Production
Writers and producers Michael Schur and Dan Goor, who had known each other since they were students at Harvard University, and had collaborated on the sitcom Parks and Recreation, conceived the idea to set a comedy in a police station, a setting they felt had been insufficiently used in television comedies since Barney Miller. They pitched the idea to production company Universal Television, where Schur had a development deal. Although Universal signed on to produce the series, its parent company's network, NBC, passed on airing it, so the duo sold it to Fox.