DENNIS TAYLOR (Cpt)

Portrayed by Papa\_Lima\_Echo

## General Description

Dennis "Loopy" Taylor (badge number 204) is a Captain in the Los Santos Police Department.

He is the Field Training Officer responsible for supervising and certifying helicopter operations and is also a qualified interceptor driver.

## Physical Description

Taylor is aged 39 and is 5'10 with short brown hair and brown eyes, although he frequently wears sunglasses which obscures his eyes from the view of others. Despite his military background he has no tattoos.

## Personality

Taylor has an interest in speed (not amphetamine). He enjoys anything which travels fast, be it in the air, on sea or on land. Travelling at speed gives him a huge adrenaline rush which helps to alleviate the stress from his role with the LSPD.

He doesn't have any particular vices – he doesn't take drugs (for fear of losing his flying certification) and rarely drinks. He is quite boring when it comes to diet, choosing to mainly stick to sandwiches and bottled water.

He can seem a bit distant and uncaring to those who don't know him, but those who do, know that he is quite a deep thinker and has a sharp wit when the time calls for it.

He can quickly become embarrassed and will frequently try to excuse himself from certain situations and is not particularly comfortable in situations which call for small-talk.

Taylor is single and is not in a relationship.

## Behaviour

Taylor is a very strategic thinker and tends to analyse a situation before taking a course of action. Decisions that he makes are intended to be for the greater good, rather than for personal plaudits or gain.

Due to his general distant demeanour, he struggles to work with a partner and is most often found patrolling alone. He spends this time carefully listening to the police radio and observing his surroundings.

Despite his preference for solitude, he works well as part of a team and gives good direction and instruction to his subordinates.

Taylor is a straight talker. If something needs to be said, he will say it. This can make people think that he's a bit robotic and uncaring, but is simply that he can't be bothered to use ten words when two will do.

Whilst he is somewhat a stickler for the rules, he prefers a more relaxed approach and often prefers to offer words of advice for relatively minor offences rather than fining people. However, if he perceives people to be disrespectful or dishonest, he has no hesitation about throwing the book at them.

Outside of work – what little time he has – he doesn't really have a close network of friends. This is primarily the result of past experiences whilst he was in the military, which have somewhat scarred his ability to make true friends.

Whilst Taylor is generally quite level-headed, he can get short-tempered in stressful situations and can say things he regrets upon reflection.

## Background Information

Taylor was born in the South West of England in the early 1980's. He had a relatively unremarkable youth and attended university before joining the British Army Air Corps. He trained as an attack helicopter pilot, where due to his name and his particular habit of performing loops and barrel roles in helicopters, earned the nickname “Loopy”.

During his time in the Air Corps he flew Lynx helicopters and served in both Iraq and Afghanistan. He is known to have come under heavy enemy fire on numerous occasions and managed to safely nurse a heavily damaged aircraft back to base, receiving a commendation for his skill and bravery.

He attained the rank of Lieutenant before transferring to the Royal Air Force in 2010 where he trained to fly fast jets, ultimately qualifying to fly Tornado GR4 aircraft. During his time in the RAF he was promoted to the rank of Flight Lieutenant and served missions in Iraq, Libya and Syria.

In 2016, during one of the periods that he was stationed at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, he was accused of selling drugs to personnel on the air base. He was summarily discharged from the RAF. The stigma associated with the charge meant that he was shunned by friends and saw his long-term partner leave him. Taylor felt humiliated and betrayed and maintained that he was innocent and took the RAF to an employment tribunal.

During the tribunal, it came to light that the allegations against him were not properly investigated and the RAF could not offer sufficient evidence that Taylor was involved in any illicit activity. The whole case was based on an allegation from a former member of service personnel who it was known held a grudge against Taylor because he was promoted ahead of him.

Taylor won the tribunal and was awarded substantial compensation covering lost past earnings, pension contributions and compensation. Despite winning his case, Taylor felt embarrassed and struggled to make new friends as a result of his experience when his former friends abandoned him.

In 2019 Taylor decided to move to Los Santos to make a fresh start, away from all of the unjustified stigma surrounding the drugs charges. He quickly got a job as a freelance pilot flying sight-seeing helicopters and flying VIPs where he earned a reputation as one of the best in Los Santos.

The Covid pandemic of 2020-21 saw Taylor's main source of work (and income) dry-up. He was desperate to maintain his passion of flying and applied to the LSPD in the hope that they would recognise his abilities and offer him the chance of flying the police helicopter. Taylor was recruited and quickly rose through the ranks on the back of his previous military experience and soon became the LSPDs primary pilot taking on the role of Field Training Officer.