| “ | We're supposed to be giving these people hope. Hope that if they're in danger, someone will come. We will come. | „ |
| ~ Jim Gordon |
The Gotham City Police Department, typically abbreviated as GCPD, is the municipal police force of Gotham City, and a major organization in DC Comics. Unfortunately, prior to the arrival of both James Gordon and Batman, the GCPD was almost universally corrupt, with many high-and-low ranking members of the force being involved in offences ranging from bribery to drug smuggling and even murder.
Under the leadership of Commissioner Loeb, who himself was on the payroll of mob boss Carmine Falcone, the officers of the GCPD were little more than thugs with badges. When Batman first appeared, the force opposed him not because they viewed him as a dangerous vigilante (though they would use this as their official justification), but rather because his actions threatened their criminal activities, and showed their willingness to endanger innocent civilians in their desperation to capture the caped crusader. Fortunately, following the ousting of Loeb as Police Commissioner and James Gordon's eventual appointment to the position, the GCPD underwent massive reform and became a much more efficient and honest police force, albeit one that heavily relied on Batman's assistance against supervillains. Sadly, during periods where Gordon had stepped down as police commissioner, his successors would ultimately shift the GCPD back towards its previous, corrupt form.
Other Appearances[]
Gotham[]
Gillian Loeb, the corrupt commissioner during the first season.
The GCPD is prominently featured in the TV series Gotham. As with other depictions in the DC Universe prior to Bruce Wayne becoming Batman, the department is rife with corruption and moral ambiguity among its officers, save for one young detective, future GCPD commissioner James Gordon.
In the first season the department is under the control of commissioner Gillian Loeb, who is in the pocket of Gotham's most powerful crime boss Carmine Falcone (just like Batman: Year One). Young detective James Gordon is shocked by the corruption in the department, especially when he are involved in a conspiracy with the mob to frame criminal Mario Pepper for the murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne. Gordon is tasked to kill snitch Oswald Cobblepot in order to "get with the program" and is instructed to by his partner Harvey Bullock, although Gordon fakes Cobblepot's death.
During the course of the first season Gordon comes into conflict with several officers and gets under the skin of Bullock, who has put behind any attempts at being a "good guy" due to the mass corruption and tries to convince Gordon to drop fighting those above for his own safety. Despite this Gordon lets his morality get in the way and he still works to take down the corrupt officers and the mob, which leads to him spending a few weeks as a security guard at Arkham Asylum as punishment. As well as getting into conflict with commissioner Loeb, Gordon has a run in with Arnold Flass who deals in drugs and murdered a witness to his crimes, but Gordon managed to have him locked up. Bullock eventually joined Gordon in his crusade against crime and were backed up by other officers, such as Captain Sarah Essen.
Arnold Flass
In the second season, the GCPD aren't in much of an antagonistic role, especially after Gordon manages to get Cobblepot to help him force Loeb into resigning as commissioner with many of the cops reforming or at least becoming less corrupt. Essen is promoted to commissioner, but is killed when the Maniax led by Jerome Valeska attack the precinct and massacre many officers. A new captain named Nathaniel Barnes is assigned to the precinct and begins to work on clamping down on the corruption in the department as well as crime in Gotham City, which starts with him firing corrupt officers in the department (and arresting one) and later starting a task force known as "Strike Force", which involves a bunch of new recruits. Gordon appears to get on with his colleagues better this season, although he ends up leaving after forensics analyst Edward Nygma becomes a serial killer and criminal and sets Gordon up for the murder of an officer, although Gordon manages to prove himself innocent and Nygma is arrested and locked up.
Just like Season 2 the GCPD are not depicted as an antagonistic force in Season 3, with bigger threats such as the Court of Owls essentially taking over as the major villains of the series. Unfortunately, Barnes ends up being infected with tainted blood which belonged to the now-deceased sister of madman Jervis Tetch, Alice Tetch, which leads to his inner demons and darker nature to come to the surface, resulting in him becoming a murderous vigilante to tackle the crime in the city, rather than work by the book like originally. Barnes is eventually detained and kept at Arkham Asylum, with Bullock becoming acting captain in his place.
