Boston Police Department Detectives Nick Walker and Bobby Hayes steal some gold they find during a drug - bust . Nick buries his share in his backyard , intending to use it to create a better life for himself and his wife , Julia . He immediately regrets his decision , and informs Hayes he intends to return the gold . During a subsequent raid on a warehouse that day , Nick and Hayes get into shootout with the criminals inside , and Hayes kills Nick to prevent him from returning the gold .
After ascending to limbo in the afterlife , through a whirlpool and tunnel in the sky , Nick is taken into the office of Mildred Proctor - director of the Boston division of the Rest In Peace Department (R.I.P.D) . Proctor explains that R.I.P.D . is an agency that recruits deceased police officers to patrol the afterlife and capture " deados " : spirits that failed to cross over and instead stay on Earth as monsters . Nick agrees to join (R.I.P.D) for a century , after Proctor explains that it would stave off a potentially negative final judgment and meets his new Roy Pulsipher - a crusty ex - U.S . Marshal who lived in the 1800s .
Nick and Roy return to Earth and attend Nick's funeral , where Nick learns that (R.I.P.D) officers are assigned avatars , which is how humans perceive them . Nick's is an elderly Chinese man , Jerry Chen , and Roy's is an attractive Russian woman , Opal Pavlenko . After failing to communicate with Julia , Nick accompanies Roy to the apartment of suspect Stanley Nawlicki , who transforms from his avatar into his monster from via cumin powder . Nawlicki tries to escape , resulting in Roy pushing Nick out of a twenty - storey building , and is eventually killed by Roy using a soul - killer bullet that erases him from the cosmos . Pieces of gold identical to the ones Nick stole are found in Nawlicki's possession , and logged into evidence .
Nick and Roy then meet Eliot , Roy's informant and a Red Sox fan , who Nick dupes into leading them to his contact , revealed to be Hayes . Nick and Roy follow him to Nick's old house , where Hayes retrieves Nick's share of the gold , leading Julia to believe that Nick was corrupt . After a brief confrontation between Roy and Nick over the stolen gold they tail Hayes to a bus depot where he gives the gold to a large ginger - side burned deado named Pulaski . The duo corner Pulaski and try intimidating him by threatening to expose his true form , which he readily does , escapes and causes enough destruction to make news headlines . Proctor is infruriated and they are suspended and taken off the case by The Eternals (who are charge of limbo ) , while Proctor tells them they are likely to be erased . They decide to continue the investigation on their own after learning the pieces of golds are components of the staff of Jericho , a mystical device that could reverse the tunnel that transports the dead into the afterlife , returning them to Earth .
Nick and Roy visit Hayes , who quickly finds out who they are and reveals himself to be a deado , having cut a deal to remain on Earth after he was killed in a shootout . He removes his St.Christopher charm that masked his true form , and his arrested and taken to the (R.I.P.D) headquarters . Hayes and some other deado manage to escape by using a device Hayes had smuggled in that slows time for the (R.I.P.D) officers , but not the deados . After stealing the components of the staff of Jericho they return to Earth . Roy and Nick neutralize the device and end up in in a showdown with some of the deados , whose use soul - killers to erase several of the (R.I.P.D) officers while the deados assemble the staff of Jericho , Hayes kidnaps Julia to use her as a human sacrifice to open the portal . Nick and Roy arrive and , after killing the deados , Nick tries to save Julia while Roy destroys the staff of Jericho and saves the city . although Nick manage to kill Hayes , Julia succumbs to her wounds and she and Nick share a tearful goodbye .
Julia is revived in the hospital and begins recovery , granted a second chance as a favor to Nick . She also reinstates Nick , who is let off with a warning , Roy , who gets 53 more years added to his already extended time in (R.I.P.D) knowing that Nick is unhappy with his avatar , Roy pulls some strings to give him a new one - much to Nick's dissapointment it turns out to be that of a ten year old girl scout .
" The End "
