Police Car

Police cars are emergency service vehicles used by police. The cars begin to chase the protagonist of each Grand Theft Auto game when they have received either a police head or wanted star. Police cars are known by different names in different games, whilst GTA IV has two models of police cars: The Police Cruiser and Police Patrol. Since GTA III, the majority of police cars in the game also share the same body design as the Taxi.

Other police and law enforcement vehicles exist. These include the Enforcer police/SWAT van, the Police Maverick helicopter, HPV-1000 and VCPD Wintergreen police bikes and the Predator police boat.

GTA 1 — GTA 2
In Grand Theft Auto 1, the police car is known as the "Squad Car". Three variants of the car exist, each appearing in one of the game's three cities. In Liberty City, the Squad Car is rounded vehicle with blue-white livery, appearing similar to a 1990s Chevrolet Caprice; the San Andreas/Vice City variants are actually adaptations of the Portsmouth, with the San Andreas version bearing a black-and-white body color design and similar angular body design, and the Vice City rendition being colored blue and white but features a modified body that appears wider and rounded. In the PC version of GTA 1, the police cars (along with the Ambulance and the Fire Truck) will have their radio tuned to Brooklyn Underground FM, unlike all other renditions throughout the series which only have the standard police dispatch radio.

The performance of GTA 1 Squad Cars are identical in all three cities, and are all essentially the best in the game, with the highest top speed and acceleration among all cars in the game, highly responsive brakes and good grip. While the cars are given a very high export value of $2,000, but the cars cannot be exported, as are other emergency vehicles.

Police cars in GTA London 1969 and GTA London 1961 are known as "Coppers".

In Grand Theft Auto 2, the police car is known as the "Cop Car" and assumes a completely original design, looking like a retro-futuristic squad car with 1940s design cues. Like in GTA 1, it is the fastest car in the game, along with the Meteor, and features responsive cornering and brakes, making it a desirable vehicle to drive. It is also the only car in the game which gives a Cop Bribe when crushed.

GTA III — GTA Vice City Stories
In all the games of this era, the police car has been known as the "Police", with the exception of GTA Advance and GTA Vice City Stories. In GTA Advance, it is referred to as the "Police Car", and in GTA Vice City Stories, it is called the "VCPD Cruiser".

Throughout all GTA III era games, police cars are very fast, with excellent handling, and moderate durability. These stats make it great for drifting. They have two sirens, one default "long-whirl", and the "rotating-weep", triggered by holding the horn button. The player will receive a Shotgun with 5 rounds of ammunition after entering a Police car.

GTA III &amp; GTA Liberty City Stories
The Police Car in these two games resembles a cross between a Chevrolet Caprice and a Ford Crown Victoria.

In GTA III, the Police Car was originally intended to have a blue-and-white stripes livery similar to the 1990s/early 2000s NYPD police cars, however, in the final version, they have standard black and white livery like the Los Angeles Police Department. Also, the original Police Car had a more sleek profile compared to the final which appears more angular/boxy (though hints of the aerodynamic design do remain). The Police Cars in GTA Liberty City Stories feature the stripes livery intended for GTA III cars, albeit in black-and-white rather than blue-and-white.

GTA Vice City &amp; GTA Vice City Stories
In these two games, the vehicle resembles a 1980's Ford LTD, and both feature a green and white livery, much like the Miami-Dade Police Department. During development, the vehicle was white with red and blue stripes along each side, resembling squad cars from the Miami Beach Police Department. Despite the differences in textures and paint, the vehicle polygon model is reused from GTA III.

GTA San Andreas
There are three variations in GTA San Andreas. The Los Santos Police Department and San Fierro Police Department versions have the same build, based on the Premier, with the San Fierro version having slightly higher suspension most likely due to San Fierro's hilly streets with steep inclines (like it's real life counter-part, San Francisco), and markings for their respective cities. The Las Venturas Police Department version generally resembles a 1981-1990 Chevrolet Caprice, with the sides and back reminiscent of the 1980-1989 Dodge Diplomat, and the closest civilian car in the game is the Tahoma. All police vehicles feature a standard black and white livery.

The police officers in the countryside employ a large, four-by-four Ranger, based on the Rancher, for pursuit on rough terrain.

In a beta screenshot you can see that the cars were originally going to have "POLICE" written on the back in red writing

GTA Advance


The GTA Advance rendition of the Police is designed to bear a likeness to the Police from GTA III, with a generally rounded profile and a black-white paintjob. Unlike other renditions, the car is substantially more speedy, with a top speed matched with the Banshee's. Being a mid-sized car, crushing the Police will only award the player with a base amount of $532.

