Departmental Guards (aka camera watching simulator)

[fate/nermul]

First off, I stolen this from Unbound Travels. don't sue me plez

second off,

what the heck is this?

A departmental cop is a police officer who is stationed inside of a Department, they're main job is to capture criminals which walk into the department and watch cameras all day and eventually get made fun of by big boy cops (security officers)

 

why would this help us?

well you see, often at times a criminal can easily be granted refuge by staying inside of a Department, Officers don't have access there and so, bam easy hiding

Also it can grant a easy way to stop some potenial dangers from happening, like lets say in Xenobio a slime outbreak happens due to a incompetent Xenobiologist, well it will probably take the regular big boiz a while to get there and save the Xenobiologist, If they ever respond

And well, instead we have a Mall Cop armed with a fire extinguisher to save the day, or inside Engineering the singu gets loose, the Dept Guard can warn the station before the Singu is already eating its way to the bridge

or a secret cartel happening at cargo, dept guard, problems at medbay? dept guard, security needs someone to take there anger out?, dept guard

the possibilities are endless baby,

 

the cool toys they get

 

Well they get a little office with a camera system, pretty much all the regular things Security has, the only difference is that they have mostly all access to the entire department they are in.

also can hear into the channel too, and they get a cool uniform

 

RP and Lore

Dept guards aren't as trained as regular officers, they are usually just rejects from Security Cadet School or people trying to get a bit extra pay, this usually leads to the higher trained officers insulting them and often just harassing them,

they are usually Unathi's and other species due to the more human filled world, in other words Space racism, they usually have anger towards the higher ups or Admire them like a Childhood Hero. Often they're blamed for bad things happening and used as a Scapegoat,

However they're often forgotten and not told anything, usually in Mutiny rounds they tend to side with there department they work for, or in Rev rounds one of the Revolutionaries.

[Blue]

Do we have enough sec players on "mid tide" to fill the roles of department guards AND regular sec officer, though?

[fate/nermul]

well, people can choose what they want to play as, and if lets say, we try this idea out for a week or so, if it suks butt then we can always just Highlight and Delete it from the code forever, if its good we can keep it for the time being

 

You don't know if you don't ask

[Blue]

I've seen this idea in place and I think it's wonderful. However, it's clearly meant for servers with consistently high populations. While Aurora can get pretty high at peak times, dead hour hits hard. I fear we're going to have antag rounds where the lings or traitors are running around and only 1 officer is chasing them because everyone else is a department guard.

[LordFowl]

At high tide the departmental guard works as expected. However, at low tide it does not necessarily work /worse/ than a regular security division. Remember that a departmental guard has as much access as a regular officer, plus access to their specific department. So they can act as a regular security officer as well if the situation calls for it. This does not limit the actions of a security officer, but merely provides more direction to it.

[Guest]

Can't you just ask the HoP for additional access?

Seriously, I've had officers ask me for access to areas before as a post, and I've given them it within reason.

[LordFowl]

The suggestion of having departmental guards entails much more than just changed access; it also implies significant modification to the map, adding a security outpost to each department.

[mrimatool]

This idea is/was in place on several other servers and worked quite well. It's what the armbands were originally for. I like it, could add some interesting RP. I'd love to see a bridge guard for some reason xD

[Jamini]

This doesn't need to have a separate job slot to work. Simply a place for a security officer who isn't busy to sit with some consoles in reach of a department's main foyer. Fairly recently I've begun building a security desk/checkpoint in the engineering foyer, complete with cameras and records consoles, for officers to spend their downtime at near engineering. The medical lobby also generally has one or two guards who post themselves there (Lily Ha're is fairly notorious for this.)

No additional access or communication channels are required, though departments/heads can expand the access or headset access of a guard for their department at their leisure as always.

Personally, I feel it's a good way to help more insular (cough cough, ENGINEERING) departments become closer to security. When someone is posted in a department they are likely to interact with characters they might not normally interact with. Sometimes these interactions will have surprising results.

[monkeysfist101]

Yes, please. It was a blast playing the engineering guard.

[mrimatool]

Yeah but I feel like the little sec outposts at the departments should have armbands and normal sec gear in them, so we know where people are assigned and yeah we don't need a seperate job slot.

[Cassie]

The idea of one is nice, but it sounds a bit of a boring job if you ask me. I can instantly see a lot of people bunking off this station due to minimal RP interaction. Imagine this job on an extended round? Phooey.

[LordFowl]

It's pretty much the same job as any other security officer, just patrolling and guarding a different locale.

[canon35]

We might as well just give officers random department access, or give them all basic access. We don't usually have the people for sec and department guards.

[LordFowl]

I beg to differ. There are frequently rounds where security outnumbers many departments, even on traditionally lower tide portions of the day. There are four departments that would need a guard (Cargo, engineering, science, medical.) That means only four security guards are required. Based upon how this would work out, I could see pretty much most rounds having a departmental guard and at least two extra officers.

