The Shield (2002) enters its fourth season with Vic Mackey adrift after his past actions have caught up with him. He's no longer the cop he used to be - the Strike Team has dissolved and he's stuck babysitting a menial surveillance sting that keeps him off the street. With Captain Aceveda moving on to his new City Council position, Captain Monica Rawling prepares to take over the Barn and implement her controversial anti-gang policies.
As Monica is forced to defend her crime-fighting tactics, Vic's pursuit of a killer creates problems for Antwon, while Dutch's secret deal with the D.A.'s office gets him and Claudette assigned to a murder investigation.
As Aceveda uses a cleverly-edited videotape to force her to sideline Vic, Monica goes toe-to-toe with a social worker whose negligence led to the hospitalization of a seven-year-old foster child.
As Shane enlists Vic and his men in the search for the body of a teenaged informant, the disappearance of two cops on patrol begins to look like payback for Monica's tough new policies.
Vic pits Antwon's henchmen against each other in an effort to find the cop killers; Dutch and Claudette suspect Detective Billings of failing to stop a deadly carjacking.
Vic and Monica work to link Antwon to the cop killings, only to have Aceveda sell them out in an effort to keep the truth about his sexual assault from being made public.