A new GTA 5 mod overhauls the police response and wanted systems in Rockstar’s stalwart sandbox game, tweaking how the police will respond, what types of units they will send, and how they react to different threats and crimes, all the more reason to return to Los Santos following the latest GTA Online update, and as we wait for the GTA 6 release date.
Dispatch Reworked adds much greater complexity to how law enforcement responds in GTA 5, introducing new behaviours, upgraded intelligence for the cops, and generally a more intuitive and dangerous wanted system.
Once you enter a three-star wanted level, the police will initially reply by sending local and K9 units to isolate you. The longer a pursuit continues, a higher number of more-advanced responders will be dispatched, up to and including the National Guard, which will now deploy fighter jets.
That may sound like business as usual, but the devil here is in the details. At night, police will use flashlights to hunt you more effectively. Rather than instantly spawn all around you, they will focus instead on your last-known location, turning GTA 5 into a more sophisticated cat-and-mouse game as you try to keep a low profile following your last encounter.
If you run into a building, police will switch to close-quarters weapons like shotguns, and every type of unit now has the ability to arrest you. The chase and combat AI has been generally improved, and different types of police units will now pursue you into the countryside and across mountains – head into different areas and jurisdictions of the Los Santos map, and area-specific units will take over the chase.
Killing other emergency workers like ambulance drivers, paramedics, and firefighters will now provoke a more-severe response from the police. If you’re using a heavy or an armoured vehicle, police will now also respond in-kind, dispatching their own armoured vans and APCs to stop you in your tracks.
It sounds like a real challenge, tweaking the GTA 5 police to react more appropriately and aggressively. If you feel up to it, Dispatch Reworked, developed by ‘Briancatmaster’, who started building the mod when they were just 13, is available now on Nexus Mods.
Alternatively, you might want to know exactly what’s happening with the GTA 6 release date. You can also jump into some of the best GTA 5 RP servers to try your own hand at playing cop, or check out some of the other best open-world games and multiplayer games, if you’ve had your fill of GTA Online.