Recently somebody (I forgot who it was, sorry :-)) suggested that it would be
nice to see some more role-playing stuff to go with the hardware, so...
I have a rather large amount of info for a campaign set in the universe of
Steve Higginbotham's just-ended TCS game. Most of it is still to disorganized
to make sense to people who weren't in the game, but some of it can stand
alone (more or less), like this file.
The city of NeuBerlin is the capital city (indeed, the only city at the
moment) of Neubayern, and was founded in 4517 AD. The population in 5641
(1120 Imperial) is approximately 2.56 billion, and the city covers 350,000
square kilometers.
Disclaimer: The following information is only a rough draft, and ia not
guaranteed to be complete or logical. Any suggestions are welcome.
NeuBerlin Metropolitan Police Force (circa 5641 AD)
The NeuBerlin Metropolitan Police Force is the largest law enforcement
agency of the Neubayern Federation. It was established shortly after the
founding of the city, in 4520 AD. At present the NMPF employs around 5.8
million police officers, making it one of the largest metro police forces
in the Cluster (possibly even the largest).
The NMPF has divided the city into sectors, each of which is roughly 625
square kilometers--there are 560 sectors in NeuBerlin. A sector is
patrolled by a police division, which has around 7000 officers (officers
in the starport sectors like to remind Marines that the NMPF has more
than ten times as many divisions as the Marine Corps).
Each division has a sector headquarters that serves as a base of
operations. In addition, some of the more crime-ridden sectors have
additional stations located throughout the sector. Each sector HQ contains
offices, holding cells, interrogation rooms, forensic labs, weapons
lockers, parking garages, hangers, firing ranges, and everything else
needed for the day-to-day operations of the police division.
Police officers normally patrol in a two-seat police spinner. When
arrests are made, officers call for a grav van to take the prisoners back
to the sector HQ. In addition to the officer's sidearms, each spinner
normally has an ARC-10 stored inside. If the patrolling officers
encounter anything they can't handle with the ARC-10, they call in one of
the NMPF's numerous special units.
Special Units
In addition to the patrol officers, the NMPF has a number of departments
which handle special duties. Many of these departments enjoy a high
degree of autonomy, a fact which sometimes leads to resentment from the
regular NMPF.
Special Weapons and Tactics Department
The SWAT Department is the special unit with the closest ties to the
regular Force. Each sector HQ has one or more SWAT Teams assigned
permanently--these teams are dispatched to deal with any crisis (defined
as citizens who shoot back). SWAT officers wear combat armour, and carry
ARC-10s, Police Blasters, and an assortment of allegedly non-lethal
weapons. Whenever SWAT runs into something they can't handle (citizens
who shoot back with bigger guns), they call in another special unit--the
Advanced Police Department.
Advanced Police Department
The AD Police are a relatively small unit, with only 15,000 officers.
This is the unit with the highest funding and training standards, and it
shows in their performance and equipment. The ADP is organized into
Mobile Forces, each of which is equipped with a wide variety of heavy
weapons. AD Police officers normally use Police Hardsuits, a lightweight
class of power armour which has slightly less protection than Imperial
Battledress but much greater maneuverabiity. When facing criminals with
especially heavy firepower, the ADP uses an unusual type of Armoured
Trooper which is designed to either operate independently as a police
robot or be worn over the Police Hardsuit.
In addition to their role as a response force, the ADP is also
responsible for investigating acts of terrorism and crimes involving
unusually dangerous perpetrators.
The ADP is largely autonomous, and its high visibility makes it a natural
target for criticism from assorted advocates of civil rights. Although
most residents of NeuBerlin will never personally see the ADP in action,
the violent nature of its activities ensures that virtually anything ADP
does will get on the news.
NeuBerlin Highway Patrol
The NHP is the largest of the special units, and like the AD Police it is
somewhat autonomous. However, it is more closely tied to the regular
NMPF, with NHP stations generally being located within NMPF Sector HQs.
NHP and NMPF officers often work together, and it is not uncommon for
NMPF officers to transfer to the NHP and vice versa.
The NHP is responsible for patrolling NeuBerlin's highways and flyways.
To do this, the NHP uses a tremendous variety of vehicles, ranging from
wheeled motorcycles to police spinners to FA-1 fighters discarded by the
Navy.
