.
* He has 15 years and 6 months of service.
* He was formerly a deputy with the LASD before joining the LAPD.