How to Decrease Your Wanted Level

Committing crimes in Grand Theft Auto 5 (GTA 5) will raise your Wanted Level and in turn more and more police will come to try and bring you in, so it's important to know how to evade the police. Learn more about how to decrease your wanted level, how to evade the police, and where to hide!

What Is a Wanted Level?

A Wanted Level is an indication of the level of police response to your actions. Commit a crime in sight, and your Wanted Level may go up. The more severe the crime, the stronger the response from police.

You always start the game with no stars, so the best way to avoid police is to not commit any crimes (but that wouldn't be much fun, would it?). The Wanted Level will automatically reset after a certain amount of time has passed while you are out of sight of police forces (indicated by their blue cones on the minimap), so escape them by any means necessary. Follow our guide on how to decrease your Wanted Level and the best ways to escape the police.

How to Decrease Your Wanted Level

Outrun the Police

This is the classic approach to decreasing your wanted level. Simply stay out of view of the cops' sight cone for long enough, and they'll give up, resetting your Wanted Level to no stars.

To outrun (or, rather, out-drive) the police, you'll need a relatively fast car. Grab any sporty-looking car off the street and find a straight stretch of road to reach maximum speed, and gun it. This approach to losing the police is best for a Wanted Level of 1 or 2 stars. Just be careful not to run anyone over and further increase your wanted level!

Where to Hide

Once you've put some distance between you and the police, turn down a side street, especially in residential areas. The police will check carefully up and down each street, so the more turns you have to make, the better.

If you're being pursued by a helicopter, you want to get under a bridge or in a garage. Take out the helicopter with a Rocket Launcher, and flee before backup arrives.

One of the best places to hide is in a train tunnel or subway, as police tend to exit their vehicles and continue pursuing on foot (making them slower and easier to evade). Look for train tracks and drive on them until you can find overhead coverage.

Going offroad is another option if you are in Blaine County, as this may also force police to exit their vehicles. Heading into the hills and wilderness can also provide extra cover and give you more places to hide. Hiding in bushes is surprisingly effective at losing the cops.

You can also dive underwater to potentially break line-of-sight and get away.

In short, you want to avoid main roads and open areas at all costs, as the police tend to gather and are much harder to deal with in numbers. This includes staying on the freeway for too long, as police will set up car barricades and attempt to trap you.

Complete the Current Mission

Any stars you've acquired during a mission will be automatically reset if you complete it.

Steal a Different Car

Unfortunately, you can't enter the Los Santos Customs to give your car a new color to decrease your Wanted Level in GTA V as you'll need to lose the cops first.

Instead, ditch the car you committed the crime in and steal a different car. If the police don't see which car you've entered, they won't know what to look for and you can lose them quickly.

Change Your Clothes

If you can get to a safehouse, swap out your duds for something a little less conspicuous (any clothing swap will lower your Wanted Level by a star). Note that you can't enter a clothing shop to change clothes, as the staff will refuse to do business while you have a Wanted Level.

Save Your Game

You can reset a Wanted Level of 1 or 2 stars if you save your game at a safehouse.

Use a Cheat Code

If all else fails, there's a cheat code to decrease your Wanted Level. It's ok, we won't tell anyone.

System	Code/Phone Number
On PS4	1-999-5299-3787
On PC	LAWYERUP 1-999-5299-3787

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