Continuity mistake: At the end, after Mahoney kisses Karen, she takes off her hat and the position of her fringe changes between one angle and the other.
Continuity mistake: At the start of the film, Mahoney is wearing a white shirt with badges on it from the company he works for. When he's being interrogated by Sgt. Reed the shirt remains the same until the last part of the scene. The camera stays on Mahoney and we can see that the badges on the shirt are gone. If you look closely, you will notice that he is even wearing a completely different white shirt, which now looks more scruffy and creased. (00:08:00)
Continuity mistake: When the female trainee is doing the driver training, she goes under the water spray but the next shot shows the windscreen dry and clean. There is no sign of the wipers being used.
Other mistake: In the scene where Hightower flips over the police car, if you look carefully after the car is flipped you will notice the car has no engine. Thereby making it easier to completely flip over than a car with an engine.
Revealing mistake: In the scene with the motorcycle riding on its rear tire, skid marks can be seen from previous takes.
Revealing mistake: When the lady is jumping over the fences, you can see that it is a man with make-up and a really ugly wig.
Revealing mistake: The wall that Hooks has trouble climbing over on the assault course flexes as she tries to climb it, indicating that it is really a piece of thin board.
Continuity mistake: At the beginning of the film, Leslie Barbara is inside the Photo Booth. The guys throw the booth off the bridge and as it hits the water, the black roof is seen to fall off. In the cut scene, the roof is back in place. (00:06:00)
Audio problem: When Mahoney and Lt Harris are driving in the car on the dirt road and Harris tells Mahoney to run behind the car, all of the conversation up until that point is done with neither character moving their mouths.
Other mistake: When Hooks runs over Copeland's toes with the squad car, you can clearly see that he is standing a good distance away from the car. I'd say that he would have had to have feet half a meter long for that be possible. The car also bumps up and down to signify that his feet have been run over. The car bumps too late though, and the front wheels have well passed Copeland before he moves to show pain.
Continuity mistake: In the beginning when the Kodak photo booth is thrown from the bridge, its moving away from the bridge - not under it. The next shot the booth changed directions as it goes under and comes out the other side of the bridge.
Continuity mistake: Near the beginning of the movie when Mrs. Fackler runs through numerous backyards, including swimming in one part, to stop her husband from joining the Police Academy, her robe is soaking wet. When she gets on top of the station wagon, only her hair is wet, her robe is mysteriously dry. (00:10:15)
Continuity mistake: When Harris is walking through the cadet's barracks as they're sleeping, he walks into Jones' and Barbara's room and sees Jones pretending to play an arcade game. In a close up shot of Harris, he is seen with a white cloth in his right hand. In the next shot, the cloth is now in his left hand.
Revealing mistake: When Mahoney first meets Larvelle Jones at the police precinct, Jones demonstrates his vocal imitation skills by simulating machine gun fire. In the shot with the unwitting crowd, look at the police man to the far left talking to the lady with the hat. That officer ducks down a split second before Jones lets loose with his gunfire sound.
Continuity mistake: At the end, when Lassard says "You men stop that!" Thompson's hair is in a tight bun. After she turns around and shows herself, and the camera cuts to Lassard and back, her hair is suddenly down and flowing.
Continuity mistake: When Mahoney first meets Jonsey, his (Jones') hands are cuffed behind him. Then he demonstrates why he's there in the station. His left hand has the cuff on. Then it's behind him again. Then, as he goes to mime playing a harmonica after Mahoney is led away, he rubs his right wrist as if it were cuffed the whole time.
Continuity mistake: The patches on Mahoney's shirt switch sides during the movie.
Factual error: When Lt. Harris is being held hostage on the rooftop during the riot, his captor shoots a seemingly endless amount of rounds from a revolver, which should only have a maximum of six rounds. (01:26:06)
Suggested correction: He took both Copland and Blanks' revolvers, so he had 12 bullets. Even though we didn't see him switch guns, it doesn't mean he didn't at some point.
Continuity mistake: When the recruits are going to attend to the riot, Mahoney is on the bus wearing a brown uniform, as he has just been dismissed by Lieutenant Harris. However, later on, when he is rescuing Harris from the rooftop, he is wearing the regular uniform.
Suggested correction: Mahoney is always wearing the blue uniform; there wouldn't be two colors of a uniform, they're designed to match.
Continuity mistake: When Lassard sees that there is shoe polish on Harris mouth, Harris holds his baton by the shaft. In the close-up, he's holding it by its handle.
