Law Enforcement

"People will do anything if a cop tells them to. If we meet anyone, tell'em were cops!"

―Francis

Two patrol cars outside the entrance to Mercy Hospital

Law enforcement or Police describes what is left of civilian police forces and Sheriff deputies during the Infection. Like the Military and CEDA, they played a role in attempting to contain the Infection and assisted with the evacuation of citizens during the early days of the outbreak. Also like the military, many of its officers have succumbed to the Infection when they were called to duty and so they appear in their uniforms as part of the huge army of Common Infected in the original Left 4 Dead.

Involvement with containing The Infection

In Fairfield, police were working with CEDA in an attempt to contain and evacuate citizens as well to try and stop the Green Flu epidemic from spreading after things got out of hand. At first, CEDA policy banned civilians from possessing firearms, which the police enforced and may have just arrested infected individuals attacking people and rioters taking advantage of the situation such as looting and protesting.

When the situation worsened, police along with CEDA and quickly began to turn infected since they had direct contact with those individuals. When CEDA ordered the cities to be evacuated, law enforcement in the areas began to help evacuation efforts by keeping the public orderly and directing them where to go and possibly handed out weapons to civilians and began to use lethal force. This can be seen in such cities such as Fairfield, Riverside, Newburg, and the custom campaign which takes place in Fort Harris County. Slowly the cities became overrun, the officers became infected and joined the horde or were killed in the line of duty.

Technologies used in the series

• Police vehicles ― are the most common form of transport for police, and through most campaigns in both games can be mostly found in evacuation areas but are also found in locations such as highways or in the streets occasionally with their lights on. Their design is based on the common American and Canadian patrol car, the Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor.
• Police barricades ― police forces in each series used different types of barriers to help keep and maintain control from the public. In Left 4 Dead police used tall metal barriers and fences to keep certain areas under quarantined as by order by CEDA as seen in No Mercy. In some instances, police even used the yellow police tape to indicate to people not to cross the quarantine line. In Left 4 Dead 2 pedestrian barriers were seen throughout The Parish campaign which were used for crowd control and to help keep groups of people together.

Weapons used by police:

Left 4 Dead

• Auto Shotgun
• Assault Rifle
• M1911 Pistol
• Pump Shotgun
• Submachine Gun

Left 4 Dead 2

• Glock
• Combat Shotgun
• Sniper Rifle
• Nightstick
• MP5
• Steyr Scout
• Accuracy International AWSM

Gallery

An Infected police officer

Left 4 Dead 1 skin patrol car, based on the real-life Ford Crown Victoria

Left 4 Dead 2 skin patrol car. Also based on the Crown Victoria

Additional angle of the Left 4 Dead 2 patrol car

Left 4 Dead 2 patrol car, seen on Chapter 2 of The Parish

Fort Harris County Police van at the stadium

The front of the only known police van in Fort Harris County

The open trunk police car outside Riverside in Death Toll

Inside the open trunk police car with supplies inside

Police barricade from Left 4 Dead to enforce the quarantine

Police pedestrian barrier seen in Left 4 Dead 2 to direct and keep crowds together

Notes

• Similar to real life, the police cars and taxis in both Left 4 Dead series use the same model of vehicle which is the Ford Crown Victoria.
• The same police car model is used in each city in the original Left 4 Dead.
• The custom campaign Suicide Blitz is the only campaign where the Survivors go through a police station and features an actual police van or SWAT van.
• The police car encountered at the beginning of Chapter 2 of The Parish is unit 1702 from the 6th District and non-emergency phone number is 555-2222.
• The only time a police vehicle has weapons and supplies in its trunk is at the start of the Death Toll campaign and in the chapter The Law in the custom campaign, Suicide Blitz.
• It is unknown why infected police officers only appear in Left 4 Dead and not the sequel Left 4 Dead 2.