A June 2020 retrospective described Decoy and Beverly Garland's role as television's first female cop, calling it a first-of-its-kind series.
In June 2020, a retrospective article on the blog The Archive revisited the legacy of Decoy, describing Beverly Garland's performance as "TV's first female cop" and characterizing the series as a genuinely "first-of-its-kind" production for its era.
The piece, titled to evoke the idea of a "misplaced milestone," argued that Decoy had been unjustly overlooked in standard histories of television, despite predating and arguably paving the way for far more celebrated policewoman-led series of later decades. The author examined the show's production history, its location shooting in New York City, and Garland's central performance as undercover officer Casey Jones.
This kind of retrospective recognition is part of a broader pattern in television and women's history scholarship, wherein pioneering but commercially modest productions are rediscovered and properly credited only after significant time has passed. For Decoy, such recognition has helped restore the series to its rightful place in discussions of gender representation in American television, alongside acknowledgment of Beverly Garland's broader career as a prolific actress in film and television.
The exact publication day of this article is not precisely documented beyond the month, but its appearance in mid-2020 reflects a continuing wave of interest in reassessing overlooked women's contributions to entertainment history.