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 vehicle is a Vapid Stanier.

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 grill was probably inspired by toy police cars that can be found in several stores in New York, which are based in the Ford Crown Victoria but have a larger, more rectangular grill and lack of manufacturer emblem.



The Police Cruiser is an amalgamation of various Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptors, thus probably powered by a tuned V8. Its tail lights are similar to those of a 1992-1994 model; the chassis, including: windows, headlights (however upside down, similar to a 1992-1997 Mercury Grand Marquis), and front and rear bumpers resemble those of the 1992-97 models; and the grille and hood look like those of the 1998-2011 models. 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 speedo, tach, central screen and gauges for fuel, temperature, oil pressure and volts.

The Police Cruiser does not appear as a drivable 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.



GTA V
In GTA V, the Vapid Stanier was a police car in GTA IV but is now a standard sedan in GTA V. In early trailers the police have used them such as the Los Santos County Sheriff's Department but was replaced by a new car model. In the trailer 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 can be fitted, an LED one similar to what is seen on the Vapid Interceptor, and a rotating incandescent one as seen in many screenshots, including the one to the right. The car is based on 1992-1997 Crown Victoria. The new model is based on the 1998-2011 Crown Victoria with the headlights bearing slight resemblence to both those of the 1991-1996 Chevrolet Caprice Classic and 2003-2011 Lincoln Town Car. The Police Cruiser seems to have a new handling line which will fix the problem, that if go around a corner fast and hit the curb your car will flip. In the countryside, there is a "Sheriff's Cruiser" variant of the Vapid Police cruiser but was also replaced by a new vehicle. The car can be found in most places in the City of Los Santos

GTA IV
The Police Cruiser's high-performance V-8 (which real life variant is Ford's Police Interceptor V-8 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. The new car model for the police cruiser in GTA V

Variant
Another variant of the Police Cruiser in TBoGT, internally named " ", oddly exists as a completely wrecked but drivable version of the GTA IV Police Cruiser. 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. The vehicle however still has well above average performance, one nearly of that comparable to the Police Buffalo, instead of the regular performance as found in its un-wrecked Vapid counterpart. It has the motor sound of that found in the Police Buffalo, and its acceleration is the equivalent, along with top speed, and handling. The physical motor acts as if nothing is wrong with it, and runs as healthy as any good motor. Aside mods or hacking, the  is otherwise unobtainable in the game. The car is regarded as a conventional traffic vehicle, and as a result, may also spawn in traffic if the player is driving a  themselves.

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.

Trivia

 * Like other emergency vehicles with roof-mounted strobe lights in GTA IV, 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 where in GTA IV 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 the Annihilator are the only vehicles used by law enforcement, regardless of one's Wanted level.
 * 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.
 * In multiplayer, the Police Cruiser has a normal radio; the same applies to all other emergency vehicles, and the Securicar.
 * In the Beta, the Police Cruiser had a registration number on the trunk, instead of the LCPD logo.

Glitches

 * Be careful when attempting to "save" a Police Cruiser (or Police Patrol) in a parking spot. 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.