police guide
The Basics
Mechanics
Life as a Cop
At the moment, the cops are acting with no legal backing and a very low success rate due to a general disorganization and no help from the deities. They're all volunteers, essentially, with little equipment and materials and are generally the underdogs of the entire City. As an officer, you'll likely be met with cynicism, frustration and no respect at all. Doesn't that sound like fun!?
Good, because that's what the police force is here for: fun. This is not serious business, it's not a huge deal, it's just another vehicle to provide everyone with extra chances at gaining CR and running some plot. Please feel free to jump right in! Read over some of the things that have already been posted (we've had a lot of great discussion about where the force is heading already) and see if you'd like to join up!
Lack of legal system
Seeing as there are actually kind of no laws or structure to the societal rules in the City, and that the presence of supers influences just how much outright heinous crime happens, the police technically are just as much vigilantes as the rest of the do-gooders. Having said that, most of them are morally white and inclined to do the right thing rather than the easy thing. So long as Kate Beckett is Chief, she will ensure (as much as one person can) that corrupt cops are a minimum.
Procedure
Is largely determined by everyone's homeworlds. We seem to run on the American legal system (Miranda rights, authority given to police like probable cause, reasonable suspicion, etc) and Beckett is very stickler on keeping things together that would be admissible in US court. Any questions on this are welcome, as I hope we can keep building up on it to make it more clear and work better.
This is a rougher than rough working procedure manual. It won't answer every question ever but hopefully it'll provide and idea of what you should be thinking about when playing a character that's gone through at least very basic crash course training in criminal justice.
Cases
Cases run from being orchestrated on the front end to getting a police character involved entirely ICly. You can even make up a completely uninvolved case or crime to keep your cop or consultant busy. The case log is right over here.
Sometimes players come to us OOCly to set up police involvement in a case -- which usually means they're okay with the villain being caught and punished some capacity. Most of the time, however, players leave it up to IC happenstance to develop cases and crime. While this provides a fun opportunity to play with on the fly, it also creates opportunities to accidentally info or god mod on the police's behalf. Just because a player doesn't come to you OOCly doesn't mean you can't send them a message or IM asking what they're comfortable with the police having deduced.
Casefiles
Casefiles within Poly come in three flavors: Wildcard: just how it sounds. Outright unplotted crime with no resolution in sight and the likelihood the muns of criminal characters aren't looking for PD resolution. Either canonmates or other characters have been slotted to take care of the mess. Obviously this doesn't mean there would be no PD response but I have some suggestions (though not rules; let me know if you guys don't like it) on how to deal:
- Feel free to go ahead and pursue the case, as usual. This means whoever jumps on it first gets dibs, takes point on the case and is responsible for keeping the file updated at the case post, talks to the public and decides where to go with it. Lucky duck! It would behoove whoever does jump on it to OOCly contact the mun running the crime.
- We can implement a sort of NPC solution, if no one wants to actively bang their head against a wall for a case that won't be solved anyway. If need be, somebody can go ahead and put up a case file for it, designating that it is in fact NPC'd in case anyone at a later date wants to pick it up.
Plotted: with the police force, that is. It's probably straight forward, but based on who's available, needed and already involved when a plot is brought up we'll determine who is involved and taking point. If this needs some further thought or anyone has any suggestions, speak rigth on up.
NPC: things to keep idle cops busy. Anyone looking to NPC a case for any reason needs to make sure that it doesn't affect any other PC'd characters. Keep it small: robberies, drug possession, etc. Stay away from homicides, serial anything, etc. If in doubt, contact a MOD. An actual Poly mod, to make sure you won't be affecting other players unwittingly.
Instead of using a designated IC post in the community for casefiles, I thought we might try something a little different! Why don't we post casefile entries in our character's journals and then link to them in this community? I'm hoping it'll incite a little more IC talk and movement about the cases we make up or take on. Feel free to use the form below to help you create an IC casefile.
