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{{reflist}}[[es:Sargento Harrison Yates]]
{{reflist}}[[es:Sargento Harrison Yates]]
[[it:Harrison Yates]]
[[it:Harrison Yates]]
[[Category:Male characters]]
[[Category:Male characters]]

Revision as of 00:53, October 23, 2019

Sergeant Harrison Yates is the lead detective of the Park County Police Force and as far as we know, the highest-ranked police officer in Park County. He is usually accompanied by his partner Mitch Murphy or generic police officers.

He first appeared as a member of the FBI, but has since been seen as part of the Park County Police, a role he has consistently kept in the series since then.


A shaved police officer who is identical to Yates appears working under Lieutenant Dawson in "Lil' Crime Stoppers". According to "The Jeffersons", he was an officer for 25 years.

He has played a major role in many episodes. In "The Jeffersons", when Michael Jackson (also known as Mr. Jefferson) moves into South Park, it is revealed that Yates hates all black men wealthier than himself and frames them — but panics and becomes disillusioned when he realizes that "Mr. Jefferson" is black despite his "white appearance". He discovers Jefferson is indeed black, but when he decides he will give away all of his money, Yates lets him go, having no need to put another poor black man in jail.

In "Cartman's Incredible Gift", when a serial killer strikes South Park, Yates becomes convinced that Cartman has psychic powers that can capture the killer and dismisses proven science such as fingerprinting and blood analysis as "Hocus Pocus". As a result, he arrests and even kills a number of innocent people based on Cartman's alleged "psychic visions", failing to identify the killer as such when he first investigates him, despite an overabundance of evidence.

In "Miss Teacher Bangs a Boy", Kyle reports to Yates and the cops that the Kindergarten teacher, Ms. Stevenson, is in a relationship with his younger brother, Ike. It is shown that Yates and his pals, like all the other men in South Park do not see anything wrong with women committing sex crimes like this one. At one point he remarked that he would have gladly hooked up with a sexed-up teacher when he was a kid, again proving to be more of a hindrance than anything else to the case.

In "Butters' Bottom Bitch", he went undercover as a prostitute after learning of an increase in South Park prostitutes. Though it was obvious when he was a man in drag (he retained his male sexual organs, his mustache and his hairy body), no one seemed to notice this or at least chose to ignore it. He also is unaware of the fact he doesn't need to have sex with the Johns to arrest them for soliciting prostitution, something that creeps out the rest of his squad. He seems to take his role so seriously that he not only has sex with his Johns, he also is involved in a bareback gang-bang with dozens of Alpha Tau Omega fraternity men at the college, and he also "falls in love" with his pimp, runs off to Switzerland, is married for a year, before at last arresting him.

In "The Coon", Yates is the primary police officer approached by Cartman in the guise of the Coon. While he seems to see the Coon as an annoyance and tells him to leave, Yates praises the assistance and work of the town's other hero, Mysterion, despite neither hero doing much to assist the police force themselves and the lack of response by them to either hero.

Criminal Record

  • Marijuana paraphernalia: In "Bike Parade" he is seen smoking cannabis. Though usage of marijuana is legal in the state of Colorado, police officers are prohibited from usage of this drug.
  • Framing Innocent People: In "The Jeffersons" he has mentioned how he and his fellow officers have been framing rich African-Americans for crimes they didn't commit, he even reveals that he has knowledge of how the police framed O.J. Simpson and expressed disappointed that the case fell apart because "one man said the n-word in court". He was about to use false evidence from another police department to arrest Michael Jackson (who in South Park continuity was being framed for child molestation), only to change his mind when Jackson decided to give all his money away making him "another poor black man". He also mentioned earlier in the episode how he aided in the framing of Kobe Bryant.


Yates has orange hair, an orange mustache, and thick orange eyebrows. He wears a white button-up shirt, black tie, black suspenders, gold watch, a belt with a gold buckle, and in a brown leather holster his stainless Smith and Wesson 5900-series pistol with wood grips (as does his partner Mitch Murphy, indicating this is most likely the standard issue duty sidearm for South Park PD) As a prostitute, he wore a short red skirt, a red bra and a blonde wig.

