Merika Island Advanced Police

 

Merika Island Advanced Police – Summary and Overview

 

Written by: Jeff “Oro-San” James

 

Original Setting and Additional Material Provided by: Bob “Cphonx” Vanderventer

 

Summary:

 

The Merika Island Advanced Police [MAPs] is the civilian police force of Merika Island. Stuck dead center in the uneasy position between the MSDF and the various independent corporate forces, the MAP must balance the needs of the citizens against the needs of the corporations.

 

History:

 

With a high technology base and a large ratio of citizens to available land, Merika Island has staggering crime rates in relation to it’s size. Therefore, in the late 1990’s, the provincial government of Merika Island reorganized their police forces to accommodate the changing nature of crime on the Island. The completely rebuilt Merika Island Advanced Police opened it’s doors in the beginning of 2000, and incorporated all police duties into it’s structure at that point.

 

The MAP was created to bring the aging style of law enforcement and police techniques inherited from America up to the times. In an ages where criminals have DSL, cyberware, and mecha, an officer armed with a badge, walkie talkie, and sidearm is not enough. The goal set forth for the MAPs creation was to modernize the police officer and tactics of law enforcement. When the government purposed this initiative, the majority of the larger corporations on the Island quickly offered their backing and support of the project [as it is the Corporations that are the most prominent targets of crime on Merika Island]. The majority of the Island worked together as new structures were built, old officers retrained, and new equipment produced. When the MAP was brought online in 2000, their was a huge groundswell of public support. The MAP was staffed by the people, made by the people, and unified the people. The MAPs PR group has worked very hard to keep and promote this image, and it’s paid off. MAP officers are very well respected and believed to be hard working servants of the public, and as such, morale among MAP officers is very high, and they often make the line between public conception and actual reality very hard to notice.

 

A View of the Officers:

 

The officers of the MAP tend to be hard-working individuals who honestly work toward the public good. The chiefs and administrative staff have worked very hard to avoid creating a feeling of superiority to citizens among the officers. At every level, be it the Patrol Division all the way to the elite Special Weapons and Operations Division, officers know they are the allies and protectors of the people, and not their enemies. The public also shares this sentiment, and many citizens give their full cooperation to the police when they can.

 

In addition to the duties the of stopping crime and solving crimes, the MAP places a great emphasis on crime prevention and public awareness. The MAP holds the “MAP Fair” at the end of every month in the public park outside of the main headquarters building. Citizens and officiers interact and meet for a day of both awareness and enjoyment. Officers give rides in all the vehicles of the MAP, and do demonstrations with single person vehicles [children love the Mecha demos]. This helps strengthen the bond between officers and citizenry, and encourages many individuals to join the MAP.

 

Structure and Organization:

 

The MAP is divided into six divisions, each assigned a specific task. Officers often mingle and intermix, so cross-division conflicts are extremely rare and hard to find. The divisions are listed below.

 

Command and Administrative Division: [aka The Office of the Commissioner, CADdies] The CAD is the core of the MAP. Providing all the Administrative duties, such as budgeting, human resources, public relations, data management, communications, and other such tasks. The CAD also houses the Legal Branch of the MAP, prosecuting criminals after arrest and defending the officers from lawsuits. The CAD is the third largest division of the MAP, after the Patrol and Criminal Investigation Divisions. While being the least glamorous of the divisions, it is also arguably the most important.   

 

Patrol Division: The largest of the Divisions within the MAP, the Patrol division handles the majority of crimes. Charged with dealing with minor crimes, the Patrol Division maintains a strongly visible presence on Merika Island. Whether on foot, in the patrol cars, manning the Kotobukans [miniature police houses] or in the air in the patrol spinners and choppers, the Patrol Group keeps the peace and remains ever vigilant. They handle any crimes on the small scale. If there’s a domestic dispute, they solve it. Traffic offense, they take care of it. Curfews to enforce, they do so.

 

While they have do most of the “legwork”, the majority of the Patrol Division officers don’t mind in the slightest. While not as flashy as the other groups, the Patrol Division is well respected and liked by the citizens of Merika Island. Most of the time, officers assigned to a particular “beat” are welcomed by locals as defenders of the peace, and become members of the community. This attitude toward the Patrol Division encourages the officers to work harder for the people placed under their care. Most Patrol officers know the locals on a first name basis, and cultivate strong friendships with the locals.  

 

Patrol Division officers work in pairs, and are in constant contact with the MAP regional headquarters, which in turn is in constant contact with the MAP main headquarters, allowing for support requests to be handled quickly and efficiently. Whenever a Patrol Officer feels the situation is beyond his/her control, they are encouraged to call for support immediately. A common saying among Patrol Officers is “You can outrun me, but you can’t outrun my radio.”

 

Criminal Investigation Division: The CID is an upper level extension of the Patrol Group. They handle all major crimes and offenses, including the investigation and arrests of suspects from said crimes. While not as visible as the Patrol Division, the CID is none the less in the public eye, as they get more dramatic coverage from the media. CID officers also act as directors for the Kotobukan stations and usually have two to six patrol officers under their command. Upper-level CID members command regional HQ’s.