Perpetrator:
Arresting officer(s): ,
Assisting (if any):
Charges
Arresting
When a suspect is arrested, they are essentially held indefinitely. No bail can be posted becaue no legal system exists to set that bail and it would be very easy for the police to hold all suspects forever until proven innocent. On the whole, this is up to a case-by-case basis. If a player wants their character held indefinitely, that's up to them. Otherwise, during the plotting phase leading up to arrest, the player is responsible for figuring out if the character should be detained, ways to get the character out, etc.
Security
By default, no one is able to enter the precinct beyond the lobby without proper displayed identification or a visitor's pass which will have been issued after a quick background check by tech. But! Ask away, if for some reason you'd like to break in/try to break in! Additionally, to get beyond the public access areas, a swipe ID/guest pass is necessary.
You've Got Jail!
An old slaughterhouse has been in the progress of renovation for the past few months, and serves as a run of the mill prison. Currently it's got a decent tech security system along with guards that patrol 24/7. Cells aren't completely secure against all potential prisoners and we'll be adding as needed.
The cells are being worked on (unlike the room in the precinct basement which is finished and available for use) in order to contain supers but don't assume that your character wouldn't be able to get out, as the security should be growing at an almost frustratingly slow rate. So, there are probably no cells with silver bars yet -- but the security to get outside the prison entirely is pretty dense between the guards and technology watching it. Not to mention security varies with who is watching based on their skill sets. But we're always open to jailbreaks!
Additionally, there is a small office located on-site as a satellite in case of attack on the main station. This is where guards meet and disperse, change for their shift and where supplies are kept.
NPC (Non Playable Cops, hurrr)
Given the size of the City, it's a stretch to believe that there would be no NPC crimes happening, especially common things like theft, assault/battery, etc. It's also a stretch to believe they would all go unsolved, though I can't say I can imagine many of them being completely taken care of. In fact, given the size of the PC'd police department (12, if the roster is to be trusted), they probably only succeed once in a great while.
For every ~38 PCs in Poly, there is one PC that is an officer. Even worse, the entire police department is at approximately 112 officers including NPCs which is grossly understaffed as far as patrolling and smaller tasks go, and would lend to why they're so very unsuccessful at their duty. (Boston, with a similar population of just under 600,000, had some 2800 law enforcement employees in 2007 according to the FBI website). Feel free to see a cop here or there sucking down coffee on a street corner, or answering a call about a disturbance because those darned kids on the 15th floor play their music too loud. Maybe one gives you stinkeye as you pass him by or another stops to ask if you need an escort home. You may assume they're attempting to respond to Curse days as well, and take into consideration that their size makes it difficult for them to affect much as far as stopping the situation.
Breakdown of numbers per department:
Intelligence - 25
SWAT - 25
Forensics - 15
Technology - 15
Misc Staff - 20 (beat cops, admin, etc)
Keep in mind that along with their specialized duties, police officers are also required to continue the regular duties; walking beats and general attempted peace-keeping. Use of NPC officers by players is totally expected and encouraged. We'd rather you don't abuse the heck out of them without dropping us a line first, but IMing one of the community mods or dropping off a comment here should suffice. There are always officers who are dirt baggy and if you'd like an altercation with a few, we can oblige.
Payroll
Police force members get a day off a week (you can choose when unless there’s an epic case that needs all force members on it) which makes it a 6 day week. Obviously, that’s still fairly freeform and just a suggestion based on UNDERSTAFFING, aaaaa. But you don’t get paid if you don’t work.
If you really require a breakdown numberwise, the below, as painstakingly broken down by our lovely Leah, should serve as a guideline:
General Officers and/or employees: 3 Violet, 1 Blue, 2 Yellow ($720*)
Dept. Heads: 3 Violet, 1 Blue, 3 Green, 4 Orange ($768*)
*American, biweekly
The Station
There are several floors for offices and labs, an emergency/curse response center, what I would assume to be a dispatch area along with a data storage and analysis area. A second data storage center is located off-site, the location information accessible only to very upper management within the force. There's also jail space in the basement along with a Warded Containment Room for holding supernatural/otherwise dangerous prisoners.
