A crime wave has hit the city of Wilson Heights and the mayor informs police Captain Thaddeus Harris and his sycophant assistant, Lieutenant Proctor, that the governor has requested the help of Commandant Eric Lassard of the police academy. Lassard forms a task force which includes gorgeous but tough Lt. Debbie Callahan, gentle giant Moses Hightower, Lassard’s nephew Sergeant Nick Lassard, squeaky voiced Sergeant Laverne Hooks, gung-ho Sergeant Eugene Tackleberry and Sergeant Larvell Jones, who can vocally imitate any sound. At the first briefing, accident prone Sgt. Douglas Fackler, arrives late and knocks a lighter onto some confiscated fireworks. Rockets shoot through the precinct spreading havoc. A bank is robbed by gun toting “Ace,” whip wielding “Flash” and a powerful man known as “Ox”, who tears the vault door off its hinges. The task force investigates, and Harris monopolizes the commissioner’s time, implying Commandant Lassard is too old to be effective in the field. Lt. Debbie Callahan discovers a stack of money with a dye explosive left in the vault. Nick takes it and walks towards the commissioner. Harris stops him, insisting on presenting the money himself. When he follows the commissioner outside, the dye explodes, covering him in purple ink. Across town, the three thieves sit in front of a frosted glass window where they can see a silhouette of a man in a hat. The shadowy figure brags they will soon have the city paralyzed with fear. Across town, Harris conspires with the mayor to remove Commandant Lassard as chief of the task force. The mayor instructs Harris to gather proof that Lassard’s incompetence is hurting the investigation. During a briefing, Nick reports rumors about the gang’s hideout, and requests he and Callahan go undercover to investigate. However, Lt. Thaddeus Harris declares he and Proctor will handle that assignment. Harris regrets his decision when he learns he will be impersonating a window washer on a high-rise building. The terrified Harris hears two music executives talking about a rock group called The Gang, and mistakenly thinks he has discovered where the next crime will be committed. After debunking Harris’s new theory, Nick spots a newspaper article about a museum displaying the world’s largest diamond and declares that to be the next heist. Posing as armored car drivers, Nick and Larvell Jones transport the diamond to the museum with Harris and Proctor riding in back. When they stop at a red light, Flash opens a manhole beneath the car. Ox cuts a hole in the truck with a laser, and lowers the safe into the sewer. Harris and Proctor stare out the windows, unaware of the heist until they arrive at the museum. Nick insists there is a mole in the task force. Following a hunch, Nick, Callahan, Jones, and Eugene Tackleberry stake out a jewelry store. When the store is hit, Nick explains the robberies are following the old “51” bus route. Nick calls for backup and police block off the criminals’ escape route. Harris drives to the scene and gets in the way of the other officer’s line of fire, allowing the gang to escape. At their hideout, the criminals complain police are getting too close, and the shadowy figure promises to handle Lassard. Acting on an anonymous tip, the commissioner and mayor search Commandant Lassard’s locker, finding the jewels stolen in the last robbery. The task force is suspended. Disobeying orders, they continue investigating and discover that the old bus route is about to become a new light rail corridor. Nick theorizes that the crime spree is a ruse to cause property values to drop. Checking city records, they learn that a company called Clayton Plating, is buying up the whole street. They raid the corporate warehouse where they discover explosives and blueprints of the city’s electrical grid. Seconds later, the gang blows up a power station, sending the city into darkness and chaos. While the team deals with looting, drunken brawls and carjacking, Nick spots Flash, Ox and Ace. After calling for backup, he follows them into a dead-end alley, only to find it deserted with a manhole cover removed. Hightower, Jones, and Tackleberry crawl into the sewer. Nick splits off to follow a separate tunnel, while the other three find themselves in the Clayton Plating warehouse facing the gang. Ox pulls a chain, dropping scrap metal on Hightower. However, Hightower rises from the rubble. The two giants stand toe-to-toe exchanging punches until Ox falls. Jones imitates bad karate movies while he and Flash battle with staffs. Flash knocks Jones over a shelf, only to have the man reappear with wires coming out of his shirt. Convinced Jones is a robot, Flash surrenders. After a brief gunfight, Tackleberry captures Ace with a bolo. Nick discovers the gang’s hideout, where the shadowy figure releases a poison gas. Nick’s cries for help alert Hightower. The giant knocks down a steel door, smashes the frosted window, and they follow another tunnel to the street. The criminal nearly runs them over with a utility truck. Nick leaps on the truck cherry picker as it drives away. Hightower radios for backup before commandeering a monster truck, stopping only long enough to collect Jones and Tackleberry. During the high speed chase, the monster truck drives over Harris’s cruiser, forcing him and Proctor to commandeer a city bus. They are slowed down when Proctor insists on picking up passengers. The chase ends when the villain arrives at an office building and runs inside. Nick leads the team into Hurst’s office where the commissioner berates them for losing the criminal. Commandant Lassard and another Commissioner Hurst arrive. Nick pulls their noses until the phony’s mask is pulled off, revealing the mayor. The commissioner orders the mayor arrested and reinstates the task force.