Security Arrest Procedure

[Guest]

The following is official SOP in regards to security staff being able to detain or perform arrests on station, corporate or visiting personnel. Non-crew are not above or exempt from the regulations, though in this specific cases they will likely be held for longer so that security may find out who the trespasser is and potentially clear them for extended stay on the station after their sentence, or a HUT sentence in lieu of stacked brig charges or special circumstances surrounding the suspect of interest.

When may an officer arrest someone?

There are only a very limited number of circumstances in which an officer may make an arrest:

 

• The officer personally observed a crime;
• That the officer has probable cause and reasonable belief to professionally assume that person arrested has committed a crime;
  
• The officer has an arrest warrant issued and approved by the Head of Security, Captain, or in the absence of both, an Internal Affairs Agent, given their on-station representation of Central Command interests.

 

Cases involving hearsay require investigation into the issue and filing of a Security Case Report, with formal testimonies from suspect(s), victim(s) and/or witness(es) available.

An officer MAY NOT:

 

• Arrest a Head of Staff unless the arresting officer has personally observed the violation committed by the Head of Staff and it classifies as an Amber-level infraction or higher;
• Use excessive or inappropriately escalated force to detain a non-violent and compliant suspect;
  
• Forcibly search or coerce a Head of Staff into being searched without a search warrant being signed+stamped and appropriated to the arresting officer;
  
• Perform brigging procedures without having first performed processing, interrogation and sentencing procedures.

 

An officer MUST:

 

• Escalate force and intent of body language appropriately based on current situational conditions;
• Voice fair warning in advance in regards to applications of force [this actually covers your ass and stops you from getting thrown out the airlock for wordlessly stunprodding people, security players];
  
• Adhere to requests from non-violent suspects or witnesses in regards to personal space;
  
• Respect regulations in regards to crew privacy laws, the right to remain silent and other regulations that protect the rights of crewmembers. If these rights are violated, the Head of Security, Captain or Internal Affairs Agent may deem the arrest unlawful and order the case against the arrestee dismissed, or certain evidence may be thrown out of the case, as well as the employee promptly released and issued a formal apology;
  
• Listen to the directives and orders of the other heads of staff in the absence of the Head of Security or the Captain, provided the orders are not unlawful or unreasonably exceeding their own official powers in any extent.

 

If you are unable to lawfully detain someone for an infraction in any of these cases, you must immediately speak to a superior for further advisement.

[Nanako]

What do you do when standard procedure fails?

As a cadet (with literally no other security and no heads of staff on the station) i once arrested a suspect for breaking into the bridge, and found him carrying a firearm and all kinds of contraband.

And then in the middle of the interrogation, i get frantic calls over the radio that another terrorist is murdering someone in the bar

[Nikov]

Whatever you do, don't handcuff a guy then dislocate his leg. Especially if its a Head of Staff.

[Dreviore]

Whatever you do, don't handcuff a guy then dislocate his leg. Especially if its a Head of Staff.

 

Well that particular shift you were me, attacking an engineer, in a very public place. With stolen equipment from the Chief Engineer.

Edited April 10, 2016 by Guest

[Guest]

What do you do when standard procedure fails?

As a cadet (with literally no other security and no heads of staff on the station) i once arrested a suspect for breaking into the bridge, and found him carrying a firearm and all kinds of contraband.

And then in the middle of the interrogation, i get frantic calls over the radio that another terrorist is murdering someone in the bar

 

You step up from alert level and escalate appropriately.

[Dreviore]

What do you do when standard procedure fails?

As a cadet (with literally no other security and no heads of staff on the station) i once arrested a suspect for breaking into the bridge, and found him carrying a firearm and all kinds of contraband.

And then in the middle of the interrogation, i get frantic calls over the radio that another terrorist is murdering someone in the bar

 

You step up from alert level and escalate appropriately.

 

A singular Cadet with no heads couldn't do that.

If stuff like that is occurring you need to reach out to Central about possibly getting some assistance in the form of an ERT.

[SierraKomodo]

What do you do when standard procedure fails?

As a cadet (with literally no other security and no heads of staff on the station) i once arrested a suspect for breaking into the bridge, and found him carrying a firearm and all kinds of contraband.

And then in the middle of the interrogation, i get frantic calls over the radio that another terrorist is murdering someone in the bar

 

You step up from alert level and escalate appropriately.

 

A singular Cadet with no heads couldn't do that.

If stuff like that is occurring you need to reach out to Central about possibly getting some assistance in the form of an ERT.

 

Cadets can't do that either. Only an IA or head of staff ID can send faxes.

I'd say just escalate the best you can and handle the situation. If there's an AI, have them send a message to CC.

[Nikov]

Whatever you do, don't handcuff a guy then dislocate his leg. Especially if its a Head of Staff.

 

Well that particular shift you were me, attacking an engineer, in a very public place. With stolen equipment from the Chief Engineer.

 

I'll remember to dislocate apprentice's knees next time they steal a voidsuit.

[Dreviore]

Whatever you do, don't handcuff a guy then dislocate his leg. Especially if its a Head of Staff.

 

Well that particular shift you were me, attacking an engineer, in a very public place. With stolen equipment from the Chief Engineer.

