Detective David Tapp is a fictional character from the Saw film franchise, portrayed by Danny Glover.

Introduced in Saw (2004), he is a police detective investigating a series of crime scenes linked to the same murderer, later revealed to be the Jigsaw Killer, and serves as one of the film's protagonists.

In Saw, David Tapp is a police detective who investigates a series of crime scenes linked to the same murderer.

Following Sing's death, Tapp becomes unstable and begins to obsess over catching Jigsaw, causing him to be discharged from the police force and to be divorced from his wife.

In Saw IV, the scene where Officer Daniel Rigg is watching Jill Tuck's interrogation at the Metropolitan Police Department features a picture of Tapp.

Danny Glover was originally set to make a cameo appearance as Tapp in Saw V, but could not show up due to scheduling issues.

[7] For Spiral: From the Book of Saw, it was briefly played around the possibility of having Tapp be related to Detective Zeke Banks, the main protagonist of the film, but according to co-writer Josh Stolberg, the idea didn't "pass the smell test".

[8] In the video game adaptation of Saw (2009), set after the events of the first film, Tapp is revealed to have survived his gunshot wound and is healed back to health by Jigsaw.

The second test is for Jennings Foster, a fellow officer of Tapp's who had committed a hit-and-run which he framed an innocent person for.

[5] If the player chooses the "Freedom" door, Tapp escapes and is labeled as a hero, but he kills himself soon after due to the stress of not being able to catch Jigsaw.

Burdened by Melissa's death, Tapp becomes insane and is left in a functional asylum where he still believes he is playing Jigsaw's games.

It is revealed that the "Freedom" ending of the first game is the canonical one, due to a newspaper mentioning Tapp's escape from Whitehurst and subsequent suicide.

Throughout most of the game, players control Tapp's estranged son Michael, who tries to find the cause of his father's death, which leads to him also coming into conflict with Jigsaw.

There are also audio tapes made by Tapp both before and after his Whitehurst Asylum tests that can be found throughout the game which detail his investigation of the Jigsaw Killer and his gradually building obsession, beginning with the discovery of Cecil' body.

It is also revealed that Tapp felt guilty for killing Pighead in the first game, not knowing if the person in the costume had a family or if he was forced to work for Jigsaw.

David Tapp is the survivor featured in "The Saw Chapter" downloadable content for the video game Dead by Daylight, released on January 23, 2018.

[12] UGO described Tapp as "A good man who was driven mad by evil circumstances ..." and noted the choice he had between saving victims and catching Jigsaw.

In Saw: The Video Game, Tapp has a hard time wielding heavy weapons and is usually slower in attacking than his opponents.

[2][13] Similar to other detectives in the Saw franchise, Tapp is seen wearing civilian clothing while on the police force; the exception is Saw V which shows a photograph of him in his uniform.

The reviewer went as far as to jokingly compare Earl Alexander's voice as being closer to Samuel L. Jackson's (who later joined the franchise as Marcus Banks in Spiral) than Danny Glover's.

"[17] In the same interview, Glover commented on his attraction to the film and the prospect of playing Tapp in Saw, stating, "I saw 10-12 minutes of video of the first scene here and I was really impressed with it.