Gotham City Police Department
The Gotham City Police Department is a law enforcement organization that features in DC Comics.
Contents |
History
Pre-Crisis
Golden Age
The Gotham City Police Department was the police branch that served to uphold the law in Gotham City.
Due to this decision, the GCPD under Commissioner Gordon's instructions incorporated a searchlight with a bat-symbol on the rooftop of the GCPD Headquarters and it was known as the Bat-Signal; a way to contact Batman whenever he was needed. (Detective Comics v1 #60)
The signal was used extensively for a long period of time, until the Mayor of Gotham removed Gordon from his charge. The new Police Commissioner Vane destroyed the Bat-Signal, ending the GCPD connection with Batman. However, when Batman uncovered a large criminal network behind Gordon's demotion, the Mayor reinstated Gordon as Police Commissioner and the Bat-Signal was repaired. (Detective Comics v1 #121)
Silver Age
The Gotham City Police Department was the police branch that served to uphold the law in Gotham City.
However, this method of contacting Batman became obsolete and Gordon stopped using it. Shortly after this change, Batman was framed for murder and Gordon had no choice but to organize the GCPD and try to capture Batman. When the police cornered the outlaw, Batman delivered evidence of his innocence to the police and they allowed Batman to work by their side once again. (Batman v1 #225)
Post-Crisis
Following the Crisis on Infinite Earths, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events. The Gotham City Police Department was the official government policing agency for Gotham City.
In time, the G.C.P.D. came to recognise the results of Batman to the city but worried at the thought of him dying. As a result, them and the military embarked on an initiative to train a police officer to be his replacement. Three candidates were chosen for the assignment where they were trained to take the Dark Knight's place. They were placed under the care of Simon Hurt who was considered an expert on the psychology of Batman. (Batman v1 #674)
The Mayor later ordered the G.C.P.D. to evict Poison Ivy, her Feraks and the children that had taken shelter with her at Robinson Park. Initial attempts to do so peacefully failed with this later leading to hostilities and the Mayor authorising the deployment of a powerful herbicide at the park. It was only the intervention of Batman that stopped from the situation going fatal with the sixteen children that Ivy cared for being allowed to be taken in by the G.C.P.D. before the herbicide could be deployed. (Detective Comics v1 #752)
Shortly after Batman's death, the GCPD were overwhelmed by a rising wave of criminals wanting to take control of the city on Batman's absence. The people of Gotham organized a strike outside the GCPD HQ, demanding Commissioner Gordon's resignation due to the lack of results. (Batman: Battle for the Cowl v1 #1) Bullock and a small group of officers investigated the murder of an undercover police officer. (Azrael: Death's Dark Knight v1 #1)
The GCPD was then tasked with capturing the several Arkham inmates who were freed by Black Mask. They learned the location of Mister Freeze and went to the place to apprehend the criminal. They failed and it was Gordon who, hours later, defeated and captured the villain. (Battle for the Cowl: Commissioner Gordon v1 #1) The GCPD tried to regain control of the city after half of Gotham was attacked, but their efforts weren't enough and the law was taken by the United States Army. (Batman: Battle for the Cowl v1 #3)
Post-Flashpoint
Following the Flashpoint, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events. The Gotham City Police Department was the official government policing agency for Gotham City.
After the death of Batman, a new initiative was conducted by the Powers Corp who looked to create a new protector for the city. (Divergence v1 #1) This saw them providing support and training to a police officer that would become the new Batman but one who operated within the guidelines along with being provided the full support of the G.C.P.D. Ultimately, Jim Gordon was deemed the best candidate and went through a training regimen where he had to operate in strict guidelines as he secretly became the new Batman where he was provided an armoured powered-suit for operations. (Batman v2 #41) In this time, Gotham came under threat from a mysterious weapons dealer named Mister Bloom who was distributing 'seeds' to crime bosses in the Narrows that gave them superpowers where they went on a rampage in the neighbourhood. (Batman v2 #42) After a Power Corp fundraiser was attacked by the supervillain, Geri Powers wanted to deploy the new Batman as part of a surgical strike into the Narrows to find and capture Mister Bloom. (Batman v2 #46)
The Gotham City Council instituted the Robin Laws that empowered their police officers to handle all matters dealing with the rise of Robin movement. Any youth affiliated with the movement was to be arrested as a delinquent and all Robin paraphernalia was made illegal. (Robin War v1 #1) Captured children that sported such gear were placed in detention at a GCPD site known as the "Cage". (Detective Comics v2 #47)
Afterwards, every electronic device heard a call from Oracle who re-assured the people and said that they needed to work together to end the Joker's rampage. Efforts from the Mayor's office sought to impede Commissioner Bullock's activities but he simply resigned and requested volunteers to help the Bat Family. After the Joker was defeated, the landscape of Gotham City was said to had been changed as a result of his actions. (Batman v3 #100)