Curse Response
All officers and paid personnel are expected to perform in their capacity during an emergency call -- usually curses, sometimes just plain old deity shenanigans. This just means that everyone's responsible for patrolling or dispatching regardless of their specialty (though the non-fighting types would obviously be more about dispatching and directing than actual bloody clashing). Characters can assume an increased presence of cops milling about if there is something major going on, and it's probably okay to assume that they might be a little rude or otherwise oblivious but please don't go to the police brutality place without talking to police muns first.
Nonpolice Responses
There are several organizations that take the City's safety upon themselves and are recognized by the station to be helpful in emergency situations or for unpaid consultation. Any action taken upon an individual deemed as personal revenge is not condoned by the police but is recognized to be an unavoidable event within the confines of the City. We haven't done anything to start building this yet but it's an idea that's in the works that probably bears saying here.
Processing
Upon arrest, officers will deem how much of a threat a character is and either move into questioning or straight to a cell. Accommodations should always be made for those characters that require dark to survive or something else similar, given that the officers are made aware of such needs. Officers are to file reports upon exercising their "authority" which includes arrest reports, ticket reports, every kind of report you can think of.
Crime & Punishment
The usual punishments that are available when no legal system is are pretty much community service, being fined, etc. Of course, we'll do pretty much whatever the player wants done to the character at request and especially if it makes sense.
Recruiting
Players should ICly have characters contact a police officer AS WELL AS letting us know OOCly that they are in fact interested in joining the character up. A department head should go through an interview/screening process with them, even if you don't thread it out, please assume it? People don't have to have been extensively trained or have a ton of expertise -- a hiree could be willing to start in dispatch and work up to real actualfax officer, say. Don't discount anyone until a screening process would show they're psychos looking for a license to kill everyone.
Additionally, any police dept members engaging in a recruitment thread with a non-cop should make sure that the mun knows to read through the guide and post here before any official recruiting happens to avoid miscommunication and godmoding/powergaming/infomodding/etc.
Using the Community
How to Join
Post to the community! Your character won't have to have spoken to a member of the force before you come here.
You don't have to join in order to post (and please don't with any journals that are not members of the force), and if you're unsure of how to get your characters into the force (what department, their job, etc) you can ask for some input. If you already have an idea where you'd like them to go, feel free to post an introduction for them, chat some of the current members up. Give us a rundown on their qualifications, maybe a quick personality and what kinds of things you're looking to have them do within the PF. Then we'll either make plans for an IC 'interview' or handwave it if you'd rather not. Be specific about what you'd like to get out of this (or what you're not sure about) so that we can try to work with you or let you know if something doesn't work in the way you thought. Then, head on over to the roster and put a comment up in the designated thread for whatever department you choose for them.
For the most part, only well-meaning characters have been joining the police force. It hasn't been something we've had to address yet but if your character is fairly questionable and you'd like them to join the police, we would very much like to know the circumstances and think ahead of time about what might come about from their joining. It hasn't happened yet, but I don't think we'd be averse to exploring some sort of destruction from within the station.
Having said that, all cops recruited are hand waved to have passed a background check. Additionally, the police's standards are sadly low because everyone in the police should have also passed a training period. New recruits should remember that there is a training period; honestly, play with it. If you want the CR, we can find you a training officer (TO) and you can drag the training on for as long or short as you like. If there's anything off or that might vary, ask away.
Posting to the Community
You do not have to be a member to post here! This is so that any of us can field questions faster and easier, rather than watching them get gunked up on a single post. You should post to the community if: -You're joining and need to introduce yourself and the character
-Looking to join, but aren't sure what to do with the character
-Have general questions about operations
-Would like to plot
Roster
The ROSTER is set up to be player maintained. You are responsible for making sure you're listed there. If you're missing there might be miscommunication if you go ahead and have your character post doing things with/for the police, and can result in some confusion.
IC Contact
911/General Contact - We encourage muns to have their characters use the Network to call for police help. Players should also ensure a police character sees it by posting to this community with a link to the post. This will give you an excuse to post something and us less of a chance at missing it.
