The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 87%, based on 52 reviews, with an average rating of 7.3/10. The site's critical consensus reads, ""The Naked Gun" is chock full of gags that are goofy, unapologetically crass, and ultimately hilarious." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 76 out of 100, based on 13 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun-Times" gave the film three-and-a-half stars (of four), and said: "The movie is as funny, let it be said, as any comedy released this year ... You laugh, and then you laugh at yourself for laughing."
Police cadets in the United Kingdom aired The Squad, a drama series which followed the fictional adventures of Metropolitan Police Cadets. The twelve episodes were produced by Thames Television. Most of these precursor schemes were disbanded by the 1990s. The present form of Police Cadets began in 1988. It was a community initiative that was supported by Commissioner Peter Imbert, who wanted to engage with young people. The first documented Volunteer Police Cadet unit started in South Norwood (Lambeth) in March 1988. All of the territorial police forces of England and Wales have a corresponding VPC branch, as does the British Transport Police. These are subdivided