How to choose police cars for a department
A police garage does not need many cars. It needs the right five or six: a patrol sedan, a patrol SUV, something fast for pursuits, an unmarked car, and a truck or van for the heavy work. Officers ask for those by the real car they are thinking of, a Charger, a Tahoe, an Explorer, so that is how this guide is organised.
For most models there are two ways to buy. The certified lore-friendly units are renamed with GTA-style names and carry no real-world badges; the debadged units have the badges removed but keep the real car's name. The police units are standard add-on resources with their own lighting rather than ELS, so players do not need to install anything. If you would rather buy the whole department in one go, the police and EMS packs guide covers the bundles.
Charger: the default pursuit sedan
If a US-style department runs one sedan, it is a Charger. The lore-friendly version is the Bravado Buffalo S Police, the Dodge Charger Pursuit stand-in, with the Bravado Buffalo STX Sheriff as its county counterpart so a sheriff's office can run the same body under a different name.
On the debadged side there are two more specialised Chargers: the Dodge Charger (SWAT) and the Dodge Charger SRT Wagon – Police, an estate-bodied pursuit car. The Chrysler 300 (Police) is the closely related full-size sedan for a supervisor or detective unit.
Patrol SUVs: Tahoe, Suburban, Explorer and Durango
SUVs carry more officers and more gear, and on most servers they end up doing more shifts than the sedans. The lore-friendly set covers the three shapes people ask for: the Declasse Granger Sheriff (Chevrolet Tahoe), the Declasse Granger Police Transport (Chevrolet Suburban) and the Vapid Scout Police, the Ford Police Interceptor Utility stand-in, which is the Explorer-based patrol SUV.
The debadged options are the Dodge Durango (Police), which is a free download at the time of writing, the Chevrolet Suburban 2021 – Police, the Cadillac Escalade (Police) and the Cadillac Escalade-V Mansory – Police. SWAT versions of the Durango and Suburban exist for tactical teams.
Crown Vic: the classic patrol car
The Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor is the shape most people picture when they think of an American police car. The lore-friendly Police Cruiser is the stand-in for it, and it is a free download at the time of writing. That makes it the obvious first unit to install: it costs nothing, it tells you whether your police job and garage are set up correctly, and it stays useful afterwards as a reserve or traffic car.
European police cars: BMW, Audi and Mercedes
Servers set in a European-style city, or US servers that want a highway patrol with something different, have a deep list to pick from. BMW has the most: the BMW M3 (Police), the BMW M3 2020 – Police, the BMW M5 (Police), the BMW M5 RoCars – Police, the BMW 530i (Police) and the BMW 7 Series (Police). Audi's RS6 comes as a marked police car and as the Audi RS6 (Unmarked). Mercedes has the Mercedes-AMG C63 S (Police) and the Mercedes-AMG GT 63 (Police).
The lore-friendly European units are the Ubermacht Rebla Police (BMW X5), the Benefactor Schafter Police (Mercedes-Benz S-Class), the Lampadati Komoda Police (Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio) and the Gallivanter Baller Police (Range Rover Sport). For other regions there are the Genesis G70 (Police) and the Toyota Crown (Police).
Interceptors: Mustang, GT-R and the supercars
Every department eventually needs one car that can catch a player in a supercar. The sensible tier is the pony cars and sports cars: the Ford Mustang (Police), the 2015 Ford Mustang (Police), the lore-friendly Vapid Dominator FIB (an unmarked Mustang GT stand-in) and the Nissan GT-R Nismo (Police).
Above that are the showpiece interceptors: the Lamborghini Urus in three police versions, the Lamborghini Huracán Tecnica – Police, the Ferrari 488 Pista – Police, the Ferrari SF90 Widebody – Police, the McLaren P1 (Police), the Mercedes-AMG GT R – Police, the Mercedes-AMG ONE – Police and the Audi R8 Hycade – Police. Give these to a small, trained pursuit unit. If every officer can pull one out, chases stop being a contest.
Trucks, K9 and SWAT
For rural and specialist work, the 2017 Chevrolet Silverado K9 (Police) is the K9 unit, with the 2019 Chevrolet Silverado (Police) as the standard patrol truck. The lore-friendly Vapid Riata Sheriff stands in for the Ford Bronco as an off-road sheriff's vehicle, the Park Ranger (Police SUV) covers park patrols and the Hummer (Police) is the heavy option.
Tactical teams have the Lenco BearCat (SWAT), the lore-friendly HVY Brickade SWAT, two SWAT vans and the Mercedes Sprinter (SWAT). For moving prisoners there is the lore-friendly Vapid Speedo Police Van, the Chevrolet Express stand-in.
A few units exist mainly for fun or for themed servers: the Tesla (Police), the Tesla Cybertruck – Police, the Tesla Roadster – Police, the Mercedes-AMG G63 6x6 (Police) and the Cyberpunk 2077 Police Car.
A sensible first six
If you are starting from nothing, this is a fleet that covers every common call without overlap: the Police Cruiser for general patrol, the Bravado Buffalo S Police as the pursuit sedan, the Declasse Granger Sheriff or the Dodge Durango (Police) as the SUV, the Audi RS6 (Unmarked) for detectives, the Ford Mustang (Police) as the interceptor and the Lenco BearCat for SWAT. Two of those are free at the time of writing, so you can have a working department garage before you spend anything.
Once the cars spawn, add their spawn codes to your police job's authorised vehicle list so officers can take them out by rank. On QBCore that list lives in qb-policejob's config, and on ESX in esx_policejob's config. The spawn code is printed on every product page.