[Guest]

There's only 5 security slots.

And creating more security slots and not balancing it out in the other departments would make security overwhelm the other departments by slot amounts.

You should never have more officers than combined civilian crew. The mapping change isn't needed either. If you want access to a department so you can chill out and have a presence, all the power to the HoP that agrees to it.

[Jamini]

There's only 5 security slots.

 

Plus two cadets, plus the detective, plus the warden, plus the CSI. Also, admins regularly add more slots to sec if people ask for it.

[Carver]

The idea of one is nice, but it sounds a bit of a boring job if you ask me. I can instantly see a lot of people bunking off this station due to minimal RP interaction. Imagine this job on an extended round? Phooey.

It has much more potential for social interaction than Warden on an extended round, whilst still allowing for a more passive play style over the typical 'constant patrols' that make extended Security an absolute bore.

I overall like this idea on the basis of allowing departments a more intimate link to Security, which may ease the strain whenever a number of Security need to be in a department for whatever reason. Though it's something that would definitely require a testing phase, as it could very well backfire with the potential of pushing the departments further /apart/ if either the Guard or the Doctors/Engineers/etc build up hostility towards one another.

[Susan]

Hated the idea when it was suggested on Bay, still hate it. No thanks.

This wouldn't really foster any interaction. People hate sec, they'll hate them even if they're in department and refuse to talk to them. The only difference is security is effectively divided, isolated, and trapped in their departments, making it more difficult to respond to calls. Change for the worse. Plus I'm sure the antags would love the added heat on cameras, what with four officers watching their every move because nothing else to do.

[Guest]

admins regularly add more slots to sec if people ask for it.

For clarification, we don't add slots if they are all connected and awake.

There needs to be at least 2 SSD's not in cryo in order for a slot to be opened.

This works for any department, security just tend to ask more.

Then Civilians, Medical. Engineering and Science rarely ask.

As for the topic, I think what is happening on station at the moment is fine. There is no need to make a perma map change or anything to make this work. Just a bit of communication with other departments like I have seen over the last week days.

[Jamini]

A few added desks would be nice to have said communication stick a bit better.

 

People hate sec, they'll hate them even if they're in department and refuse to talk to them.

 

Demonstrably untrue.

I've had a few different officers (about three times now) running as engineering guards. No access, but they had a desk out front and an encryption key on our radio. Every time I've passed I've seen them chatting with engineers, even Nasir Ha'kim (who is notorious for his hatred of security) I even had EJ and Nightmare both tell me over skype that they enjoyed that the officer on our channel was relaying non-confidential information regarding security's activities, much like I do as CE. It kept a lot of people who are regularly isolated more involved with the round.

 

The only difference is security is effectively divided, isolated, and trapped in their departments, making it more difficult to respond to calls.

 

Completely untrue. While yes, it does divide sec up a little bit, a department guard is more than welcome to leave their post to respond to a nearby call. Not a single officer I had running with security was trapped or isolated, and on multiple occasions they responded just as any other security officer would.

[Chaznoodles]

...So they're literally just Security Officers who sit in the department office all shift? I'd rather just keep Security things the way they are.

[GreenLightbulb]

IIRC, this is exactly how security used to work (And possibly still does on some servers, who knows), and it worked out fine. Officers would be spawned in with a random assignment and an armband to signify where they would be hanging out, as well as access to the the basic common-room area and the channel of the department. So like, the engineering guard would have access to the engineering foyer and a little office with a camera and records thing.

And you know what? Even though I would rarely even speak to anyone outside my department, I found that I would chat with the guard in the area when he/she wasn't running around responding to calls throughout the station. So basically what I'm saying is I support this idea, at least for a trial run.

[mrimatool]

IIRC, this is exactly how security used to work (And possibly still does on some servers, who knows), and it worked out fine. Officers would be spawned in with a random assignment and an armband to signify where they would be hanging out, as well as access to the the basic common-room area and the channel of the department. So like, the engineering guard would have access to the engineering foyer and a little office with a camera and records thing.

And you know what? Even though I would rarely even speak to anyone outside my department, I found that I would chat with the guard in the area when he/she wasn't running around responding to calls throughout the station. So basically what I'm saying is I support this idea, at least for a trial run.

 

Yeah it did used to work like this, my first round as a sec officer ever was as a TG cargo sec guard and it made for some real interesting RP. Rather than say the cargo tech breaking something being handled by everyone and their dog it was handled by the cargo officer, usually quite quickly because they'd be there and could witness it.

It's really enjoyable, especially for security who are often hated, to be able to interact with other people. Where the QM's office is now is where the old sec one used to be.

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

I like this idea. It helps integrate security into departments and provides cross-department dialogue and cooperation, and can help security respond to department-specific calls.