Two police officers in GTA Online staring angrily into the camera
By
Matthew Danielson
Updated
57 minutes ago
Matthew Danielson is a Senior Gaming Staff Writer for Screen Rant, using their expertise in fighting games, RPGs, and action titles to provide insight into your favorite experiences.
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- Why Do You Want To Be A Cop?
- How To Get a Police Car
- How To Be A Police Officer
- Limitations Of Being A Police Officer In GTA Online
- Using GTA 5's Director Mode In Single-Player
- Things to Do as a Cop
GTA Online has many different roles you can take on, but it may be better for some to leave a life of crime and become a cop. Breaking the law has always been the lifestyle of many Grand Theft Auto characters who walk in Los Santos. However, those seeking a career as a police officer will have to access a cheat code that activates a unique mode.
Ironically, the best way to start enforcing the law is by breaking it, first. There are no Police Academies in the city for you to enroll in a course or take on missions that would help you earn a badge. You may want to grab all MK2 weapons in GTA Online to improve your arsenal as you prepare to take on the army of criminals on the streets at any moment.
Playing as a cop on GTA Online can be a fun experience for anyone looking to change things up a bit or discover a new way to enjoy the game.
Why Do You Want To Be A Cop?
Earn Tons Of Money By Enforcing The Law
While a police officer's salary may not be high in real life, the amount of money you can make as a cop in GTA Online can be absurd. You can complete missions as a cop to earn cash quickly. Dispatches from the Police Radio in the game act as mini-missions that reward you with lots of in-game money for your character.
Dispatch missions have a five-minute cooldown before you can take on another, but each one rewards you with around $25,000 for their completion.
Another reason to become a cop is to get away from the heat of the law. Your character may constantly be agitating the police, racking up stars in dangerous missions, and having to flee crime scenes all the time. Turning into a cop gives you a way to not worry about building stars, as the destruction you cause is for the protection of Los Santos' people, allegedly.
How To Get a Police Car
How To Steal A Police Car
A police car in GTA V with two officers holding their pistols at the camera
The easiest way to become a cop is to steal a cop's car from local officers in your pursuit of justice. There are many ways to get behind the driver's seat of a police-owned vehicle, but these methods could also endanger your character. Cop cars aren't exactly secret vehicles in GTA Online, but the easiest ways to get one with those familiar red and blue sirens are:
- Calling 9-1-1: Use the in-game cell phone to request police to arrive at your location. Once a few cops are there, you can steal their vehicle after dealing with the responding officers however you want.
- Go to the Police Department: Simply take an available cop car from the parking lot of the main police building in Los Santos.
- Cause Trouble: Committing crimes will certainly deliver plenty of police cars to your current location. Deal with the incoming enemies that try to arrest you, then take one of their cars and avoid getting caught.
Once you steal a police car, keep in mind it's one of the many vehicles you can't put in your garage in GTA Online. Trying to do this will cause the car to explode unless you use some sort of save glitch to exploit the game temporarily. When trying to become a cop, you mustn't switch to another vehicle anyway, so just keep driving around in the cop car until you're finished being an officer.
Be careful not to get three stars or higher when trying to get a cop car. Doing this may give you more attention than you bargained for and draw too many officers to your location than you can handle.
How To Get A Cop Car Without Stealing
You don't have to steal your ride and start your cop career with a crime. Instead, you can legitimately buy a Police Riot truck, an Unmarked Cruiser, and the Stanier LE GTA Online Police Cruiser from the Warstock Cache & Carry. These cars will set you back quite a bit, though! The prices are as follows:
Police Car
Price
Police Riot Truck
$4,800,000
Unmarked Cruiser
$3,950,000
Stanier LE GTA Online Police Cruiser
$4,690,000
GTA+ members can also claim an additional police vehicle for free: the Canis Terminus Patrol Law Enforcement Vehicle.
How To Be A Police Officer
The Steps To Becoming An In-Game Cop
After acquiring a police car, you have to activate Director Mode in GTA Online to become a cop. The Rockstar Editor menu has an option for Actors with a section dedicated to the Los Santos Police Department in the Emergency Services tab. Select LSPD and reload the game to be given the same status as an officer of the law in the city who can help fellow officers at any time.
