Grand Theft Auto Online Gets A Boost From San Andreas Police Show

People are capable of doing a lot in Grand Theft Auto Online these days. But there's a group of gamers that are actually taking things to the next level and staging "adventures" of the San Andreas State Police as sort of an episodic show…and it's nothing short of awesome.

As reported by Polygon, this group of players portray police officers, who are led by the character Eli "Sheriff Eli" Thompson. And they actually go after criminals within the game, playing each adventure like it's an episode of the show. Titled Sheriff Eli's Digital Law & Order, it allows Thompson to be a bad-ass, take-no-crap sort of police officer, complete with a Southern drawl and plenty of police jargon. "You try to take that hostage, and it will be scorched-earth shit comin' down on you, son," Thompson once noted in the heat of a negotiation.

It's really a lot of fun to watch, as you can see by this Twitch stream. And it has a surprising amount of depth, especially when fellow criminals end up getting busted at the hands of Thompson. Other players can actually take part, "calling in" crimes for the cops to check out, ranging from robberies to more heinous crimes. These cops don't always follow the rules that they're assigned, but they always look for the criminal activities that they try to shut down, especially if they're spontaneous acts, like a bank robbery. Oh, and players can totally control the criminals as well, and live our their dream of being a criminal mastermind – before they're caught, of course.

More than 40,000 folks managed to watch the first episode of Sheriff Eli's Digital Law & Order, and there's more where that came from. It airs every weekday from 2-10 PM EDT for its first week, and you can see all the action here. It's good stuff, especially if you feel like interacting on one or another side of the law. Hey, it's better than trying to get through a season of actual Law & Order, right?

Grand Theft Auto Online is available now, as part of Grand Theft Auto V, for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC.