NSW Police to take action against Grand Theft Auto cop kill 'mod'
The NSW Police Minister has condemned an online video game that allows the state’s police officers to be shot, run over and killed.
It's an underground variation of popular video game Grand Theft Auto, which has been modified for local conditions.
Computer enthusiasts have written NSW Police officers into the action.
Their vehicles and uniforms are accurate in every detail, created as part of a trend called "modding" or modifying the original game.
The game depicts NSW Police as you've never seen them before: crashing cars, shooting suspects, getting run over and some scenes are even more disturbing.
NSW Police Minister Troy Grant said scenes depicting officers in the game were "perverse".
“That doesn’t happen. That gives the gamer a false impression about what the role of police is,” Mr Grant said.
Grand Theft Auto is notorious for being violent, sexual and gory.
The new online version of the game also features NSW firefighters and federal cops.
"There's a fear that this desensitises people to the real risk the police face and I find it offensive," Mr Grant said.
In 2001, NSW Police Senior Constable Jim Affleck was run down and killed - by a man re-enacting a PlayStation video game called Need for Speed.
When sold in stores violent games have age restrictions.
But the online world is virtually lawless - explicit games and their underground versions are easily available to people of any age to play.
Psychologist Chris Lennings said that for some people the fantasy becomes a bit indistinguishable from reality.
"There is no reset button on the real-life situations police face," Dr Lennings said.
NSW Police plan to take action against the game's designers.
