Detective Victor "Vic" Mackey is put in charge of the newly formed Strike team, an experimental division of the Los Angeles Police Department located in a disused church (called the Barn) in the fictional Farmington (the Farm) District of Los Angeles, California, an area rife with gang-related violence, drug trafficking, and prostitution. The Mackey's strike team is made up of rouge cops Detective Shane Vendrell, Detective Curtis "Lem" Lemansky and Detective Ronnie Gardocki - all of whom follow Vic's lead and are loyal to him. The team is not afraid to sink to the criminals' level and frequently break many rules in order to take on the worst criminals in Farmington -- whilst also engaging in a series of undercover dealings in secret in order to get rich.