 

The CID benefits from the fact that they have un-restricted access to the MAP Databank. The MAP Databank is a record of all criminal information for the entire island. Whenever a crime is committed on Merika Island, ALL of the data gathered from the crime scene and following investigation is processed and uploaded to the Databank. This allows for easy access to any past information on crimes committed. Also, it can link to the Japanese Databank, though access is restricted until the appropriate reports have been filed.

 

Tactical Response Division: The Tactical Response Division [TRD]is the MAPs first line of defense against deadly assailants. The TRD intervenes in violent situations [hostage situations, apprehension of violent criminals, etc.] where the level of violence involved has been judged to be beyond the ability of the Patrol Division or the CID to handle. The TRD however is primarily used only as a rapid response group, and they conduct no investigations of their own. Many of the TRD officers have had experience inside the JSDF.

 

Interestingly enough, the TRD and SWORD [see below] function also as combat-ready auxiliaries to the main MSDF on the Island. This allows the government to circumvent the restrictions placed on the troop quota by mainland Japan.

 

Special Weapons and OpeRations Division: The Special Weapons and Operations Division [SWORD] is the elite of the MAP. They handle all the heavy weapons and equipment of the MAP [save the mecha, which has it’s own Division] and are generally called in by the TRD when situations have escalated beyond their capabilities. SWORD handles such duties as Bomb Squad details [be it conventional or unconventional], all heavy vehicles [like the attack spinners, armored cars, and urban tanks{!}] and heavy personal weapons and equipment. Much like the TRD however, SWORD does no investigations of their own.

 

SWORD maintains several different branches, each with a focused purpose. For example, SWORD Max-Tac is dedicated to the use of heavy ordance in crowded areas while inflicting minimal property damage. SWORD C-SWAT uses cybernetic-enhanced individuals to hunt down other cyber enhanced individuals. Certain branches must get government approval before being allowed to deployed, as the weapons involved are quite capable of damaging the city badly.   

 

Mecha Operations Division: [aka The MOD Squad]: The most resent branch of the MAP, the MOD Squad handles all Mecha related issues on the Island. The control, pilot, and maintain all the mecha used within the MAP, from the small Botbikes to the massive Wanzers. They are technically under the command of the SWORD, but typically act with much more freedom then initially thought.  Unlike their cousins in SWORD and TRD, MOD Squad conducts the investigation of all mecha related crime on the island [which is a larger number than most would think; Merika Island has the world’s largest mecha to people ratio in the world].

 

Easily the most glamorous division of the MAP, they also have to work the hardest to prove their worth. They have the highest budget requirement in the MAP, so it’s very common that the MOD Squad does promotions to increase public awareness of their important role within the MAP. 

 

 

Random Tidbits:

 

The MAP has an incredible response time. Heavily mechanized and provided with the best corporate equipment, the MAP can have patrol officers at the scene of any given crime within two minutes, and with helicopter and/or spinner support a minute after that. If the situation warrants, the TRD or SWORD can get to the scene and be ready for combat in five to eight minutes, while the MOD Squad can deploy in full gear within eight to twelve minutes.

 

Like most public service bureaus on Merika Island, the MAP is both government and privately funded, as the government cannot afford to maintain the MAP at fully operational status on it’s own. As a result, the Corporations for the Public Good Alliance [CPGA] provides both funding and material for the MAP in exchange for continual progress reports, slightly increased priority in responses to disturbances, and [unofficially] the ability to put pressure on MAP when they don’t want them snooping around in corporate business. The officers of the MAP despise this arrangement, but don’t complain because they honestly need the money and equipment the corps provide. 

 

The MAP also maintains G-Squad, a paranormal activities branch. The G-Squad is very small. They are a squad of individuals shuffled off to an obscure corner of the MAP HQ, not given to much credit [or budget], and usually ignored. However, it seems to ease the feelings of both the government and the citizenry that they have a paranormal activities branch, so thus, the group is [reluctantly] maintained on the payroll.

 

MAP was designed by (mostly) honest business to fight crime they don't like. (i.e. theft, murder, fraud, slander, littering, etc.)  The government (who runs MAP) wisely chose to leave certain functions outside of MAP to be handled by another agency (to be named later.)  This other agency would handle crimes the government doesn't like. (Printing fake money, tax evasion, stock fraud, restrictions on free trade, and other money issues.)  A differnt agency would also handle covert ops the government wants to keep quiet.  For the non-covert stuff, they should work closely with MAP.

 

Police Powers

2 points/level

As can be guessed by the name, police powers gives the character the         abilities most police have in their jurisdiction. (i.e. question people, make

arrests, ask "office" for information, research police and public records

with ease)

 

 

Warning: Police organizations do not believe in spooks and spirits,

 (individuals may, but groups do not), and they do not take kindly to reports

of such.

 

It is strongly suggested that players choose (or invent) an international

police organization.

 

Level = rank (and how well people will cooperate with you.

               1) Rookie

               2) Beat cop

               3) Sergeant

               4) Lieutenant

               5) Captain

               6) You report only to the chief.

 

Legality and the Law on Merika Island

 

When the MAP was established, it was decided that the aging legal code used on the island was not sufficient enough in scope to handle the modern criminal. Therefore, as the MAP was upgraded, so was the legal code.