Police Cruiser

The Vapid Police Cruiser is one of the two main police cars used by the Liberty City Police Department in Grand Theft Auto IV and by the Los Santos Police Department in Grand Theft Auto V. The Police Cruiser is based on the Vapid Stanier, the first and second-generations in GTA IV and GTA V, respectively.

GTA IV
Like the Police Patrol, the Police Cruiser can be found at any LCPD station, and is dressed in LCPD livery (based on that of the NYPD). It is faster and more agile than the Police Patrol. The Police Cruiser's chassis is also shared with Vapid's NOOSE Cruiser and Taxi.



The Police Cruiser is heavily based on the Ford Crown Victoria. The chassis, windows, headlights, and front and rear bumpers are almost identical to it. The dashboard instrument cluster is unlike the Ford product, consisting of only a tachometer, speedometer, fuel gauge and temperature gauge rather than the Crown Victoria's speedometer, tachometer, central screen and gauges for fuel, temperature, oil pressure and volts.

The Police Cruiser does not appear as a driveable car in GTA Chinatown Wars (as the Police Patrol is the only police car in the game), but does occasionally surface as an aesthetic element of "busted" sequences, when a pre-rendered depiction of a modified Police Cruiser may be seen.

The decals are almost identical to those of the New York Police Department's vehicles.



GTA V
In GTA V, the Police Cruiser boasts a white and black livery with LSPD markings. The skin is modeled off of LAPD's iconic police skin. Two emergency light bars are fitted, a LED one similar to what is seen on the Interceptor, and a rotating halogen incandescent one. While the GTA IV Police Cruiser was based on the first-generation Vapid Stanier (similar to the 1992 Mercury Grand Marquis), the GTA V Police Cruiser is based on the second-generation Vapid Stanier (similar to a 1998-2011 Crown Victoria or Crown Victoria Police Interceptor) with the headlights bearing slight resemblance to both those of the 1991-1996 Chevrolet Caprice Classic and 2003-2011 Lincoln Town Car.

In the countryside, there is a "Sheriff Cruiser" variant of the Vapid Police cruiser. The Sheriff variant can be found at every police station in Blaine County.

The LSPD variant can be found in The City of Los Santos, usually parked as police stations. However, the Vapid Interceptor (also sharing the in-game name of "Police Interceptor") has replaced the 2nd-gen Vapid Stanier police car as the LSPD's main vehicle for missions and wanted levels. But the LSPD is still using the vehicle since the Vapid Stanier Police Cruiser can sometimes be found chasing the player.

The decals are obviously based on the Los Angeles Police Department's vehicles, with the halogen lightbar topped cars bearing the same look.

GTA IV
The Police Cruiser's high-performance V8 (which real life variant is Ford's Crown Victoria Police Interceptor V8 engine) produces an impressive amount of torque off the line, and accelerates well. It has a low rev limit, which can be felt at higher RPMs. Also, the engine feels as if it runs out of steam before the transmission switches gear. It has a higher top speed than its Declasse-branded competitor, but will not get there faster than the latest Bravado offering.

The car's weakness lies in its poor suspension, as the car experiences incredible amounts of body roll and has a tendency to over steer off throttle. Stability is average at high speeds, but due to its very soft suspension the car does wallow and float about quite a bit. The car does appear to have some decent tires on it, however, which does help with improving the handling quality, if only just a bit.

Crash deformation is also average, and the suspension does not take very long to start meandering one way or the other. The engine is not fragile, but is certainly not the toughest to destroy in the game, although it fares better than the Police Buffalo.

GTA V
The GTA V police cruiser, now on the 2nd-generation Stanier platform, handles differently than its 1st-generation Stanier predecessor in GTA IV (the 1st-gen Stanier appears in GTA V as a civilian car). Its suspension has been heavily stiffened, making rollovers less likely on flat terrain compared to the previous generation vehicle, at the cost of some turning ability. It also seems to have slightly better acceleration than the old vehicle, but it is still nowhere near the capabilities of the new Police Interceptor (which also goes by the in-game name "Police Cruiser").

However, the Stanier-based Police Cruiser does appear to be more strongly-built than the Police Interceptor, thanks to it's body-on-frame construction affording more durability than the Interceptor's unibody monocoque. The Interceptor will take only a relative few high-speed impacts before then engine starts to smoke, and also suffers from wheel locking after a decent quarter impact. The Stanier's engine is more durable, plus it takes a much harder crash to bend the front axle to the point that the wheel locks.

Overall, the Stanier police cruiser a decent choice for a pursuit car as it is sturdy enough to withstand a intense crash and still be driveable. While its not exactly an FIB Granger or Police Riot, it is respectably durable.