Dept Head Voicemail - Used for IC communication/questions with superiors. Usually for contact to join the force, or well, okay probably spamming for flame throwers or something. Optionally, you can post to the Network and alert the particular mun through either posting to the community or tagging the appropriate thread with a link.
Plotting/Questions
Posting access at the community is open to any user, including nonmembers. We're happy to get questions or just musing about plotting here. If you have an idea and don't really know what you want to do with it, it's likely someone will show up to brainstorm with you and give suggestions.
If you are planning a crime or other villainy and you'd like to involve the Police Force, please use the form below to get you started on giving us information about plotting you have in mind and feel free to post it to the community. Don't forget to introduce yourself and your character as well!
Timeline: Start to finish - 3 days, 2 weeks, etc Characters involved: (criminals/victims/bystanders/suspects/witnesses, etc) Each character involved should be approved by the mun individually prior to listing them here. Outcome/resolution: Jail, escape, parole, community service; essentially, will the character be caught and if so, what kind of punishment are you looking to inflict upon them? Evidence: Think of this in terms of evidence to be submitted to a court if the City had one. What could they use to prove the character's guilt? What exists that you don't want the police to find or be able to use against the character?
If you've already plotted with one of the officers, that's fantastic! If the officer hasn't already posted to the community about it, it would help us if you let us know so that we don't get wires crossed and interfere with something you've set up.
Precinct Layout
In progress, our resident Good Kid Pixie has started to draft some floorplans - you can check them out here. Some descriptions of how players see the offices being laid out/their personal locations can be found right here! Feel free to add your own blurb, embellish away!
Tracking Posts
Under the tag creatively titled "tracking posts", are the gamut of posts all police characters should have tracked for one reason or another.
Hiatusing/Dropping
If you're planning on anything that might interfere with your character's position at the department, please post to the community and let us know what's going on-- whether you're having them leave the police, go on short hiatus, etc. Whatever the case may be, you need to let everyone know developments with your character so that everyone can react accordingly. Anyone still on the roster that hasn't dropped the game will be treated as a standing member of the department unless you change your entry to add details of hiatus or delete it upon your character's decision to leave.
A Note
Given the nature of the police, the lawlessness in the City and the rampant Robin Hood types (not to mention very capable villains that require some leeway to allow their player the fairness of playing them correctly) there has always been some conflict with the police. Upon joining (and plotting with), you should understand that this conflict will be everpresent. Please try to view it as an opportunity to build CR and not as an obstacle to overcome. In the past, because of disorganization both OOCly and ICly we think it was difficult to deal with and we can't stress this enough: if in doubt, talk OOCly! We get that it's kind of sensitive because police are at a major disadvantage but villain muns are not unreasonable and it's not going to do anyone any favors if you let it fester or try to resolve everything ICly. Be clear, be fair and if there is a problem that you cannot solve on your own, ask a Poly mod for help. And police types; the police do mess up from time to time. Take your lumps and use it to make your character learn. Good guys aren't all perfect.
Hello everyone! Above, under the cut up there you'll find a guide I've thrown together and that I'm hoping you'll all be kind enough to look through and yay or nay. If nay, I would appreciate input on what changes you'd like to see. Otherwise, if you have more ideas of what to shove up in here please let me know; if you want to type up a section and leave it in a comment here I can pop it in. Otherwise, I can take your ideas and run with them.
I'm hoping to get information on the police in one coherent bulk place so that maybe we can start recruiting or at least letting other players know what is here to make use of. I'll be going through and removing posts that this makes redundant, unless anyone has any objections.
In addition, if there are positions you can think of that we could advertise to try and fill, it might work a little better than throwing out a generic net and asking for folk to flounder in!
[2010.09.20]
Mechanics
- Life as a Cop
- Lack of legal system
- Procedure
- Cases
- Casefiles
- Arresting
- Security
- You've Got Jail!
