Roy Earle

Roy Earle (played by Adam Harrington) is a character in L.A. Noire. He is present throughout the games entire plot and is partnered with Cole Phelps during his time on the Vice Desk.

Roy Earle is a "star" of the LAPD detective force, fittingly working out of the Hollywood station. He dresses and acts like he's a big shot and, of course, has an ego to match it. His ethically questionable handling of cases immediately rubs Cole the wrong way, but Earle defends his actions as the only way to really handle vice in L.A.

One of their first encounters happens when Cole is investigating the drugging, rape and attempted murder of an underage girl. He tracks down a movie prop maker who has been filming underage girls in risque situations under the pretense of auditioning for movie roles. Roy Earle shows up just in time to call Phelps off saying that the prop maker is one of his sources.

Roy introduces Cole to the Elsa Lichtman and the Blue Room Club after Cole is promoted from the Traffic department to the Homicide department. During this time it is shown that Roy has a great hostility towards Elsa and the African American doormen who work at the club.

After Phelps is quietly shut out of the Homicide department for solving a case too well, Roy Earle requests that Phelps be assigned to the Vice Department so that he can be his partner. During this time you learn that Earle is perhaps a bit too tough on his suspects while being too nice to those with fame. Earle also appears to have connections to famous L.A. mobster, Mickey Cohen. A number of scenes show them talking about what sounds like business, pointing towards possible illicit deals between the two. Roy constantly tries to explain the need for such relationships to Cole, who is less than receptive. In one conversation, he gives the opinion that it is impossible eliminate the demand for drugs, so vice's real job is to keep it out of the public eye, and away from the "regular" people.

Once Cole Phelps begins his affair with Elsa Lichtmann, Earle uses this as a bargaining piece for his superiors in the LAPD. The top men in the LAPD and city council were facing trouble from the press for taking part in the Suburban Redevelopment Fund. Earle offers that they tell the press about a certain shining detective who has fallen to the dark side and slept with with a German jazz singer despite his wife and kids. This had possibly been Earle's plan all along, as it allowed the removal of Cole from the force, as many of his cases were beginning to uncover the plans of the Suburban Redevelopment Fund. It's shown later that Roy himself has a large stake in the plot, with a large sum of money to be paid out after the plan went through.

Unfortunately for Earle, the Suburban Redevelopment Fund gets exposed thanks to investigations from both Cole Phelps and Jack Kelso. When he attempts to cover up the death of one of the planned scapegoats, Cole threatens to kill him, and blocks him from tampering with the body. But Roy is ultimately saved (albeit without his large payout) thanks to the deaths of both Cole and the arson suspect the group had hired. Additionally, it's hinted that the new DA cut a deal with the police commissioner to shift all the blame to Dr. Harlan Fontaine and Leland Monroe.

Roy Earle is seen at the end of the game giving the eulogy at Cole Phelps' funeral. During his eulogy he mentions that he was good friends with Cole Phelps, despite secretly ruining his career. This causes a distraught and angry Elsa Lichtman to storm out of the funeral.