Raccoon Police Department



The Raccoon City Police Department (RPD for short) is the main hub for Raccoon City's police force, including the nearby Arklay Mountains. The Raccoon SWAT and the S.T.A.R.S. teams were part of this organization.

Information


The RPD is the city's police force, responsible for enforcing the law and keeping the peace in the city. They were a well-equipped force, with two elite units (S.T.A.R.S. and its successor, the SWAT). The RPD's main headquarters, a former art museum, was in Downtown Raccoon, on Ennerdale Street, one of the city's main streets. It is unknown if there were other precincts, although it is likely due to the population of the city.

The Raccoon Police Department also had several helicopters with a helipad on top of the police headquarters. One of the helicopters launched to evacuate was destroyed when a stray bullet from an officer's gun shot the pilot. This killed the pilot instantly and the helicopter crashed, killing the officer and destroying part of the RPD. The RPD officers are split into three main branches, the normal patrol officers who run the day to day operations of the station, the Raccoon SWAT and the Special Tactics And Rescue Service (S.T.A.R.S.).

History
What would later become the Raccoon City police department was originally an art museum. Police chief Brian Irons would later keep many pieces of art within the precinct.

Early into the Raccoon City outbreak - around September 25th, 1998 - the RPD was used as a refugee camp and fortress for the Raccoon City citizens seeking rescue. Most refugees stayed in the basement for safety, including the arrested reporter Ben Bertolucci who locked himself in a prison cell even though he had a key. However, as ammunition levels went down, along with the number of survivors, some refugees left the RPD due to its constant attacks.

The Chief of Police; Brian Irons, purposely made it extremely difficult for survivors to cope, scattering ammunition caches all around the precinct days before the outbreak was known publicly (around Sept. 22nd). The outbreak led to Irons becoming mentally unstable and he began hunting down surviving RPD officers for sport, killing officer "Ed" on Sept. 26th and attempting to make sure nobody left the city alive.

By Sept. 27th, there were only eight surviving officers left in the station, along with three prisoners and three refugees of the disaster. All the others were either killed/infected by zombies or murdered by Chief Irons. In the afternoon, the RPD's west barricade was broken through and zombies flooded the station. The party of surviving police officers, led by Officer Ford began an operation together to rescue other survivors, barricade the zombies and escape from the precinct unharmed.

At evening, Kevin Ryman and the other refugees collected special gems which opened a statue, providing a small ventilation shaft to the outside. One of the police officers; Rita, left through the tunnels under the statue to escape and get help. However, by the time she returned with a van driven by fellow police officer Harry, three of the officers were already dead. The only people to get on the van were the refugees (Marvin Branagh stayed behind).

In the early hours of Sept. 28th, Officer Ford finally succumbed and committed suicide. Three more officers were killed by a zombie attack. Elliot Edward took over and attempted to lead the remaining three officers Elliot ;Eric and Harry escape into the sewers, They later attempt to wire a bomb to eliminate the zombie horde on Main Street but are overrun before finishing it leaving only Harry alive. Survivors happen upon the scene moments after and finish wiring the bomb detonating it killing all the zombies on Main Street. Later on the same day, former S.T.A.R.S. officer Jill Valentine explored parts of the department whilst on the run from a Nemesis. There she saw Marvin, who at the time was still alive, but unconscious.

On September 29, more survivors found their way into the precinct for differing reasons - Claire Redfield, sister of S.T.A.R.S. officer Chris Redfield; Leon S. Kennedy, a new rookie officer late for his first day; Sherry Birkin, daughter of Umbrella virologist William Birkin who was sent to the station for her safety by her mother, Annette; Ada Wong, a spy secretly working for Albert Wesker and lastly, HUNK, a commando in the Umbrella Special Forces.

An unknown, surviving officer fled to the precinct rooftop where he attempted to board a police helicopter out of the city. The rescue attempt went wrong however when the officer was ambushed by zombies and accidentally hit the pilot with stray machine gun fire, sending the helicopter crashing into the building. Later, an Umbrella helicopter dropped a capsule containing the T-103 Tyrant, known as T-00 to stalk the survivors in the RPD for the G-virus.

Claire found a dying Marvin, who gave Leon a keycard to unlock the rest of the station's doors. Marvin later succumbed to the t-virus and became a zombie. Claire was forced to kill him.

Claire found her way into the Chief's office where she saw Irons with the freshly-killed corpse of the Mayor's daughter, up until this point a survivor. Claire found Sherry in the building and they attempted to leave the precinct via a secret passage behind Irons' bookshelf. The infected, mutated William Birkin later found his way into the passage via the sewers and impregnated Irons with a G-embryo. He then died in agonizing pain from the parasite in his body.