- NPCs
- How to Join
- Posting to poly_police
- Roster
- IC Contact (911, etc)
- Plotting/Questions
- Precinct Layout
- Tracking Posts
- Hiatus/Drop
- A Note
Life as a Cop
At the moment, the cops are acting with no legal backing and a very low success rate due to a general disorganization and no help from the deities. They're all volunteers, essentially, with little equipment and materials and are generally the underdogs of the entire City. As an officer, you'll likely be met with cynicism, frustration and no respect at all. Doesn't that sound like fun!?
Good, because that's what the police force is here for: fun. This is not serious business, it's not a huge deal, it's just another vehicle to provide everyone with extra chances at gaining CR and running some plot. Please feel free to jump right in! Read over some of the things that have already been posted (we've had a lot of great discussion about where the force is heading already) and see if you'd like to join up!
Lack of legal system
Seeing as there are actually kind of no laws or structure to the societal rules in the City, and that the presence of supers influences just how much outright heinous crime happens, the police technically are just as much vigilantes as the rest of the do-gooders. Having said that, most of them are morally white and inclined to do the right thing rather than the easy thing. So long as Kate Beckett is Chief, she will ensure (as much as one person can) that corrupt cops are a minimum.
Procedure
Is largely determined by everyone's homeworlds. We seem to run on the American legal system (Miranda rights, authority given to police like probable cause, reasonable suspicion, etc) and Beckett is very stickler on keeping things together that would be admissible in US court. Any questions on this are welcome, as I hope we can keep building up on it to make it more clear and work better.
This is a rougher than rough working procedure manual. It won't answer every question ever but hopefully it'll provide and idea of what you should be thinking about when playing a character that's gone through at least very basic crash course training in criminal justice.
Cases
Cases run from being orchestrated on the front end to getting a police character involved entirely ICly. You can even make up a completely uninvolved case or crime to keep your cop or consultant busy. The case log is right over here.
Sometimes players come to us OOCly to set up police involvement in a case -- which usually means they're okay with the villain being caught and punished some capacity. Most of the time, however, players leave it up to IC happenstance to develop cases and crime. While this provides a fun opportunity to play with on the fly, it also creates opportunities to accidentally info or god mod on the police's behalf. Just because a player doesn't come to you OOCly doesn't mean you can't send them a message or IM asking what they're comfortable with the police having deduced.
Casefiles
Casefiles within Poly come in three flavors: Wildcard: just how it sounds. Outright unplotted crime with no resolution in sight and the likelihood the muns of criminal characters aren't looking for PD resolution. Either canonmates or other characters have been slotted to take care of the mess. Obviously this doesn't mean there would be no PD response but I have some suggestions (though not rules; let me know if you guys don't like it) on how to deal:
- Feel free to go ahead and pursue the case, as usual. This means whoever jumps on it first gets dibs, takes point on the case and is responsible for keeping the file updated at the case post, talks to the public and decides where to go with it. Lucky duck! It would behoove whoever does jump on it to OOCly contact the mun running the crime.
- We can implement a sort of NPC solution, if no one wants to actively bang their head against a wall for a case that won't be solved anyway. If need be, somebody can go ahead and put up a case file for it, designating that it is in fact NPC'd in case anyone at a later date wants to pick it up.
Plotted: with the police force, that is. It's probably straight forward, but based on who's available, needed and already involved when a plot is brought up we'll determine who is involved and taking point. If this needs some further thought or anyone has any suggestions, speak rigth on up.
NPC: things to keep idle cops busy. Anyone looking to NPC a case for any reason needs to make sure that it doesn't affect any other PC'd characters. Keep it small: robberies, drug possession, etc. Stay away from homicides, serial anything, etc. If in doubt, contact a MOD. An actual Poly mod, to make sure you won't be affecting other players unwittingly.
Instead of using a designated IC post in the community for casefiles, I thought we might try something a little different! Why don't we post casefile entries in our character's journals and then link to them in this community? I'm hoping it'll incite a little more IC talk and movement about the cases we make up or take on. Feel free to use the form below to help you create an IC casefile.