At the beginning of Season 4, GCPD are antagonists during The Pax Pinguina, because the cops are working for Penguin and let criminals commit crimes if they have a Crime License. However, when Professor Pyg kills many cops and Jim Gordon becomes the captain of Gotham Central, they stopped accepting the licenses and turned against Penguin. After that, GCPD are not depicted as villains because they fight against dangerous criminals like Ivy Pepper, a dangerous eco-terrorist and mass murderer. When Jerome Valeska and his new gang escape from Arkham Asylum, GCPD must prevent them from spreading their laughing gas in Gotham to make people crazy.
During season 5, GCPD is absolutely not antagonist, because after the bridges blew up and the U.S government declared Gotham off limits, the cops are staying in the city despite the evacuation to protect people who couldn't leave Gotham, poor and weak people against the gang of criminals. They are in Gotham to enforce the law to keep peace, order and justice to reunite the city to the main land. Later, Someone destroyed the haven of the green zone and killed hundreds of innocent people. They must find the culprit to prevent him from hurting people again. They must protect Gotham during the battle against Eduardo Dorrance and Nyssa al Ghul who are manipulating the U.S army to destroy Gotham and kill all the citizens.
Batman: Arkham Origins[]
While staunch allies of Batman in the rest of the Arkham series, the GCPD in Arkham Origins, set during Bruce Wayne's second year as a vigilante, is a deeply corrupt institution under the leadership of Commissioner Loeb. Another noticably corrupt member of the force is SWAT Officer Lieutenant Howard Branden, with him and his SWAT team attempting to kill Batman in order to claim the bounty placed on his head by Black Mask for themselves.
Relationships[]
Allies[]
- Hamilton Hill (formerly)
- Black Mask (formerly)
- Riddler (formerly)
- Maroni family (formerly)
- Falcone family (formerly)
- Penguin (formerly)
- Rupert Thorne (formerly)
- Roland Daggett (formerly)
- Mafia's and mobsters of Gotham (formerly)
- Corrupt politicians of Gotham
- Corrupt business owners of Gotham
- Bat-Family
- Birds of Prey
- Batman
- Nightwing
- Damian Wayne
- Red Robin
- Batwoman
- Batgirl
- Black Canary
- Huntress
- Bluebird
- Batwing
- Stephanie Brown
- Cassandra Cain
- Alfred Pennyworth
- Renne Montoya
- The Question
- Harley Quinn
Enemies[]
- Criminals of Gotham
- Mafia's and mobsters of Gotham
- Maroni family
- Falcone family
- Two-Face
- Black Mask
- Penguin
- Mr. Freeze
- Bane
- Killer Croc
- Batman (formerly)
- Catwoman
- Mad Hatter
- Riddler
- Anarky
- League of Assassins
- Ra's al Ghul
- Scarecrow
- Professor Pyg
- Poison Ivy
- Joker
- Harley Quinn (formerly)
- Calendar Man
- Victor Zsasz
- Clayface
- Firefly
- Ratcatcher
- Baby Doll
- Lock Up
- Court of Owls
- Talons
- Great White Shark
- Maxie Zeus
- Killer Moth
- Ventriloquist and Scarface
- Blockbuster
- Calculator
- Catman
- Cavalier
- Cluemaster
- Deadshot
- Doctor Double X
- Doctor Phosphorus
- Electrocutioner
- False Face
- Film Freak
- Firebug
- Hugo Strange
- Hush
- KG Beast
- King Snake
- Kite-man
- Lady Shiva
- Lock-Up
- Man-Bat
- Nocturna
- Professor Milo
- Red Hood (formerly)
- Clay Payne
- Mathew Hagen
- Preston Payne
- Rupert Thorne
- Signalman
- Silver Monkey
- Talia Head
- Terrible Trio
- Tweedledee and Tweedledum