Meanwhile, Leon met Ada for the first time in the car park, where they moved the Police van out of the way (it was previously in the ramp) and discovered the only surviving prisoner, Ben Bertolucci. Ben divulged information about a passage into the sewers inside the kennels, but was later attacked by the mutated Birkin. Leon and Ada rushed to his aid and Ben handed over damning evidence of Chief Irons' corruption before dying.

Both groups left the RPD in the early hours of the 30th, via secret passages into the Raccoon City sewers. At this time, HUNK, who almost died in the sewers after the mutated Birkin slaughtered his team of commandos, went the opposite direction with a sample of the G-virus and back into the precinct, where he fought his way to the helipad and was airlifted to safety by a waiting helicopter, taking the sample to Umbrella.

By the night of September 30, the precinct's basement was yet again filled with surviving Raccoon refugees (whether helped by each other, the army, the UBCS or other police is uncertain). Their occupation lasted until the morning of October 1, when Raccoon City was obliterated in a missile strike, destroying all life there. Leon and Claire later were able to find a way out of city where they were found and rescued as a pair of the few survivors. Leon began working for a Top Secret government agency under the command of the president to battle this deadly and stop anyone who tried to use it.

Department Divisions
The Raccoon Police Department is comprised of several divisions these include: Patrol, Special Weapons And Tactics (S.W.A.T.), The Special Tactics And Rescue Service (S.T.A.R.S) And a K-9 Unit. Information about these divisions is given below:

Patrol Officers
The Patrol division is the backbone of the RPD containing some of the most recognizable division members in the city. They provide a round the clock service to the residents of Raccoon City. During the Raccoon City Outbreak these officers were pushed to their limits in dealing with the many hordes of zombies and other creatures that were overrunning the city. They sustained many casualties and fatalities but still kept their determination and integrity intact.

Raccoon S.W.A.T.
The unit was created to replace S.T.A.R.S. after the unit was disbanded following their disastrous operation at Arklay mountains. These officers were specially trained to deal with high risk operations. The members of this team are highly skilled in the use of many weapons and are all in top physical and Mental condition.

Special Tactics And Rescue Service
The S.T.A.R.S. unit was founded in 1996 to tackle hostage situations and terrorist threats. Overall, this unit was similar to its replacement, the more standardized S.W.A.T. unit. S.T.A.R.S. was also specialized in Search and Rescue operations (hence their name). They were, like their more standard counterpart, both physically and mentally trained individuals with some of its members having military background.

Other divisions
The K-9 unit consisted of specially trained officers and their dogs. They would've been a valuable asset to the RPD. During the viral outbreak, this unit was completely annihilated by the t-virus, with all of the department's dogs becoming infected and running amok around the basement of the station. The only known officer from this unit is Tony.

In addition to the divisions mentioned above the RPD also had minor departments containing 2-3 officers. Elran, for instance, worked in the "Boys Crime Department".

Clothing
The patrol officers of the RPD wear a uniform consisting of a light blue shirt with an R.P.D logo on each sleeve and a pair of navy/black trousers and black or brown shoes. Some officers wear a navy/black tie, a police cap, or both. Officers in Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil 3 and Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles are shown wearing white shirts, maybe because of a possible uniform change from white as the RPD'S Summer shirt color and due to the Raccoon City outbreak causing so much trouble, officers would have been too busy to change their uniforms from white to blue as a possible Fall uniform.

The Raccoon SWAT uniform consists of fingerless gloves, a heavy dark navy/blue short or long sleeve shirt with body armour on the torso and matching pants. They are also depicted wearing elbow and knee pads, bulletproof vests, RPD Caps, bomber jackets,balaclavas, and Riot helmets (during battle).

Tony (a member of the K-9 Unit) is shown wearing a dark blue Tee-shirt and pants as well as a cap on his head. This suggests that this is the standard uniform for members of this unit.

S.T.A.R.S. members wear an undershirt with the S.T.A.R.S. emblem over the left sleeve and a Kevlar tactical vest suited for each operative's personal skills and specialty. For example, Chris' vest was equipped with a sheath for his combat knife, while Rebecca's vest prominently displayed a red cross on the back - the international symbol of a medical assistance officer. Each member is allowed to choose their color for his/her uniform e.g. Green for Chris and Red for Barry. The exceptions to this rule are Jill who wears an undershirt but also shoulder pads attached at the waist and a blue beret and Richard who sports an undershirt with the RPD emblem on the right sleeve.