Perpetrator:
- Charge - Charge - ChargeWrite up a summary of events here. Include anything unusual about arrest, interrogation, etc. Make mention of anything that would be important for other officers to know -- like, whether or not the perp can fry them with their electric tentacles. Status: Threat/non-threat, runner/not a runner. Essentially, do they need to worry about them while in custody or on parole? [ooc: Any OOC notes here - don't forget to link at poly_police!] Tags for new case discussion (ie, here in the comm) will be worked on. For now, just post away and we'll figure as we go.
Arresting
When a suspect is arrested, they are essentially held indefinitely. No bail can be posted becaue no legal system exists to set that bail and it would be very easy for the police to hold all suspects forever until proven innocent. On the whole, this is up to a case-by-case basis. If a player wants their character held indefinitely, that's up to them. Otherwise, during the plotting phase leading up to arrest, the player is responsible for figuring out if the character should be detained, ways to get the character out, etc.
Security
By default, no one is able to enter the precinct beyond the lobby without proper displayed identification or a visitor's pass which will have been issued after a quick background check by tech. But! Ask away, if for some reason you'd like to break in/try to break in! Additionally, to get beyond the public access areas, a swipe ID/guest pass is necessary.
You've Got Jail!
An old slaughterhouse has been in the progress of renovation for the past few months, and serves as a run of the mill prison. Currently it's got a decent tech security system along with guards that patrol 24/7. Cells aren't completely secure against all potential prisoners and we'll be adding as needed.
The cells are being worked on (unlike the room in the precinct basement which is finished and available for use) in order to contain supers but don't assume that your character wouldn't be able to get out, as the security should be growing at an almost frustratingly slow rate. So, there are probably no cells with silver bars yet -- but the security to get outside the prison entirely is pretty dense between the guards and technology watching it. Not to mention security varies with who is watching based on their skill sets. But we're always open to jailbreaks!
Additionally, there is a small office located on-site as a satellite in case of attack on the main station. This is where guards meet and disperse, change for their shift and where supplies are kept.
NPC (Non Playable Cops, hurrr)
Given the size of the City, it's a stretch to believe that there would be no NPC crimes happening, especially common things like theft, assault/battery, etc. It's also a stretch to believe they would all go unsolved, though I can't say I can imagine many of them being completely taken care of. In fact, given the size of the PC'd police department (12, if the roster is to be trusted), they probably only succeed once in a great while.
For every ~38 PCs in Poly, there is one PC that is an officer. Even worse, the entire police department is at approximately 112 officers including NPCs which is grossly understaffed as far as patrolling and smaller tasks go, and would lend to why they're so very unsuccessful at their duty. (Boston, with a similar population of just under 600,000, had some 2800 law enforcement employees in 2007 according to the FBI website). Feel free to see a cop here or there sucking down coffee on a street corner, or answering a call about a disturbance because those darned kids on the 15th floor play their music too loud. Maybe one gives you stinkeye as you pass him by or another stops to ask if you need an escort home. You may assume they're attempting to respond to Curse days as well, and take into consideration that their size makes it difficult for them to affect much as far as stopping the situation.
Breakdown of numbers per department:
Intelligence - 25
SWAT - 25
Forensics - 15
Technology - 15
Misc Staff - 20 (beat cops, admin, etc)
Keep in mind that along with their specialized duties, police officers are also required to continue the regular duties; walking beats and general attempted peace-keeping. Use of NPC officers by players is totally expected and encouraged. We'd rather you don't abuse the heck out of them without dropping us a line first, but IMing one of the community mods or dropping off a comment here should suffice. There are always officers who are dirt baggy and if you'd like an altercation with a few, we can oblige.
Payroll
Police force members get a day off a week (you can choose when unless there’s an epic case that needs all force members on it) which makes it a 6 day week. Obviously, that’s still fairly freeform and just a suggestion based on UNDERSTAFFING, aaaaa. But you don’t get paid if you don’t work.