Overview
It was divided into a number of divisions:
- Major Crimes Unit :
- Homicide Division :
- Internal Affairs Division :
- Detailed Case Task Force : created by Jim Gordon and tasked with handling strange cases with them being referred to as the Midnight Shift with them being stationed at Precinct Thirteen. (Gotham by Midnight v1 #1)
- Batman Program : an initiative headed by Power Corp after the seeming death of Batman. It was tasked with creating a government created hero but one that answered to the department and could be controlled. The officer chosen came to wield a suit of powered armour and if the initiative was a success then the plan was to create more that would each be tailored after an individual city to serve as their protector. (Batman v2 #46)
Among the equipment used by the G.C.P.D. included:
- Batsuit : a specially created pair of suits to be warn by the department own Batman with a uniform one and a large powered armored suit. It was said to had been built with technology from Wayne Industries after it was briefly absorbed by Powers Corp. (Batman v2 #43) The uniform worn by the G.C.P.D. Batman was capable of digital camouflage allowing them to appear invisible. (Batman v2 #42) The fingertips could emit a charge allowing them to shrink glass allowing the user to remove windows without breaking them. (Batman v2 #43) The Batman was armed with an electrical stun gun allowing them to apprehend targets. (Batman v2 #41)
- Batmobile : a variety of designs were made for a Batmobile to be operated by the G.C.P.D.'s Batman with these noted for being quite expensive. (Batman v2 #42)
During a rebuild, the headquarters was outfitted with a new detention facility by Wayne Enterprises with this being known as the Black Block. This created 9 secure holding cells that were made to hold the most dangerous criminals. The block was encased in ten feet of concrete and lined in reinforced steel with sensors outfitted to observe the detainees. Constant watch was maintained by members of the G.C.P.D. with only a single entryway into the room. Two officers were required to turn the two DNA encrypted security keys that allowed access into the Black Block. (Batman v3 #87)
Among its facilities was the G.C.P.D. Armory that was located outside the city with the facility holding evidence, guns, poison and all the gadgets of the criminals in Arkham Asylum. Everything was catalogued and secure in the state of the art WayneTech security. (Batman/Superman v2 #2)
Members
- Gillian B. Loeb :
- Arnold John Flass :
- James Gordon :
- Harvey Bullock :
- Renee Montoya :
- Crispus Allen :
- Michael Akins :
- Peter Pauling :
- Sarah Essen :
- April Clarkson : (Batman: Gotham After Midnight v1 #1)
- Vincent Del Arrazio : male detective sergeant who was the ranking officer after Bullock. (Detective Comics v1 #754)
- Jason Bard :
- Josef Muller : a male officer who was an ace marksman that was chosen for the program to create a Batman replacement in case the Dark Knight was ever killed where he was twisted by Simon Hurt to become the Bat-Cop. (Batman v1 #674)
- Branca : a male officer who was a family man who was chosen for the program to create a Batman replacement in case the Dark Knight was ever killed where he was twisted by Simon Hurt who used Monster Serum to turn him into Bat-Bane. (Batman v1 #674)
- Michael Lane : a black male officer who was a young cop when his family were killed by Satanists where he was chosen for the program to create a Batman replacement in case the Dark Knight was ever killed with him being twisted by Simon Hurt who turned him into the Bat-Devil. (Batman v1 #674)
- Carlos Alvarez : a male Detective formerly in homicide police where he was good on his job until one assignment saw him catching the deputy mayor with prostitutes and drugs. This saw him being transferred to Major Crimes, Robbery Division where he had been in his post for three weeks when he looked to investigate the Catwoman. (Catwoman v4 #4)
Notes
- The Gotham City Police Department was created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane where it made its first appearance in Detective Comics v1 #2 (May, 1939).
Alternate Versions
- In Batman: White Knight v1 (2017), the G.C.P.D. appeared in the alternate world setting where the Joker became sane and adopted his civilian identity of Jack Napier. As Napier, he made a campaign to enter into politics so that he could shutdown Batman after he deemed that the Dark Knight was destroying the city in his crusade against crime. This included setting up the Gotham Terror Oppression (GTO) Unit that was to be part of the G.C.P.D. and would have been their super-copy program. The purpose was for vigilantes to work closely with the police in ending the threat of crimes in the city.
- In Future State: The Next Batman v1 #1 (2021), an alternate future version of the Gotham City Police Department was shown to exist in the possible timeline of Future State. It was shown that Mayor Christopher Nakano's anti-vigilante initiative saw him putting Gotham City's control into the paramilitary hands of the Magistrate. He instituted a regime headed by his Peacekeepers with their leader being Peacekeeper-1 where they shut down superhuman and vigilante activities within the city. This saw the G.C.P.D. working alongside them in shutting down Batman's activities and hunting him along with other masked crimefighters.
