Busted

Getting busted in GTA IV

The term 'Busted' refers to the player being arrested by the

File:GTA 3 - Busted

Busted In GTA 3.

police or any other type of law enforcement in a Grand Theft Auto game as a result of having a wanted level. As wanted levels progress higher, the law enforcement is more likely to attempt to waste the player rather than arrest them, although if given the chance, they will still attempt to pull the player from of their vehicle.

Many factors can contribute to this:

• Being pulled from a vehicle, or having the player's vehicle door successfully opened by a member of law enforcement.
• Being on the ground when a member of law enforcement is within a certain radius. This tends to happen if the player engages in melee combat with a member of law enforcement, and is knocked to the ground.
• Being knocked to the ground while attempting to steal a law enforcement vehicle, with an agent inside.

Effects

As a result of getting busted, the player has their body armor and all of their weapons confiscated, and will fail any mission that was in progress at the time of arrest. In Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories, the player also loses all of their garage-stored vehicles, and in Chinatown Wars, any drugs currently held by the player are confiscated.

Exceptions

Weapons

In Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, if Carl is dating Barbara Schternvart, the player's weapons will not be lost.

In Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories, the player's confiscated weapons can be returned for $2000. They will be processed at the closest precinct, and a small amount of money will also be taken by the police as a bribe.

Other

In Grand Theft Auto IV and GTA V, the player is permitted to resist arrest by breaking away during the arrest. This can only be done if being held at gunpoint by an officer. Doing so will earn the player a two-star wanted level, and cause the arresting officer (and any others in the vicinity) to engage the player with their firearm.

Trivia

• In Grand Theft Auto: London 1969 and London 1961, the term is known as "You're Nicked!" which is a British slang for arresting people.
• In the PlayStation Portable and Nintendo DS versions of Chinatown Wars, cheating wanted stars away with a cop on foot will result in the cop opening a door on a random vehicle and walking away.
• In the Grand Theft Auto III beta, when you were busted it showed red and yellow letters reading busted. This was changed to a simple orange color in the final version.
• When an NPC gets arrested in Grand Theft Auto IV, driving a police vehicle will occasionally have the officer and criminal enter your vehicle and after a few seconds the player receives a wanted level and the officer and criminal will exit the vehicle when it stops. If the player leaves the vehicle near the criminal and officer, they will enter the vehicle and begin to drive away. Stealing the vehicle back will not earn the player a wanted level.
• In GTA IV, when an NPC is being arrested and no police car pulls over to pick up the officer and criminal, the criminal is more than likely to run away and/or attack the officer. This can be prevented with the use of cheats, the FIB Buffalo spawn cheat. If it is spawned close enough to the officer, they will direct the criminal into the back seat and drive away with them. The officer may also utter a comment such as "A good samaritan? Rare sight in this city!", or "Is this some sort of a trick, asshole?.. Thanks, I guess." They may also say "Thanks man, we need more people like you." This vary depending on the officers, as some of them are rude, and some of them are thankful, although this does not affect the main gameplay.
• In GTA IV, there will be no message reading "Busted" on the screen. Instead the screen will turn grey and, after a few seconds, you will be returned to the nearest police station. However, if something interrupts the police officer doing the "arrest" animation (such as a car crashing into them), the game will glitch and it will continue showing the slow-mo scene until you press the left mouse-button, which skips the scene. Skipping with the mouse also works when you simply don't want to watch the whole busted scene.
• In GTA V, when you are busted, the scene is a combination of what happens when you get busted in the 3D Universe games and GTA IV; the screen turns black and white (like GTA IV), but the "Busted" message also appears (like in the 3D Universe games).
• In the 3D Universe and HD Universe, if the player is arrested, the law enforcements will point his weapon as a pistol, regardless what weapon they carry.
• Prior to GTA San Andreas, the police officer can arrest the player from opening passenger door. While in GTA San Andreas, the police officer will usually arrest the player by opening the driver door, though rarely, he may open the passenger door to arrest the player.
• In Grand Theft Auto V, when you are busted you don't lose your guns, but ammo and body armor is confiscated after bail is paid.
• When the player is busted in the Brazilian Portuguese version of GTA V, the advice is instead "Perdeu, Playboy", roughly translatable into "You lost pal", a common Brazilian term for being caught red handed.
• In all the games of the 3D Universe, once a player is arrested and the "BUSTED!" words appear on the screen nothing can undo this. If the cop dies during the busted sequence the player will not get up (expect if the player takes explosive damage) and will remain on the ground or in their car (if a vehicular arrest has been performed). Also, it is impossible to go from the "BUSTED!" sequence to the "WASTED!" sequence as the player will be invunerable to any type of damage while in the "BUSTED" sequence. However, if the player takes explosion damage while "BUSTED" appear, the player can regain control only for few second before they begin transported to the nearest police station.
• In the 3D Universe, if the player dies while having a wanted level with an officer of the law nearby, the officer will pull out his pistol just as if he is arresting the player. However, the words "WASTED!" will still appear on the screen and the player will still be respawn at the nearest hospital.
• In GTA IV, if Niko Bellic has a wanted level while he is drunk, the cops will wait for him to sober up before attempting to arrest him.
• In GTA IV, if the player shot the police officer's pistol off his hand and then gets arrested by getting pulled out of the car, the officer will still use pistol arrest animation while his hand is empty.
• In GTA IV, if the player is arrested in the passenger seat (not to be confused as a passenger in a taxi) via trainers in singleplayer, the police will simply use the generic carjacking animation to pull the player out. When pulled out, the officer will be simply shooting at the player instead of playing the arrest animation. This is because in multiplayer, the police lack an arrest function.
• In GTA V if the player is 'drink driving' pedestrians will make remarks and call the cops.

Trevor, with the female cop in the background.

• In GTA V, if you go to the Sandy Shores Medical Center, you might see a female police officer. If you stand near her for to long or talk to her in a horrible way, you will get a 2 or 3 star wanted level.  
• In GTA V, a custom game mode is known by the same name. This game mode is made using the content creator, and involves unarmed players using police vehicles trying to trap a crook vehicle, which another player drives.

Gallery

You're Nicked! Busted rendition in GTA London.

GTA 2

GTA III

GTA Vice City

GTA San Andreas

GTA IV

GTA The Lost and Damned

GTA The Ballad of Gay Tony

GTA V (Michael)