If you really require a breakdown numberwise, the below, as painstakingly broken down by our lovely Leah, should serve as a guideline:
General Officers and/or employees: 3 Violet, 1 Blue, 2 Yellow ($720*)
Dept. Heads: 3 Violet, 1 Blue, 3 Green, 4 Orange ($768*)
*American, biweekly
The Station
There are several floors for offices and labs, an emergency/curse response center, what I would assume to be a dispatch area along with a data storage and analysis area. A second data storage center is located off-site, the location information accessible only to very upper management within the force. There's also jail space in the basement along with a Warded Containment Room for holding supernatural/otherwise dangerous prisoners.
Curse Response
All officers and paid personnel are expected to perform in their capacity during an emergency call -- usually curses, sometimes just plain old deity shenanigans. This just means that everyone's responsible for patrolling or dispatching regardless of their specialty (though the non-fighting types would obviously be more about dispatching and directing than actual bloody clashing). Characters can assume an increased presence of cops milling about if there is something major going on, and it's probably okay to assume that they might be a little rude or otherwise oblivious but please don't go to the police brutality place without talking to police muns first.
Nonpolice Responses
There are several organizations that take the City's safety upon themselves and are recognized by the station to be helpful in emergency situations or for unpaid consultation. Any action taken upon an individual deemed as personal revenge is not condoned by the police but is recognized to be an unavoidable event within the confines of the City. We haven't done anything to start building this yet but it's an idea that's in the works that probably bears saying here.
Processing
Upon arrest, officers will deem how much of a threat a character is and either move into questioning or straight to a cell. Accommodations should always be made for those characters that require dark to survive or something else similar, given that the officers are made aware of such needs. Officers are to file reports upon exercising their "authority" which includes arrest reports, ticket reports, every kind of report you can think of.
Crime & Punishment
The usual punishments that are available when no legal system is are pretty much community service, being fined, etc. Of course, we'll do pretty much whatever the player wants done to the character at request and especially if it makes sense.
Recruiting
Players should ICly have characters contact a police officer AS WELL AS letting us know OOCly that they are in fact interested in joining the character up. A department head should go through an interview/screening process with them, even if you don't thread it out, please assume it? People don't have to have been extensively trained or have a ton of expertise -- a hiree could be willing to start in dispatch and work up to real actualfax officer, say. Don't discount anyone until a screening process would show they're psychos looking for a license to kill everyone.
Additionally, any police dept members engaging in a recruitment thread with a non-cop should make sure that the mun knows to read through the guide and post here before any official recruiting happens to avoid miscommunication and godmoding/powergaming/infomodding/etc.
Using the Community
How to Join
Post to the community! Your character won't have to have spoken to a member of the force before you come here.
You don't have to join in order to post (and please don't with any journals that are not members of the force), and if you're unsure of how to get your characters into the force (what department, their job, etc) you can ask for some input. If you already have an idea where you'd like them to go, feel free to post an introduction for them, chat some of the current members up. Give us a rundown on their qualifications, maybe a quick personality and what kinds of things you're looking to have them do within the PF. Then we'll either make plans for an IC 'interview' or handwave it if you'd rather not. Be specific about what you'd like to get out of this (or what you're not sure about) so that we can try to work with you or let you know if something doesn't work in the way you thought. Then, head on over to the roster and put a comment up in the designated thread for whatever department you choose for them.
For the most part, only well-meaning characters have been joining the police force. It hasn't been something we've had to address yet but if your character is fairly questionable and you'd like them to join the police, we would very much like to know the circumstances and think ahead of time about what might come about from their joining. It hasn't happened yet, but I don't think we'd be averse to exploring some sort of destruction from within the station.
Having said that, all cops recruited are hand waved to have passed a background check. Additionally, the police's standards are sadly low because everyone in the police should have also passed a training period. New recruits should remember that there is a training period; honestly, play with it. If you want the CR, we can find you a training officer (TO) and you can drag the training on for as long or short as you like. If there's anything off or that might vary, ask away.
Posting to the Community
You do not have to be a member to post here! This is so that any of us can field questions faster and easier, rather than watching them get gunked up on a single post. You should post to the community if: -You're joining and need to introduce yourself and the character
-Looking to join, but aren't sure what to do with the character
-Have general questions about operations
-Would like to plot
Roster
The ROSTER is set up to be player maintained. You are responsible for making sure you're listed there. If you're missing there might be miscommunication if you go ahead and have your character post doing things with/for the police, and can result in some confusion.