GTA IV
In Grand Theft Auto IV, there are two similar but separate police cars - the Police Patrol and Police Cruiser. Two more police cars, a Buffalo-based Police Cruiser and a high-performance Police Stinger, are available in The Ballad of Gay Tony's multiplayer.

The player can get in any police car and access the police computer while stationary. Here, the player can access Most Wanted missions, or locate and apprehend nearby criminals. The siren on the Police Car features some variations, including the classic "code-3 siren" wail, the yelp when the siren is activated and the horn button held down, and, if the siren is turned off and the horn button held down, a distorted "crowd control" air horn, as used in real life. One missing siren variation is the code-2 siren which is just lights but no siren. The air horn is the most common horn sound which is available for both police cars (and other emergency vehicles). Officers in real life use it to pull over people and respond to domestic calls (but when crusing, police sometimes honk regular horn rather than air horn that is never used by any other vehicles, and cannot be heard when you driving it). In the game you can see officers use it, like when they are chasing you in your vehicle and when they talk to you in the mic you hear the siren turn off with just lights on. In Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas you can do it by rapidly turning it on and of until just the lights are on as if you where not in the police car with the lights on. The lights without siren only occurs when exiting the vehicle with siren on, applying only when the player does it.

The player can dial 911 to summon the police car by luring them to a false alarm. Stealing the car (while the officer searches for any incidents), will attract a one-star Wanted level. In some places, a police car can be stolen from a parking lot or curbside without incurring a Wanted level.

GTA Chinatown Wars


Police cars in GTA Chinatown Wars are simply dubbed "Police Patrols", the same name for those seen in GTA IV. While having reverted to a panda body color scheme, the car incorporates GTA IV's police computer for use in vigilante side missions. Although the car is implied to be similar to GTA IV's Declasse-based Police Patrol, pre-rendered depictions of the Police Patrol and the Police Cruiser are used during "busted" sequences in the game.

Trivia

 * The design of GTA Vice City and GTA Vice City Stories' police cars serves as the basis of those featured in the Manhunt series.
 * In GTA IV, if the siren takes a hit it will begin to make many different high-pitched noises similar to its normal siren, but severely distorted. Other cars also won't pull over if you are driving a police car with a distorted siren.
 * In the beginning of the game of GTA San Andreas, an LSPD Police shows up. But the rims are different similar to that of the Police car and Taxi in GTA Vice City.
 * It's possible that the name of the normal version of the Taxi and Police Car in GTA 3, GTA LCS, GTA VC, GTA VCS and GTA 4 is the Cruiser.
 * In GTA III, if you look carefully to the front grille of Police Car, you can see a manufacturer badge, which resembles the one which real-life car company Ford uses.
 * If the player in San Andreas were to turn on the Ninja Theme cheat, the Police Car will still appear but the car is completely blacked out thus making it an unique paint scheme. The player can keep it by simply stealing the car, turning the cheat off, and saving it in their safehouse's garage.

Locations
Police cars are usually parked in front of police stations and are often locked.

GTA III & GTA Liberty City Stories ]]
 * Police Station in Portland View, [[Portland Island|Portland Island
 * Rusty Brown's Ring Donuts in Callahan Point, Portland Island (Liberty City Stories only)
 * Police Station in Torrington, Staunton Island
 * Police Station in Pike Creek, Shoreside Vale
 * Within Francis International Airport, Shoreside Vale

GTA Vice City & GTA Vice City Stories
 * Police Station in Washington Beach
 * Police Station in Vice Point
 * Police Station in Little Havana
 * Police Station in Downtown

GTA San Andreas
 * Police Impound Lot in Pershing Square, Los Santos
 * Police Impound Lot in Downtown, San Fierro
 * Police Impound Lot in Roca Escalante, Las Venturas

GTA IV
 * Broker: South Slopes
 * Dukes: East Island City; Francis International Airport
 * Bohan: Northern Gardens; Fortside
 * Algonquin: East Holland; Varsity Heights; Middle Park East; Westminster; Lower Easton; Suffolk
 * Alderney: Leftwood; Acter; Acter Industrial Park

Equivalent vehicles

 * Copper, GTA London equivalents.
 * Police Cruiser and Police Patrol, GTA IV equivalents.
 * Police Stinger and the Buffalo-based Police Cruiser, The Ballad of Gay Tony equivalents.
 * Police Ranger Country/Desert Police cars. in GTA San Andreas

Other police vehicles

 * Enforcer
 * VCPD Cheetah
 * Police Maverick (helicopter)
 * Predator (boat)
 * Bikes
 * HPV-1000
 * VCPD Wintergreen
 * Police Bike

Coche de Policía Carro Policial