The opening scene shows a stormy city skyline, announcing the changes to the metropolitan police hiring practices, the set up for the whole movie.

Mahoney starts the movie as a parking attendant where he "creatively" parks a customer's car before being arrested and forced to join the police academy in lieu of a prison sentence.

For some unexplained reason, Barbara is harassed by a gang and they load his Fotofast kiosk onto the back of their truck with Barbara still inside.

Barbara and his Fotofast kiosk are unloaded from the back of the gang truck and thrown into the river.

After disagreeing with his wife about joining the police force Douglas takes off in his car. Mrs. Fackler however feels the conversation isn't over and hops over several backyard fences and through pools to head her husband off.

The new recruits start to arrive at the police academy to begin their training. The academy is where the majority of the film takes place.

In an attempt to get kicked out of the academy, Mahoney plays a prank on Barbara, telling him he needs to pick up his uniform in the house behind him. The house is actually the Commandant's house, where Barbara walks in on Mrs. Lassard in the shower.

Copeland and Blankes are tricked by Mahoney into visiting the Blue Oyster, which unknown to them is the local gay bar.

Tackleberry is called to remove a cat from a tree.

Captain Harris is frustrated by being stuck in a traffic jam, so he commandeers a motorbike to find out the cause of the issue.

Hightower is worried about passing his driving test and enlists Mahoney to help steal Copeland's car so he can practice, however before Hightower can fit in he has to make some "adjustments".

The climax of the movie revolves around a riot that Fackler inadvertently starts by carelessly tossing an apple. This results in a man being thrown through a bar window.

As a result of a bar fight, a pinball machine careens out of control into the middle of an intersection. The pinball machine then hits the curb next to a junk store, prompting people to start looting.

The cadets are deployed to the wrong location by Commandant Lassard to help with the riot.

Once the looting stops, the hordes of people turned into a full-on riot gang and patrolled the streets looking for police to fight.

Captain Harris is taken hostage on the roof of an abandoned warehouse. Thompson uses crates for cover while trying to shoot the kidnapper from street level.

Barbara and Tackleberry anxiously watch the shoot out as it unfolds. Tackleberry is later devastated that he and his gun weren't the ones to take down the kidnapper.