 February 1, 2012 - 11:58pm | I have not seen a discussion before describing local police. If I have missed it, since this is my first topic posted, please direct me that way. But here are my thoughts. You have Star Law as something like Federal Marshalls. Space Fleet for space issues. Land Fleet for military ground based issues. Mega Corp security for their business interests. Militias for local planetary military. What about the protection of the citizens themselves from those same citizens? If some being decides to rob the local liquor store and kills the clerk, who investigates that? Who responds to the PC's doing something illegal in Port Loren or Grand Quivera? I have been thinking of creating a city adventure and trying to figure out how to have local police or security forces. The big cities should have a government and should have their own forces seperate from corporate control to keep the citizens in line as well as the corporations. Any suggestions? |
 February 2, 2012 - 12:14am | I hypothesized the existence of a "federal" planetary police for Clarion called the Royal Mounted Constabulary or Mounties. If the population density is too low in an area for a properly incorporated town then the policing falls to them. Their mandate is directly from the crown so they function like the FBI in metropolitan ares. There was some collaboration on them and there is a crest and a Latin motor for them (actually the crest and mottle were runners up for the Royal Marines and I just picked them for the RMC ). By and large I automatically assume that on heavy and moderate population planets there are townie police and federal police plus a military each with their own bailiwick and the typical overlapping of jurisdictions with the inevitable poop rolling down hill toward those with the most limited jurisdiction. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
February 2, 2012 - 12:25am | I think the first consideration is what is the scope of your campaign? If its bebopping around the Frontier in a ship and not spending much time in any one place then all you need is info on star law and the local militia. But if your campaign will spend a lot of time on a single world then you'll need a brief on the federal police and notes on townie cops in some of the prominent locales. Its also possible to run a campaign set in a Mega city or large town and then you need everything. Plus notes on pissing contest between competing jurisdictions. A local judge, prosecuter etc. It all comes down to tone and scope of the campaign. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
February 2, 2012 - 12:40am | Thanks for the ideas Jedion. I was thinking of a whole campaign in Grad Quivera. I will have to work on the local government structure for that. I saw a thread about that here. Plus that article in SFman#17 on weapons laws. Hmm, more thinking while working. Thanks. |
February 2, 2012 - 5:13am | I would be interested in working on a collaboration on Gran Quivera and Port Loren to flesh out the local police. A place you could work on that is the Hitchhiker's Guide the Frontier Project. The dream with that project is to start with all known material on a setting location and then extrapolate more, fleshing it out and eventually turning out a detailed setting book or a SFman article. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 February 2, 2012 - 5:24am | To me the Star Law Rangers were like the Texas Rangers. Empowered to go anywhere to stop crime but like the FBI they are limited in which crimes they investigate. There is a confusing array of law enforcement agencies currently with overlapping jurisdictions so you can use that to your advantage. You can have police, sheriff departments, constables, marshalls, agents and special agents, detectives public and private, security guards and do not forget specialty law enforcement such as star port customs inspectors and arson investigators. How much of a presence they have can vary especially with the budgets and expected security threats. Everything from Sheriff Andy Taylor and his deputy for the whole county or The New York City Police with 40,000 officers and several thousand support staff and equipped with aircraft and a fleet of boats. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
 February 2, 2012 - 11:00am | Don't forget the role of Mega Corp private security forces. One of the great things about SF is that all the setting information and such is left so open and undefined. One of the frustrations with SF is that all the setting information and such is left so open and undefined. A lot of the law enforcement agencies in SF has given me the impression of having similarities with UN peacekeeping (policing) forces. They would either need to be invited by the planetary government or prompted to intrude based on the urgings of other planetary governments or federations or even mega corps (which just screams corruption for game play). |
 February 2, 2012 - 2:54pm | One of the more crooked cities on Inner Reach is run by a Dralasite named Jefferson Davis Blobb (who eats plates full of fried flitter drumsticks) and his bumbling bother-in-law sherrif Boscoe P. Cold Strain. |
 February 2, 2012 - 3:19pm | It might be helpful to draw out an organization chart of the different law enforcement entities. IMO, the local governing body (government, religion, corporation) would be on top. For example: GQPD (Grand Quivera) | PGC Security (Jurisdiction on corporate property only) | Outlying towns have an appointed Sheriff (I didn't have time to flesh out, but I think you get the idea). |
February 2, 2012 - 3:21pm | Also, Jedion's RMC is more militaristic than most police organizations, imo. Great body of work, Tom! |
February 2, 2012 - 9:01pm | It might be helpful to draw out an organization chart of the different law enforcement entities. IMO, the local governing body (government, religion, corporation) would be on top.
For example: GQPD (Grand Quivera) | PGC Security (Jurisdiction on corporate property only) | Outlying towns have an appointed Sheriff (I didn't have time to flesh out, but I think you get the idea). I would say each city has a police force, independant of the other cities. Now depending on the planetary government, there could also be an international police force, or even one that is loosely connected with the local (space) militia. |
February 2, 2012 - 10:06pm | Good point Shadow. I think there are so many different ways a planet/moon/base can be organized. If the planet is owned by a single entity they would probably have one over-arching force that can go anywhere on-planet. Each city would have it's own force and so on. |
February 2, 2012 - 10:25pm | In SFAD6 the vrusk have a corporation that has the contract for Gozzorf City's Security. Ral'lk'Ka (RIK), so there is some cannon as to hiring out for police forces. As a planet Grad Quivera should have a very large force for being one of the main planets of the UPF. Maybe they have something like the vatican security/police. Don't know yet but thanks for all the input. |
February 3, 2012 - 7:28pm | SFAD6, love that module; the story, the maps, the NPC's. Were in the process of remastering it. Lots of work. |
February 13, 2012 - 4:06pm | Thinking about the evolution of the multiplicity of "police" jurisdictions in America. Part of that story is some issue, incident or emergency is the cause for a new agency, for instance the Secret Service: they didn't exist in Washington's day but came about latter. Now thinking about the Frontier Star Law didn't exist on day one of the UPF but was organized latter. Is there a hint of why in the cannon? This could be expounded upon for an adventure idea I think. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 February 16, 2012 - 9:58pm | I had put a WIP of a map as "Port Loren - Large Scale Overview" in the library of the same... seemed that the Public Library should know where it is at... Oh humans!!  We discover a galactic community filled with multiple species of aliens, and the first thing we think about is "how can we have sex with them?".~ anymoose, somewhere on the net... so... if you square a square it becomes a cube... if you square a cube does it become an octoid? |