To see images of Harrison Yates, visit Harrison Yates/Gallery.


Yates appears to be rather gullible and believes in the supernatural, and often wastes time by conducting extremely trivial investigations. He seems to enjoy letting other people solve crimes for him, be they supposed psychic mediums, the Hardly Boys, Butters Stotch or Mysterion (Kenny). He is also stupid (possibly slightly more so than Officer Barbrady), racist and misogynistic, the last two of which he is perfectly willing to misuse the law to satisfy.

Like most other South Park citizens, however, he does not notice these negative traits or rather believes they are good. His microscopic intelligence is showcased when it took him (presumably) hours of extensive research to understand that a left hand remains as such, regardless of the angle of which it's seen.

There is a great possibility that he is a closet homosexual or at least bisexual as depicted in "Butters' Bottom Bitch" where he takes his prostitute role way too seriously and marries his pimp in order to arrest him. In "Naughty Ninjas" he suggests he "might even kiss a dude" while hula dancing.


Maggie Yates

He is married to Maggie Yates, who shares his views on rich black men, as she supported him in "The Jeffersons". Ironically, in "Butters' Bottom Bitch" he engages in a long term affair with a wealthy black man, citing him to be his "pimp".

Unnamed Son

He has an unnamed son, mentioned in "Cartman's Incredible Gift".


  • In "Cartman's Incredible Gift", Yates is called Lou at one point. He is also sometimes called Detective Harris, which is the name Trey uses in scripts. The name Harrison Yates was restored in "You're Not Yelping", suggesting 'Harris' is a nickname.
  • His undercover name was Yolanda in "Butters' Bottom Bitch".
  • Like, all police officers in South Park, Yates hates wealthy African Americans.
    • However, he seems to have no issue with their race when they are poor.
  • In "The Coon", Yates essentially plays the role of Commissioner Gordon to Cartman's super-hero identity, The Coon, and to Kenny's super-hero identity, Mysterion.
  • Yates was originally shown working for the FBI in "Christian Rock Hard" and then the South Park Police Department in "Casa Bonita". He was also shown handling a case in Denver in "Free Willzyx".
  • His voice is identical to Lieutenant Dawson's from "Lil' Crime Stoppers".
  • Yates shoots Michael Deets twice in the face. A detective in "Miss Teacher Bangs a Boy" claims to have shot a man in the face twice, possibly taking credit for Yates' deed.
  • Yates has spoken in every season since his introduction in Season Seven.
  • He and Officer Barbrady were never seen together between "Casa Bonita" and "Medicinal Fried Chicken", and never interacted onscreen until "The City Part of Town", after co-existing for over a decade. They seem to be on friendly terms.
    • In the commentary for Season Nineteen, Trey suggests the introduction of Yates and his police department and the phasing out of Officer Barbrady was an intentional choice, as they felt Barbrady was no longer in line with comedy after the nineties.


Video Games

South Park: The Stick of Truth

Yates appears in the police office as a "friendable" friend. He sends the player to collect five rings from the Nazi zombies. When they player collects the rings, Yates befriends him. Yates cannot be befriended when the Nazi zombies disappear.

South Park: The Fractured but Whole

Sergeant Yates has a bigger role in The Fractured but Whole as he works under Mitch Conner. He gives the New Kid two successive missions on the second day: Operation Just 'Cause and Operation Blind Justice, both of which are about arresting black people for apparently no reason. After completion, he becomes the New Kid's Coonstagram follower.

His prominent role in this game takes place during The Thin White Line mission. As the New Kid fights further into the police station, he consistently tries to explain that he is not a racist. After all the horrible truth turns out to be, that Yates and his fellow cops are Outer-God worshipers. He engages himself in the bossfight against Shub-Niggurath, and is beatable.

Yates also appears in Danger Deck as an enemy.