The NHP is somewhat unappreciated because many citizens blame them for
NeuBerlin's chronically bad traffic problems, but they actually manage to
keep the roads pretty safe.
Network Police Department
The Network Police Department (NetPol) is responsible for investigating
crimes conducted using the computer network. NetPol has somewhat broader
jurisdicion than the rest of the NMPF--it is responsible for all computer
networks on Neubayern, not just in NeuBerlin. This jurisdiction dates
back to the early years of Neubayern when NeuBerlin was the only city
that really needed police for its network. Before the Serendip War, other
cities had lobbied to make NetPol a Federal agency, but the destruction
of those other cities has ended such efforts.
NetPol employs a small number of highly-skilled investigators. They
generally have little street experience, and whenever they expect to
encounter armed criminals they bring local Metro officers along for backup.
Esper Crimes Department
Since Esper Crimes aren't very common, this department (also called ESPol)
has jurisdiction over all of Neubayern space. ESPol is the newest special
unit, having been formed in 5640 after the Imperial forces were ejected.
The ESPol normally looks into crimes commited by espers, although it can
look into other crimes at its discretion. ESPol is very powerful, and
recruite are required to be responsible and never abuse their power. ESPol
is familiar with the Tavrchedl', and is determined to never act anything
like it.
There has been some tension between AD Police officers and ESPol
officers. The ADP officers feel that esper crimes should fall into their
jurisdiction (as they involve unusual and dangerous perpetrators), and
regard the creation of ESPol as something of an insult.
NMPF Patrol Officer Equipment
A Metro officer's uniform is dark blue with a badge and equipment belt. A
ballistic cloth vest is worn under the uniform to provide protection.
Although the equipment is much improved, the uniform itself is basically
identical to those worn by Southern California police deparments in the
late 20th century.
NMPF officers are armed with SGP-22 "Police Blasters," and they carry two
spare magazines. They also carry superdense handcuffs, a tonfa, and a
hand computer (which includes communication equipment).
NMPF Patrol Vehicle Equipment
The police spinners used by the NMPF have a larger computer, a long-range
radio, and active and passive EMS systems. They also carry heavier armour
(generally breastplates and helmets), an ARC-10, and several magazines for
the ARC-10. Although not officially authorized, many Metro officers manage
to pick up a rifle grenade or two for use with the ARC-10.
Police Powers
Police power is somewhat limited by the fact that Neubayern's legal
system has a split personnality. For most of its history, Neubayern was a
socialist republic very much like those that existed in Europe when the
colonists left Earth. Under this system, police powers had substantial
limitations, and many of the "victimless crimes" such as drug use and
prostitution had been legalized.
Neubayern's legal system, like everything else, was substantially altered
following the first attacks by Serendip Belt starships. When the current
system of government was instituted, the ruling class became interested
in increasing police powers, but only where such an increase would not
affect them.
Because the rulers wanted to remain a _charismatic_ oligarchy, they
needed to find ways to increase police powers without making the common
people unhappy. To do this, they resorted to a method which had proven
successful on Earth millenia ago--they began a "War on Drugs." This
basically involved producing lots of propoganda about how evil
recreational drugs (and people having anything to do with them) are,
making them illegal, and then passing lots of laws that basically let the
police do whatever they want to. However, they included exemptions for
all members of the ruling class in their new laws.
Law enforcement agencies still want to keep the people happy, though, so
when they decide to ignore someone's civil rights they are careful to
feed the media lots of stories about how the target is an evil drug
dealer/terrorist/child pornographer/hacker. In this respect, they have
much in common with American federal law enforcement in the 20th century.
The most important restraint on police power is the fact that members of
the ruling "samurai" class (which makes up almost 10% of the population)
still have rights. These people can say what they want, are innocent
until proven guilty, can't be searched without a warrant, and are exempt
from gun control laws. Because of all this, the police leave them alone
unless they actually do something wrong.
The Imperial Occupation didn't interfere greatly with Neubayern law, but
nevertheless once the Alliance drove them away the government decided to
restrore many of the rights that had been taken in the years before.
Kenneth G. Hagler
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| ...study of the military arts will make one who is naturally |
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