The Police Force, Law Enforcement or cops, are Villians Found in both the Jet Set Radio games. They're the official Police department of Tokyo and their duty is to enforce the law and protect the innocent. They can usually be destroyed by knocking them over and then spraying them on the floor. They can grab your back and hang on to you until you lose health, but you can shake them off. They are normally led by Captain Onishima in Jet Set Radio and Hayashi in Jet Set Radio Future.
The police force are willing to send various destructive weapons and attacks at the GG's, indicating the gang to be a large-scale problem to the police for unknown reasons beyond graffiti. Attack helicopters, SWAT team members, and tanks are some of the few armaments that are authorized to face the GG's, all of which fail to capture the nimble street gang.
Jet Set/Grind Radio
Overview
The Tokyo-to police force in Jet Set Radio are the main enemies you encounter at the start of the game. Appearing in the first chapter only, after which they are replaced by the Golden Rhinos for the rest of the game. Led by Captain Onishima they are quite troublesome for new players. They are in charge of law enforcement and the protection of the innocent and property in Tokyo-To.
After the Rokkaku Group and the Metropolitan Government worked together to create the 21st Century Project, the police started to use quite extreme methods in order to stop and arrest the gangs of Rudies. Ranging from more reasonable and standard means such as normal officers and police dogs, to the completely over the top such as paratroopers and tanks!
Police Response
There are two levels of police response in each stage. The first level usually consist of easy to deal with enemies, while the second will be harder more dangerous enemies. Depending on stage, the first level of police response will be quite hard anyway.
The police responses of each stage is dependent on the amount of red arrowed graffiti sprayed. After reaching a certain amount the police scanner will chime in with either police HQ or Onishima, they will convey a short message which will describe the units responding. The Next tag the player sprays will actually trigger the response, which shows a short cutscene of the units entering the stage.
Once the second stage of the police response starts, the first stage will no longer be in the stage. Meaning that, for instance, in Graffiti High, once the Tanks arrive, the Parachute Squad will leave. This can be quite the blessing, as having to deal with both paratroopers and tanks at the same time would have been quite tiring. The one stage exempt from this is Shibuya GG, since when the second stage of response happens, it being Captain Onishima, the normal police will not leave the stage.
Escape Points
In various points of each stage, there are escape points, which are predetermined paths that, if the player uses them, will automatically make them escape the police.
Escape points will be highlighted by blue arrows, and after the police start giving chase, an arrow at the top of the screen will point to the nearest one.
If the player escapes the police through an escape point, a short cutscene shows the police officers catching their breath or stomping their foot while venting frustration at losing the player.
Police Vehicles
The police have various vehicles at their disposal. Used to transport officers, prisoners and equipment, they are an essential part of a modern metropolitan police force.
The vehicles of the police force are as followed (link to main pages):
- Police cars
- Riot buses
- Police Motorcycles
- Attack Helicopters
- Tanks
Unit Types
The police have various standard and extreme units in their ranks in order to stop the gangs of Rudies in Tokyo-To.
The units of the police force are as followed (link to main pages):
- Police Officers
- Police Cars
- Police Dogs
- Motorcycle Units
- SWAT teams
- Parachute Squad
- Attack Helicopters
- Tanks
Translation
In the English versions of the game, DJ Professor K will still refer to the police by their Japanese name, “keisatsu(警察)”, for unknown reasons. There are even cut sound files found in the game of him referring to them by their English terms “police”, and slang term “cops”, making the reason for him to refer them in a different language even more baffling.
Cut Content
Original Trailer
In the original trailer for the Dreamcast release shows normal police officers in both the Center Street and Park Street areas of Shibuya-Cho. Normal police officers wouldn’t appear in Park Street, instead the motorcycle police and SWAT team would be there instead. And police don’t appear in Center Street at all in the final game.
The trailer also shows normal police officers responding in the Residential Area of Kogane-Cho. The cutscene shown would eventually be used by the police response in the Bus Terminal in the stage Shibuya GG. In the final game, the only appearance of normal officers in Kogane-Cho is in the starting intro of the stage The Monster of Kogane.
Police were also shown swinging their batons at the player while chasing them in the trailer. It’s unknown whether it would’ve done damage, though, it can be assumed it did.
DJ Professor K Voice Lines
Found in the game’s files are cut sound clips of various DJ Professor K lines talking about the police. These would’ve acted as ways of telling the player what enemies they would be going up against in the next stages.
The sound files include him talking about the normal police, the SWAT team, and the army. There are two different army mentions, one talking about them entering Kogane-Cho, and one about them entering Benten-Cho. But other the the location names, the army lines are the same.
There were two version of each line, one for with the Japanese terms, and one with English. This brings some interesting points on what the police and SWAT teams are actually called in game, as the cut lines have him both calling them the “police” and “SWAT”, but also “keisatsu(警察)” and “kidoutai(機動隊)” respectively. Also, these lines have him talk about the army, or “Jieitai(自衛隊)”, as though they are a separate entity form the police. And while this is very much true in real life, it’s never clearly defined in the final game whether or not the Parachute Squad, Attack Helicopters and Tanks are owned by the police or the military.
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