The Police Force

Published: 2012-02-14

Author: Kaiden

Just a blog on the police force in the roleplay script, a fair portion of this will have been covered on the wiki and threads on the forum, but some of it will be new info so hopefully you find it interesting.

The police force will be a private establishment on the island which will enforce the law, summarized as The Criminal Justice Act. Based in a large building near the centre of the city, they offer both a secure building for citizens to communicate with the force as well as a stronghold for processing and holding apprehended criminals. The facility is kept secure via keycards, required to open many doors within the station, and varying levels of these cards are distributed between the police force. Citizens will not be allowed past the initial reception area unaccompanied to avoid compromises.

The most important area of the station however will be the armoury. Containing a variance of lethal and non-lethal weapons to be used in emergencies only, keeping compromises to a minimum is a top priority of anyone with a high enough clearance to access it. As keycards can be lost, or even stolen, armoury access will be watched very closely by AEGIS. AEGIS, abbreviation of “Apprehension and Enforcement, General Inquiry System” connects all the police and is the private computer system used throughout the city by the force. Its role ranges from monitoring the use of keycards to keeping records and sentencing information. Encountering the system as a citizen should be unlikely.

The police forces’ primary role is to enforce the Criminal Justice Act, which entails the combating and management of criminal actions throughout the island. It allows police to legally prosecute those who break the laws of the city, and these can range from carjacking, drug trafficking and extortion to more minor offences such as drinking in public and harassing others.

If you’re caught breaking such laws, the police will fine or arrest you. If arrest, upon successfully transporting you to the station (willingly or by force) you will be processed and a sentence will be determined. The main forms of sentencing are fines for minor offences, and prison sentences (whether house arrest or incarceration at the station) for more serious offences. The island does not operate a corporate punishment system, so the max punishment is a lengthy prison term.

The police communicate long range like any other player, via radios. As the police don’t use any encrypted frequency (nubs I guess) it’s possible for a citizen to accidentally - or perhaps intentionally - stumble upon the same frequency the police are using. AEGIS will be used to change the polices’ frequency every now and then however to keep compromises to a minimum.

The police force is lightly separated into two separate divisions, both executing vital parts of the team. This is for simplicities sake so they don’t have too many out on the streets, resulting in lacking people in the station, and vice-versa. The divisions are Patrolling and Station.

Station

The role of someone assigned to the station is to deal with any citizens coming into the station with problems or questions. As well, it is their responsibility to manage incoming criminals, which involves dealing with their initial incarceration, interviews/interrogations, and the general well being of citizens within the station, arrested or otherwise. In addition, it is also their responsibility to keep the station safe and compromise free and be readily available in-case those on patrol require their assistance.

Patrolling

As someone assigned to patrol duty, it is their job to be out on the streets watching for criminal activity and presenting a safe and secure presence on the island. Their role is to apprehend those breaking the law and get them back to the station, or call someone from the station to come and collect them. Maintaining a strong police presence out on the streets is vital in both ensuring the citizens of the city are safe and forming a strong deterrence against crime.

Both of these roles are naturally very important and officers within the police force are encouraged to perform both duties when needed.

Joining the Police Force

You apply to the police force by posting an application, which only you and forum admins can see to prevent your in-character name being compromised (as that can play an important part of roleplay in this script). If the application is promising, you will be asked to attend the police station when possible to attend an interview. The interview will cover basic stuff you’d expect, such as gauging your availability and ability to roleplay, both important aspects in joining the force. If that goes well, you may be invited back again for weapons testing if needed, although this is more a formality and poor aim is generally something that can be improved with practice, which you’d need to put in. At this stage you’d most likely be accepted and welcomed to the police force. You’d be distributed your keycard, shown around the station and be required to read the additional literature now available to you on the forums.

This process probably won’t apply quite in the same way to those initially chosen during the beta, but that’ll be decided closer to the time.

As I’m anticipating a large number of people wishing to apply, naturally there’s going to be disappointment when not everyone is accepted. I’ll be recruiting from a varying pool of players, ranging from new but promising RP’ers to experienced RP’ers from our previous RP gamemodes. If you’re not accepted it’s most likely because of not wanting to flood the roster with players, rather than their being something wrong with your application. This early I can’t provide specific numbers on the amount being recruited naturally, but there’ll most probably be additional recruitment often enough assuming the server requires it.

Recruitment will occur around the same time as the beta and we’ll get more information out concerning the police force, such as their vehicles, equipment etc closer to then as well. In the mean time, you can find a couple of threads with more information in the General Info section of the police forum, and more will be added over time.