Variant
Another variant of the Police Cruiser in TBoGT, internally named " " (Although it still says Police Cruiser upon entry), exists as a completely wrecked but driveable version of the GTA IV Police Cruiser used during the intro cutscene of I Luv LC. Depicted with a completely charred bodywork, the  has no siren, non-functional lights and no radio, and emits a horn sounding like that of the Brickade's. Despite being a wreck, the   is still vulnerable to damage from collisions and weapons. Since the vehicle is not supposed to be obtained and is used only for decorative purposes, it shares the handling, sounds and the gxt entry with the Police Buffalo and the car is regarded as a conventional traffic vehicle which may also spawn in traffic if the player is driving a  themselves. Aside mods or hacking, the  is otherwise unobtainable in the game. The " " name, presumably stands for "police wreck"

Use in side-missions
In IV any police vehicle can access the Police Computer by pressing the L1 button (PlayStation 3), the LB button (Xbox 360), or the E key (PC), which lets Niko perform the vigilante side-mission, hence search for the most wanted criminals, monitor recent crimes in the area, search the police records and call for backup.

GTA IV

 * Found at all police stations across all boroughs.
 * Can be found commonly driving through streets, often in Algonquin.
 * Can be obtained by calling 911, then selecting "Police", one will arrive shortly after calling.
 * Can be found forming road-blocks when each borough is locked to the player, however, a 6-Star wanted level will be gained upon entry.

GTA V

 * Found at most police stations across Los Santos.
 * Seen responding in the mission The Long Stretch.
 * Seen in an Amanda side mission, where Amanda has been arrested, and is put in the back of one.
 * Seen responding to the tragedy in the mission The Bureau Raid.
 * Oddly one can be found parked at the Paleto Bay LSCS Office.

GTA Online

 * Rarely spawns at the Mission Row Police Station in free roam.
 * Once a Police Cruiser is obtained in GTA Online, it can be used as a seed to spawn more Police Cruisers at any police station in Los Santos.

GTA IV and Episodes

 * Like other emergency vehicles with roof-mounted strobe lights, the Police Cruiser's siren will malfunction by wailing in random, distorted pitches if the strobe light housing is significantly damaged by gunfire, falling objects, or rolling of the vehicle. The second and third sirens noises are also disabled, leaving the car with only the malfunctioning siren noise.
 * A bug exists in GTA IV where a fixed police car can be driven with a distorted siren, requiring the "repair car cheat," or, in multiplayer, a health kit. However, if the player turns off the siren while it is like this, then turns it back on, it will return to normal.
 * In GTA IV multiplayer, the Police Cruiser, Enforcer, and Annihilator are the only vehicles used by law enforcement.
 * On the GTA IV DVD case, a Police Cruiser can be seen. However, the Police Cruiser on the case has the headlights and front bumper of a 1998–2011 Crown Victoria, when compared to the in-game model. The same applies to the GTA V DVD case.
 * In GTA IV multiplayer, the Police Cruiser has a normal radio; the same applies to all other emergency vehicles. This also happens in GTA Online.
 * In the GTA IV Beta, the Police Cruiser had a registration number on the trunk, instead of the LCPD logo.

GTA V

 * The Police Cruiser can appear with the following aerial roof numbers: 05, 17, 29, 32, 43, 58, 76, 84.
 * The beta version of the police cruiser for GTA V has the style of an actual LAPD cruiser with the word "police" being present on the car.
 * The fact that the Police Cruiser and the civilian version are not used very often in GTA V could be explained by the fact that real-life Crown Victorias have not been produced since 2011; however, the Sheriff Cruiser remains as the most used car by the LSSD in-game, and the Crown Victoria is still the most widely used cruiser in the real-life LAPD. The car is set to be replaced in a few years, not by the Ford Taurus Police Interceptor, but by the Chevrolet Caprice Police Package.
 * The rotating-siren Police Cruiser in GTA V looks very similar to the real-life CVPI used by the LAPD.
 * The Police Cruiser is one of six updated vehicles in GTA V whose appearance has changed from their GTA IV and its episodes models. The other vehicles are the Sentinel, the Buccaneer, the Feltzer, the Coquette, and the Police Maverick.
 * In the recent update for GTA Online, if you use the special siren on the Police Cruiser (turn it on and straight off again), and try to turn the siren on again, you will not hear the siren but other players will. This is present in single player as well. This has been patched in Patch 1.17.
 * During The Good Husband, Amanda is arrested by the police and placed inside a Police Cruiser, and Michael has the option to help her. If you look closely, the roof lightbar is "glitched," with the light cover over the real roof lights.
 * The Police Cruiser is never seen in GTA Online, and never spawns at any police stations; however, it does make an appearance several times in the GTA Online trailer. This is probably due to lag and storage.
 * It now sometimes spawns in the PS4/XB1 versions of the game, however.
 * In GTA Online, the Police Cruiser has a normal radio; the same applies to all other emergency vehicles. This also happens in GTA IV multiplayer.

Glitches

 * Be careful when attempting to "save" a Police Cruiser (or Police Patrol) in a parking spot in GTA IV. Often times police officers will just enter the car and drive off, despite it being parked in "your" parking spot. This occurs with either a lone policeman, or if a policeman is chasing and apprehending a non-player criminal on the street then both will enter the car and the police officer will drive off. This tends to occur more often after just loading a save. If the player gets into their police car and the criminal and their arresting officer get in with them, the player will receive a one-star wanted level for obstructing an arrest and may also be pulled out of the car by the criminal and be engaged in a fight with them.