Vehicles
The Raccoon Police Department utilized a variety of different vehicles including Patrol Cars; Helicopters; and SWAT-style heavy duty vans.

The standard patrol car used by the RPD was the Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor. For a list of cars in the RPD fleet see here

RPD used Aérospatiale/Eurocopter AS350B police helicopter for air patrol and two UH-1 helicopters for S.T.A.R.S. operations.

Weaponry
The RPD possessed numerous weapons, which were used in the September, 1998 Raccoon City Outbreak.


 * ARWEN 37 - A Grenade launcher used by S.T.A.R.S. explosives expert Forest Speyer.


 * Benelli M4 Super 90 - Also known as the "Assault shotgun", this weapon was carried by S.T.A.R.S. back-up man, Richard Aiken, who specialized in shotguns.


 * M202A1 FLASH - A Rocket Launcher designed for military use in the Vietnam war.


 * Heckler & Koch MP5 - A submachine gun used by both SWAT officers and S.T.A.R.S. officers.


 * Heckler & Koch G3 SG/1 - A sniper rifle used by S.T.A.R.S. sniper Edward Dewey.


 * Beretta 92F/FS - This handgun variant was used by the RPD as a standard-issue weapon. S.T.A.R.S. also used a customized variant designated the "Samurai Edge".


 * Browning Hi-Power - Another handgun used by the RPD. This model would have been replaced by the 92F.
 * Colt M1911-A handgun that was the standard sidearm for the S.P.F.
 * Mossberg 590- A tactical shotgun which was used by S.T.A.R.S. Alpha team member Joseph Frost during the search for Bravo team in the Arklay mountains. Like Edward's rifle, it was never used in-game.
 * SPAS-12- another shotgun in use with the RPD.
 * Penn Arms L1- A Riot control type grenade launcher found either in the S.T.A.R.S. office or a locker, it was featured in RE3.
 * M79 Grenade Launcher- Another Grenade Launcher found in the S.T.A.R.S. office this time as a stockless variant, its only available to Claire in RE2.
 * Benelli M3S- Found on the corpse of a dead RPD officer in RE3.

The RPD also possessed weapons impractical for law enforcement use, such as a high-caliber Desert Eagle handgun and a MAC 11, an unreliable sub-machine gun. It is possible these were confiscated weapons, and were used by officers as their service weapons ran out of ammunition although this doesn't explain the fact that Joseph held a MAC 11 in the team picture seen in RE2 and RE3 and that the Desert Eagle in RE2 has the RPD symbol on the grip. At least one unknown officer carried a Browning Hi-Power handgun in his glovebox, though the circumstances to this are unknown. RPD and SWAT officers are also seen using variations of the Remington 870 shotgun against the zombie hordes in Resident Evil 3's opening cutscene. Other firearms were in use with the RPD such as Enrico's AUG while others weren't identifiable (as seen on the S.T.A.R.S. team photo held by Chris, Forest, and Barry). S.T.A.R.S. also had their own custom combat knives, the latter featuring the unit's emblem engraved on the blade ( only two of these knives were seen, Wesker's and Chris', both seen in Darkside Chronicles.)

The R.P.D in Resident Evil: Apocalypse (Non-canon)
The RPD is seen as stretched to the limit when dealing with the outbreak and are shown to be unaware of the situation, trying to restrain and arrest the infected. The RPD made one attempt to contain the zombies with help from the S.T.A.R.S. but they were overrun and subsequently all remaining RPD officers and most S.T.A.R.S. were killed. Excluding one officer at Raven's Gate, all patrol officers wear long-sleeve versions of the regular patrol uniform from the games. An interesting fact is that besides Jill's photo, no patrol officer wears their badge on their chest. The S.T.A.R.S. members are renamed Special Tactics And Rescue Squad and each wear the same uniform of a white short-sleeved shirt with the S.T.A.R.S. logo on the right sleeve, green kevlar vest, South African type tactical vest, tan pants, elbow pads, knee pads, black fingerless gloves and black combat boots. Raccoon SWAT is not featured in the film. Detectives are featured in the film wearing either street clothes or suits and wearing their badges attached to wallets on their chest.

Known Officers
Below is a list of known police officers from the Raccoon Police Department.

Trivia

 * In the demo of Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City you start near the RPD although it is not accessible. Though the loading screen for said demo says Delta Team previously fought through the RPD.

Notes and Sources

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