In other media
Television
- In The Batman, the Gotham City Police Department appeared in the setting of the animated television series. Two detectives from the department that were introduced in the show ere Ellen Yin and Ethan Bennett.
- In Beware the Batman, the animated series had the Gotham City Police Department as regular members in the backstory and setting. It was headed by Commissioner Correa with James Gordon ranked as a lieutenant in the organization. He opposed the vigilante activities of the Batman and regularly sought to have him arrested only to fail. This changed following Batman saved his daughter Barbara Gordon from Tobias Whale and Phosphorous Rex. When the League of Assassins took over Gotham, they had Commissioner Correa killed for not obeying Ra's al Ghul as they used the Ion Cortex to keep the city in a complete blackout. Afterwards, Gordon became Commissioner and headed the police department but faced opposition from Harvey Dent who did not approve of vigilantes and attempted to get the Batman arrested. Dent created the Special Crimes Unit (S.C.U.) as an independent branch that answered to him and were independent of the GCPD that sought the capture of Batman.
- In Gotham, the Gotham City Police Department appeared in the setting of the live-action television series. It was shown where James Gordon had recently joined and was shown to have corrupt police officers within its ranks. The Commissioner who headed the Department was Sarah Essen with numerous divisions including Homicide and Major Crimes with its members being antagonistic to the other branch. Officers shown to be part of the GCPD included James Gordon, Harvey Bullock, Renee Montoya and Crispus Allen. In "Knock, Knock", Gillian Loeb stepped down as Commissioner after being secretly threatened by Oswald Copplepot with Sarah Essen selected as his replacement. Commissioner Essen was later killed when the Maniax massacred the officers of the GCPD with Sarah killed by Jerome.
- In Batwoman, the Gotham City Police Department appeared in the setting of the live-action television series set in the Arrowverse.
Films
- In Superman/Batman: Apocalypse, the Gotham City Police Department was seen in the animated film where they responded to the presence of Kara Zor-El who had only just arrived on Earth in a confused state. After she accidently used her heat vision on a police car, they responded by opening weapon fire on her where she fled up the buildings. During an encounter with Batman, she lost control over her natural flight ability causing her to collide with a GCPD blimp that Superman brought safely down in the harbor.
- In Batman: Year One, the Gotham Police appeared in the setting of the animated film adaptation of the comic storyline.
- In The Dark Knight Trilogy, the Gotham City Police Department had a number of appearances in the shared continuity setting:
- In Batman Begins, the Gotham City Police appeared in the setting of the live-action film.
- In The Dark Knight Rises, it was shown that the Gotham City Police Department with its widened powers under the Dent Act had nearly eradicated organized crime in the city in the span of eight years.
- In Batman: Year One, the Gotham police department made an appearance in the animated film adaptation of the comic storyline. It was headed by Commissioner Loeb with the department being rife with corruption.
- In Batman: Assault on Arkham, the Gotham City Police Department made an appearance in the animated film. They were present when Batman captured Harley Quinn where they took her to Arkham Asylum. During the transport, Deadshot ambush the squad car and masked himself as the officer in order to infiltrate the Asylum.
- In Batman Unlimited, the Gotham City Police Department made a number of appearances in the shared continuity setting.
- In Batman Unlimited: Mechs vs. Mutants, the Gotham City Police Department made an appearance in the direct to video animated film. An Arkham Division (ARK) was shown to exist in the Gotham police with officers stationed as security for Arkham Asylum.
- In the DC Extended Universe, the Gotham City Police Department made a number of appearances in the shared continuity setting.
- In Suicide Squad, the Gotham City Police Department were shown in flashback sequences in the live-action film. They were shown in pursuit of the Joker and Harley Quinn as they were racing down Gotham's streets. The GCPD was also present to arrest Deadshot after he was captured by the vigilante Batman.
- In The Batman, the Gotham City Police Department appeared in the setting of the live-action film.
Video games
- In DC Universe Online, the Gotham City Police Department served as a supporting faction for the hero side. Its precinct's were used as safe houses for hero players in Gotham whilst villain players battled its police officers on behalf of the Falcone crime family in order to create chaos in the city.
- In Batman: The Telltale Series, the Gotham City Police Department featured in the 2016 video game. It was said that the Wayne family had always supported the Gotham police. Lieutenant James Gordon was part of the department and tried to restrain them from shooting at Batman. Mayor Kill authorised a warrant to have the GCPD to raid Wayne Manor following allegations of corruption and fraud by the Wayne family.
- In Gotham Knights, the Gotham Police Department appeared in the setting of the 2022 action role-playing video game.
Appearances
- Batman v1: (1939)
- Detective Comics v1:
- Batman v2:
- Gotham Central v1:
- Catwoman v4:
- Batman Eternal v1:
- Batman/Superman v2:
- Batman v3:
External Links
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