April 2022 marked 35 years that "Jump Street Chapel," later renamed "21 Jump Street," first aired.
While the show catapulted Johnny Depp to megastar, it also showcased the talents of other actors, including Peter DeLuise, who played Officer Doug Penhall. Below, find 10 moments that some fans may think made Penhall a good cop and moments that some fans may still think made him be a bad cop or on the fence about.
10 He consoled a fellow officer when their captain died (good cop moment) Part of season one's "Gotta Finish the Riff" featured the funeral of Richard Jenko, the Jump Street squad’s first top cop, who a drunk driver killed. His death left behind a shocked and devastated squad. In one of the show’s earliest poignant moments, as the Jump Street squad and other members of the department are standing by Jenko’s grave, Penhall offered his colleague (Officer Judy Hoffs) a shoulder to cry on, says something incomprehensible to her, then watches as she tearfully places a red rose on Jenko’s casket.
9 He let a friend know a colleague’s true motives, even at the risk of losing his job (good cop moment)↵. During the first part of season three, Penhall worked for several other police divisions besides Jump Street. His doing so created a new crimefighting duo within the Jump Street squad (Officer Tom Hanson and Officer Dennis Booker). The animosity between the new pair was evident nearly every time the two shared the screen, and in "Fun With Animals," the tension culminated when Hanson told Penhall he thought Booker raped a high school student. Penhall explained that was a wrong assumption and that the internal affairs department had assigned Booker to work undercover at Jump Street to make sure the undercover unit wasn’t unlawfully trapping the teenagers while on assignment. Sharing that tidbit could have cost Penhall his job (of course, we learn later on it didn't), but it showed how Penhall was more interested in protecting his former partner, as he warned Hanson to be “careful around” Booker.
8 He tried to clear the name of a man he falsely accused (good cop moment) In another season three episode – “The Currency We Trade In” -- and before Penhall returns to the Jump Street squad, Penhall and his new partner investigate a local sports columnist –- a man Penhall calls one of his heroes –- for possibly molesting his daughter. After an investigation suggested the charges may have had merit, a visibly shaken Penhall put aside his fan drool, insisted the father be charged and arrested him in public. However, it is soon discovered the man’s ex-wife made up the molestation claims. Although the man was released, it is too late to save his job and reputation. After Penhall went through some self-pity, he tried to atone for his mistake by trying (albeit unsuccessfully)to get the man his job back.
7 He let a negligent football coach verbally have it (good cop moment) After Penhall returns to the Jump Street squad later in season three, he and Booker went undercover in “Coach of the Year” to determine if there was enough evidence to charge a high school football coach with criminal negligence after one of the coach’s players suffered an injury that leaves him paralyzed. The ensuing investigation showed that against the team doctor’s wishes, the coach put the player that later became paralyzed back in the game. However, in the end, the coach gets away with his decision. Near the end of the episode, Penhall attended an award presentation for the coach, stood at a podium in front of a crowd and told everyone that the coach only cares about his winning, not their kids. As the boos and hisses around Penhall grew louder, he stepped away from the podium and moved as if he intended to leave the room, but not before quietly giving the coach a piece of his mind.
6 He busted his girlfriend’s boss for drug use (good cop moment) In another season three episode, “The Blue Flu,” a police department strike left Penhall and the squad with a lot of free time. Rather than help his girlfriend with some household errands such as the “happy laundry” during the downtime, Penhall engaged in recreational activities with Booker. After his girlfriend reads him the riot act for ignoring her wants and needs, he went with her to a dinner attended by several of her co-workers. Penhall and one of the co-workers escape to a man cave where Penhall was offered a beer and a line of cocaine. Despite his pressure to please his girlfriend, Penhall whipped out his badge and arrested him.
5 He helped clear the name of his partner (good cop moment) “Loc’d Out,” the season three finale of “21 Jump Street,” left us wondering if Hanson would get out of prison after being found guilty of killing a corrupt police officer. But in “Draw the Line,” the season four premiere, Penhall and Booker -- on-again, off-again adversaries due to their respective relationships with Hanson -- used inconsistent statements, police department records (trust us, the phrase “Gretzky, Jordan, Bench, Johnson” helped clear Hanson's name) and other information to clear Hanson's name and put the correct killer in prison.
4 He uses his real job to help him land a temporary job as an actor (bad cop moment or still on the fence about cop moment) In season two’s “You Outta Be in Prison,” Hanson and Penhall found themselves on assignment as bodyguards for one of Hollywood’s most popular and most arrogant stars as the latter works on his latest film project. That said, Penhall's resentment toward his charge went away briefly when he was offered the chance to appear in the movie as a police officer, earning Penhall brief fame and probably the fastest $380 someone could legally make at the time of the episode’s airing in 1987.
3 He made jokes about suicide (bad cop moment or still on the fence about cop moment) The season two episode titled “Best Years of Your Life” centered around the suicide (and aftermath) of a teenager in the school Penhall and Hanson were undercover. As the deceased student’s friends and family try to come to terms with the loss, Penhall dropped a few lines that, at the time he made them, would make him appear insensitive (while undercover, he makes the comment he has to “sit through some crap” therapy session and when learning of another girl who killed herself by overdosing on antidepressants he said the girl must have “chuckled herself to death”). When Hanson called him out for being an uninformed jerk, Penhall informed him that his mother committed suicide when he was 6, and thus, he “has been living with suicide every moment of every day” for a long time.
2 He convinced his partner to live out his teenage years well into adulthood (bad cop moment or still on the fence about cop moment) Hanson’s old high school chum Russell Buckins brought news that Hanson’s high school sweetheart was getting married to “some guy who went to law school” in season two’s “Fear and Loathing with Russell Buckins.” During the episode, when Penhall found out Hanson was, for all intents and purposes, a goody-goody in his teenaged years who “did not have a pocket protector,” Penhall joined Buckins in successfully convincing Hanson to get the girl of his dreams back, even though Hanson was scheduled to testify at a court hearing at roughly the same time.
1 He unknowingly shot his partner in the butt (bad cop moment or still on the fence about cop moment) During season three’s “The Dragon and the Angel,” Penhall accidentally shot Hanson in the butt, a fact discovered after Penhall goes on a tirade about the awful people who shoot cops. Although he tried to make amends by acting like Florence Nightingale around him, that bullet still likely hurt.