The Director Mode can be found after you pull up GTA Online's menu and select the main editor tab to your right. At the bottom of the following menu is an option to access Director Mode and all its features.
Anyone who initiates this special mode can help cops wherever they are in Los Santos and stop day-to-day crimes as they happen. Despite the clear limitations of this setting, the ability to roleplay as a cop provides an experience you wouldn't find while playing GTA Online normally. Other mechanics for Director Mode will let you fine-tune other game elements to set up your preferred settings.
Limitations Of Being A Police Officer In GTA Online
Being A Cop Has Its Downsides
A biker running from the police on a wet street in GTA 5 Enhanced Edition gameplay
One of the limitations of Director Mode is that it cannot be activated if you are Wanted, inside a vehicle, or participating in an active mission. The best place to turn on this unique setting is from within a safe location where you cannot accidentally stir up trouble. Getting a star may prevent you from putting on an officer's badge until you can become a law-abiding citizen once more.
The other big limitation of playing as a cop is that you need others to play along with you. Finding others to play with is undoubtedly the hardest part of being an officer in GTA Online. You can find groups who get together to play and roleplay, so you can also try to join one of these. GTA World is a huge community where you can find other players and more ideas for immersive play.
Using GTA 5's Director Mode In Single-Player
Take Control With Known Sacrifices
Michael DeSanta from GTA 5 standing in front of a trailer in the menu screen for GTA 5's Director Mode
Director Mode can also be used in the single-player mode of Grand Theft Auto V. Anyone playing on a PC can input the cheat code "JRTALENT" to activate Director Mode and become a cop outside GTA Online. Console players can do the same by dialing 1-999-5782-5568 on their mobile phones.
Unfortunately, GTA Online does not feature crossplay between systems and does not support players on different game versions, all activating Director Mode together to form a police department.
Activating the Director Mode on a PC or console deactivates achievements or trophies earned from the base game of GTA 5. If you intend to meet different goals tied to these completion rewards, use a separate save file for your police roleplay. Thankfully, using Director Mode on one file does not automatically turn it on in other games you load from your other saves.
Servers for your games will likely continue until Grand Theft Auto 6 releases sometime in 2026 as of this time of writing. The popularity of roleplay options seen in GTA Online may influence what becomes possible in this future title as it finishes development. Therefore, your experiences of being a cop in GTA 5 may carry over into the next title in the franchise as official content.
Things to Do as a Cop
Have Different Players Take On Different Roles
Many players have discovered tons of ways to stretch the boundaries of what GTA Online offers when you become a cop. Creating mock patrols with different friends allows you to protect and serve all of Los Santos. On the other hand, sticking to the highways could let you catch dangerous drivers as they blatantly disregard the speed limits set by the city.
Some of the highlights of being an officer may be seen in high-stakes shootouts with dangerous criminals as they rob stores or take hostages. Popular games such as Cops and Robbers take this idea to a natural extreme, but you will have to find a large group of people to start this customized game within a game.
A summer 2024 update also added a new type of side quest you can complete for Vincent, for some off-the-books "law" enforcement. These include helping to enforce bail and bounty hunting gigs that can be played from a cop's POV.
Something else you can do when you're playing as a cop is to prevent other cops from getting called on you. After all, you're on the same team now, right? There are a few methods of preventing cops from being called on you, but the three easiest are bribing the police, starting (but not completing) certain missions for Franklin and Charlie, and starting your tow truck service (but not actually completing the task).
The possibilities for what you can accomplish after you become a cop in GTA Online depend on your creativity and the willingness of other players to respect your authority.
Grand Theft Auto Online
Open-World
Action
Systems
7.0/10
Released
October 1, 2013
ESRB
M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Mature Humor, Nudity, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content, Use of Drugs and Alcohol
Developer(s)
Rockstar North
Publisher(s)
Rockstar Games
Franchise
Grand Theft Auto
Platform(s)
PS5, PS4, PS3, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PC
Genre(s)
Open-World, Action
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Wjen i call it on ps5
thid weird music starts playing
2025-05-03 03:45:14 Upvote Downvote Reply CopyThe reason why I want to be a cop is because responsibilities to protect our community and serve our country
2025-05-29 12:21:55 Upvote Downvote Reply Copy