Hello! (Yes, I'm still around!) I've been reading through the wiki and searching through posts on the forums, and though people refer to the police force and law enforcement, I haven't really been able to find anything specific on how it functions and is structured. Is there something I've missed, or has it just not really been fleshed out yet? From what I've seen from the way people have treated law enforcement IC, it's just assumed that in the less organized regions they aren't as active and effective and are more corrupt and dysfunctional, but otherwise they function somewhat like the police system in the USA (which I'm honestly not particularly familiar with even though I use it for comparison). And if it's substantially different (or even if not), is this something that we could maybe flesh out together? : ]
Oh, hey! I went digging and it really looks like we haven't got much in the way of law enforcement fleshed out. The closest that you'll likely get is the Military/USR page. I'm also unfamiliar with how the system works in the USA, but here's a little about how I'd imagine it here: All officers are branched off of USR divisions. I built Vythe as somewhat of an enforcer/police archetype. I'd think that most officers would have similar builds to him, with heavy emphasis on protection of citizens, as well as an emphasis on subduing/disarming tactics. Weaponry on the planet isn't incredibly common (largely due to magic making a lot of weapons laughable), but is more common on the moons/colonies/Gate where magic can be weak. You'd be more likely to encounter a fully armed officer off-planet. IC, I think it's always just been Bhim that has really relaxed law enforcement. There is likely some conspiracy all around this. I'm not sure if it's because Bhim is actually calling all the shots, or if it's because the force is simply corrupt there. Could be that the casinos and the like are really just running the country. The USR does have the ability to "crack down" and was pretty scary during the Flux. Anyway, more ideas are certainly wanted here! :)
Do you mean that it'd be a branch under Military & Weaponry, not Law & Justice then? Or were you just referring to the ranks? If the former, that could lead to some interesting places when the police are acted against! Here are some more questions that came to mind that I think could use some collective pondering: Are laws just rules laid down by the Council that change as and when they please, or do they exist outside of the Council? How would the legal system function in relation to the 'police force' if they were just a wing of the military? Would there ever be room to question them? Would the procedure in joining law enforcement involve direct application, or would one have to go through the military? I'll give this some thought over the next few days and see if I can come up with some suggestions of my own (and possibly add to this)
I think that the original plan was for Military/Weaponry and Law/Justice to sort of work jointly together. Military/Weaponry more so involved with off planet, and Law/Justice more so on planet. I don't think this was ever fleshed out though. I think the ranks themselves were under Military/Weaponry though. Sheesh, what a mess that all is now that I think of it. I'm totally open to all suggestions here. :P Some blanket laws are laid down by the council (no slavery, cloning, etc.). They'd probably be like the core laws/regulations. Largely the ones that you can find on the Laws page. I kinda think the police force would be a subset of the military, but maybe not the military itself. Perhaps only the higher ranking officers belong to the military. Continuing that, you probably would not have to apply directly to the military to get into general law enforcement. There is probably a completely separate process, 'cause bureaucratic soup nonsense is fun. So perhaps military rank required only if you're interested in furthering your career.
