Los Santos Police Department

For the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas rendition, see Los Santos Police Department (3D Universe).

Type POLICE DEPARTMENT Los Santos Police Department Badge of LSPD Officers Type Law enforcement agency Appearance(s) Grand Theft Auto VGrand Theft Auto Online Location(s) Mission Row Police StationLa Mesa Police StationDavis Sheriff/Police StationVinewood Police StationRockford Hills Police StationDel Perro Police StationVespucci Police StationVespucci Beach Police StationBolingbroke Penitentiary Vehicle(s) #Vehicles Weapon(s) #Weapons

The Los Santos Police Department (LSPD) is the primary law enforcement agency of the City of Los Santos, San Andreas, appearing in Grand Theft Auto V and Grand Theft Auto Online. The LSPD is based on the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD).

According to the badges on officers, the LSPD was established in 1889, nearly a hundred years after Los Santos was founded. Being a large police force, the LSPD appears to be well-funded and equipped, although unlike previous games, LSPD officers and cars very rarely appear on the streets of Los Santos.

For male officers, there are three character models: black, white, and Hispanic, but their facial features differ. While the black and white character model have dedicated voices (each having six voices), the Hispanic character model will have a random NPC voice (sometimes using a female NPC voice). Grand Theft Auto V is the first game in the series to also feature female officers; however, they are very rare. For them, there are only two character models: black and white, and each of them has their own voices.

The LSPD has jurisdiction over the entirety of Los Santos, as well as Del Perro, Davis, and Rockford Hills, despite those being different cities. They also have jurisdiction over Los Santos International Airport and the Port of Los Santos, despite their real-life counterparts having their own police departments (Los Angeles International Airport having the Los Angeles Airport Police and the Port of Los Angeles having the Los Angeles Port Police).

The only sure ways to find LSPD officers are at the LSIA, directly outside police stations, during pursuits of Street Criminals, or by dialing 911 in the in-game phone for the Police. Arrow stations also usually have an officer or two, particularly the underground ones. In Downtown Los Santos, foot patrols of two officers can be found within a two-block radius of the Mission Row Police Station, often interacting with the homeless that frequent the area. In other areas of Los Santos however, it is rare to find an occupied patrol car unless it is in pursuit of an NPC driver.

18 November 2021

17 November 2014

05 May 2014

LSPD officers are shown to be very aggressive and violent, with police brutality being very common, such as an officer shown pressing his baton against a suspect's neck in the lobby of the Mission Row Police Station during the mission Eye in the Sky. It is implied that the LSPD is heavily corrupt and systematically racist, and that they also hire and have sex with prostitutes, although this cannot be seen in-game. However, despite these, it is implied by the LSPD pilot in Eye in the Sky that there are actually good, non-corrupt officers in the LSPD.

LSPD officers are often too aggressive for their own good, letting their aggression take charge instead of common sense. This results in the LSPD appearing to be extremely incompetent and dim-witted. Their actions include, but are not limited to, severely damaging their own cars during pursuits, driving recklessly at full speed, standing still in the open while being shot at, shooting at armored and/or heavily armed vehicles with their mostly-inferior weapons, not calling for backup when overwhelmed by groups of suspects, driving over clearly visible spike strips and blowing out their own tires, taking cover behind or standing near a vehicle which is on fire and about to explode, shooting at oncoming vehicles, setting up roadblocks on the wrong side of the highway, rushing into areas that are obviously being watched and guarded by armed suspects, hitting other officers with their cars and sometimes killing them as a result, blindly charging a heavily armed suspect with no regard for their own life, completely ignoring orders to stay in formation or retreat, and firing their guns in a dark area which causes the muzzle flash to give away their position. They are, however, shown to follow at least one realistic procedure: if their lights and sirens are on, and they approach an intersection, they will slow down (unless close to suspect's vehicle) and switch their siren to the "phaser" tone at the intersection. Once they pass the intersection, they will switch the sirens back to the usual "wail" tone.

Occasionally, an ambient chase will occur randomly throughout San Andreas. One police vehicle can be encountered chasing NPCs (ranging from 2–4 NPCs) until they come to a complete stop. NOOSE in a Police Maverick can also spawn in these events. If this ambient event occurs near a police station, other officers in a vehicle and on-foot will find a way to join the pursuit (unless the event goes out of range). On the other hand, officers in their vehicles will sometimes activate their sirens and respond to a call. If the player follows the police, the officers will eventually find a random NPC in a vehicle and initiate a chase, similar to the ambient chase.