IC Contact
911/General Contact - We encourage muns to have their characters use the Network to call for police help. Players should also ensure a police character sees it by posting to this community with a link to the post. This will give you an excuse to post something and us less of a chance at missing it.
Dept Head Voicemail - Used for IC communication/questions with superiors. Usually for contact to join the force, or well, okay probably spamming for flame throwers or something. Optionally, you can post to the Network and alert the particular mun through either posting to the community or tagging the appropriate thread with a link.
Plotting/Questions
Posting access at the community is open to any user, including nonmembers. We're happy to get questions or just musing about plotting here. If you have an idea and don't really know what you want to do with it, it's likely someone will show up to brainstorm with you and give suggestions.
If you are planning a crime or other villainy and you'd like to involve the Police Force, please use the form below to get you started on giving us information about plotting you have in mind and feel free to post it to the community. Don't forget to introduce yourself and your character as well!
Timeline: Start to finish - 3 days, 2 weeks, etc Characters involved: (criminals/victims/bystanders/suspects/witnesses, etc) Each character involved should be approved by the mun individually prior to listing them here. Outcome/resolution: Jail, escape, parole, community service; essentially, will the character be caught and if so, what kind of punishment are you looking to inflict upon them? Evidence: Think of this in terms of evidence to be submitted to a court if the City had one. What could they use to prove the character's guilt? What exists that you don't want the police to find or be able to use against the character?
If you've already plotted with one of the officers, that's fantastic! If the officer hasn't already posted to the community about it, it would help us if you let us know so that we don't get wires crossed and interfere with something you've set up.
Precinct Layout
In progress, our resident Good Kid Pixie has started to draft some floorplans - you can check them out here. Some descriptions of how players see the offices being laid out/their personal locations can be found right here! Feel free to add your own blurb, embellish away!
Tracking Posts
Under the tag creatively titled "tracking posts", are the gamut of posts all police characters should have tracked for one reason or another.
Hiatusing/Dropping
If you're planning on anything that might interfere with your character's position at the department, please post to the community and let us know what's going on-- whether you're having them leave the police, go on short hiatus, etc. Whatever the case may be, you need to let everyone know developments with your character so that everyone can react accordingly. Anyone still on the roster that hasn't dropped the game will be treated as a standing member of the department unless you change your entry to add details of hiatus or delete it upon your character's decision to leave.
A Note
Given the nature of the police, the lawlessness in the City and the rampant Robin Hood types (not to mention very capable villains that require some leeway to allow their player the fairness of playing them correctly) there has always been some conflict with the police. Upon joining (and plotting with), you should understand that this conflict will be everpresent. Please try to view it as an opportunity to build CR and not as an obstacle to overcome. In the past, because of disorganization both OOCly and ICly we think it was difficult to deal with and we can't stress this enough: if in doubt, talk OOCly! We get that it's kind of sensitive because police are at a major disadvantage but villain muns are not unreasonable and it's not going to do anyone any favors if you let it fester or try to resolve everything ICly. Be clear, be fair and if there is a problem that you cannot solve on your own, ask a Poly mod for help. And police types; the police do mess up from time to time. Take your lumps and use it to make your character learn. Good guys aren't all perfect.
Hello everyone! Above, under the cut up there you'll find a guide I've thrown together and that I'm hoping you'll all be kind enough to look through and yay or nay. If nay, I would appreciate input on what changes you'd like to see. Otherwise, if you have more ideas of what to shove up in here please let me know; if you want to type up a section and leave it in a comment here I can pop it in. Otherwise, I can take your ideas and run with them.
I'm hoping to get information on the police in one coherent bulk place so that maybe we can start recruiting or at least letting other players know what is here to make use of. I'll be going through and removing posts that this makes redundant, unless anyone has any objections.
In addition, if there are positions you can think of that we could advertise to try and fill, it might work a little better than throwing out a generic net and asking for folk to flounder in!
[2010.09.20]