Unless it is a scripted random event, the player is not permitted to use force to attempt to assist in the capture of a pursued NPC suspect, as a wanted level will be attained and police attention will immediately switch to the player.

LSPD officers, as well as LSSD deputies and NOOSE operators, will fire on NPCs who harm them, including unarmed passing motorists who may accidentally hit officers with their vehicles.

Like the LCPD in GTA IV, the police can assist the player if they see NPCs attacking them or someone else. Although unlike the LCPD, they will open fire on sight instead of arresting them.

Main articles: Wanted Level in GTA V and Wanted Level in GTA Online

The LSPD follow a rank and hierarchy system similar to the real world counterpart of the LAPD. Some of the LSPD officers have patches on their uniform sleeves which show their rank. To determine whether an officer is Police Officer I or II, officers with a tie and no rank on their shoulder will most likely represent Officer I because most rookies out of the academy wear a tie on the job. Officers that don't wear a tie and have no rank on their shoulder are most likely Officer II.

On top of the regular patrol officers, the LSPD has separate divisions for certain tasks.

The LSPD has a traffic division responsible for ticketing vehicles illegally parked or instructing the driver to move. They wear white undershirts, blue button down overshirts, blue pants, black belts, green high-visual vests, and white hats. They only appear in the mission The Jewel Store Job and on TV in Mr. Philips. Albert Stalley is a member of the traffic division.

The LSPD has a water division, known as the Los Santos Harbor Patrol. Despite being part of the LSPD specifically, they will respond to players with a wanted level in the water anywhere on the map. They drive Predators and often patrol the waters around Fort Zancudo and the Los Santos International Airport.

The LSPD have a division specifically for the Los Santos International Airport. On top of the regular LSPD uniform and hat, airport police wear bullet-proof vests. They are often seen patrolling the arrivals and departures zones in pairs, holding pump shotguns. If the player is close by with a wanted level, they will attempt to arrest the player if the wanted level is only one star, or shoot at the player if the wanted level is two stars or above.

The LSPD have an aviation division, who are trained to pilot air vehicles, such as providing air support in Police Mavericks to LSPD officers on the ground, and transporting informants in planes. The pilot's uniform consists of a green flight suit, brown shoes, and occasionally a white pilot helmet. They only appear in the missions Eye in the Sky and Extradition.

Main article: Police Stations

The Los Santos Police Department is large and organized, occupying a number of Police Stations throughout the city of Los Santos.

LSPD officers wear navy blue uniforms similar to that of their real life counterparts. They either wear short-sleeve or closed long-sleeve shirts with a black tie, with their badges being displayed on the left side. Chevrons are worn on the sleeves to identify the ranks of the officers. Around their waist is a duty belt, containing a dual-magazine pouch, a radio with a cord attaching to a shoulder mic, handcuff pouches and a holster containing a Glock 38. While officers can spawn with many accessories, such as shades, watches, and an arm cuff, those wearing duty hats will only be seen around police stations on foot.

Officers can also utilize police vests that function as body armor (providing more health). The vest replaces the utility belt and are worn by officers when the player has a 3-star wanted level and higher. Officers patrolling LSIA wear this body armor, often wearing duty hats and/or shades. Female officers, however, do not use body armor.

The badges are silver and gold in color with an oval shape, differing from the rounded teardrop shape of actual LAPD badges, with two points framing the top of the badge while also having a badge number. Furthermore, it features a design of two officers in riot gear dragging a civilian instead of the city seal.

The detectives from the Unmarked Cruisers do not wear uniforms, and primarily wear tuxedos instead, with no visible identification of being LSPD units.

LSPD Command Pilots wear pale green coveralls with matching gloves, grey boots, and sometimes wear a utility belt. Their coveralls have Police Command Pilot patches on both sleeves and an LSPD Wings patch on their right breast with a standard Police Officer badge on their left breast.

There is an unused LSPD uniform for Michael. At one point in Grand Theft Auto Online, an LSPD uniform could be worn by the GTA Online Protagonist after the Heists update, but was shortly patched in later updates.

P-996 LAZER chasers are marked as "Police Plane"

IV denotes introduced in Grand Theft Auto IV CW denotes introduced in Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars V denotes introduced in Grand Theft Auto V O denotes introduced in Grand Theft Auto Online