 

I'll remember to dislocate apprentice's knees next time they steal a voidsuit.

 

Fun fact, it was actually left on the table outside our outpost.

[Guest]

If you are unable to lawfully detain someone for an infraction in any of these cases, you must immediately speak to a superior for further advisement.

 

If you see something, say something. If you need something, ask. If you're confused, speak up.

Communication is a two-way street, there is no "he started it" or "who is gonna finish it". Everyone is prompted to try and help each other out, but you gotta seek help before you receive it.

[MagnificentMelkior]

May not:

"Arrest a Head of Staff unless the arresting officer has personally observed the violation committed by the Head of Staff and it classifies as an Amber-level infraction or higher;

Forcibly search or coerce a Head of Staff into being searched without a search warrant being signed+stamped and appropriated to the arresting officer;"

Would mean that after a lawful arrest of a head you still cant search them. Please clarify.

[Guest]

May not:

"Arrest a Head of Staff unless the arresting officer has personally observed the violation committed by the Head of Staff and it classifies as an Amber-level infraction or higher;

Forcibly search or coerce a Head of Staff into being searched without a search warrant being signed+stamped and appropriated to the arresting officer;"

Would mean that after a lawful arrest of a head you still cant search them. Please clarify.

 

It counts as standard processing procedure. When you're arrested (i.e. a warrant was written for your arrest in particular), you're within no legal boundaries to refuse to be processed and searched, as during this process you're also officially told of your sentence depending on the crimes you committed as well as how long you're going to serve.

Head of staff status/privilege immediately takes zero presence once they're convicted or reasonably suspected as a criminal.

The purpose of that particular segment is to protect heads of staff who are not strictly doing anything criminally wrong from being mutinized against by security. To openly rebel against the established chain of command. They do not protect heads of staff who are suspected of having committed a crime.

Security should report smaller infractions committed by heads of staff to either the HoS, Captain, IAA or another head of staff that isn't the major focus.

Reminder: This is in regards to standard operation in how security is expected to act and react. I do not include specific shit like how to deal with wizards, vampires or nuketraitorlings because I would prefer to leave that open for sec to solve by themselves. The major issue is that security does not seem to know how to respond to normal cases, and it's good to clarify what they are and aren't allowed to do.

You're totally allowed to disregard all of this and keep doing your own thing as a sec officer, for instance, but violationg some of these policies can lead to you getting in trouble and losing your IC job. Or worse, due to karmic retribution.

[ChevalierMalFet]

I think, partially because it better reinforces the tone of the setting and partially because I generally play heads of staff, that there should be some extra or added requirement - or extra or added burden of evidence - to arrest or hinder a Head of Staff. I would go so far as to suggest that in order to arrest or search a Head of Staff, a Security Officer must present a signed warrant with the Captain's or Head of Security's stamp on it - and if there's no captain or head of security, they have to either lump with it, or hope that they're covered after the fact due to imminent circumstances.

Maybe that's not the best way going forward, actually, but we need to think about the day-to-day relationship, not counting things like nukeops and wizards, between Security and other departments. Security Officers are generally lower-tier than medical, engineering, or science personnel, but it seems like in a straight he-said-she-said dispute, Security generally wins out. What are the consequences to a security officer who barks up the wrong tree, or who otherwise fails to make their case stick?

[Nikov]

I agree with the "present signed/stamped warrant".

[Redfield5]

There should be a way to transmit PDFs over PDAs, and/or a way to digitize signed and stamped warrants so that officers can view active warrants. Couple that with a way to show other players the PDA screen whilst they're cuffed, and bing, bang, boom: we're an electronic department that doesn't depend on copiers to distribute warrants.

[Guest]

I agree with the "present signed/stamped warrant".

 

I should mention, though a bit late:

Arrest warrants are not needed if the arresting officer is arresting under good faith (i.e. a good reason backed by existing evidence) or when permitted by a head of staff, or in response to witnessing a crime.

It is not notarized in regulations to require an arrest warrant to apprehend someone who is suspected of criminal activity, whatsoever. Abuse of this can cause the arresting officer to be charged with Illegal Detainment and summarily pinkslipped. Search warrants are different, as code green regulation protects crew privacy.

[Nikov]

I've got to ask, if you're allowed to arrest when you've got a good lead, or when a head of staff permits, then what purpose at all is seeking a warrant? The purpose of a printed, signed, stamped warrant is to verify that the head of staff has authorized the arrest. If they can do so verbally then there is no need have warrants, and we're all checking our chat logs to verify that authority was given.

Consider the two scenarios.

"You're under arrest, here's the warrant with the HOS's signature, or I saw you commit a crime." You have a way to verify the arrest is taking place with the HOS's authority and can see what reasons or notifications took place. Furthermore, if you don't show up to the brig in a few minutes, Security is looking for you and might find your strangled corpse.

"You're under arrest, HOS told me to over the radio channel you can't hear, and or I say I have good reason, let me handcuff and drag you off." You have no way to verify the arrest is valid or for what reasons, and are forced to squawk over General or Command to get the story. This is an easy way to snag a Head as a security officer, handcuff and throttle them in maintenance.

That's the very reason arrest warrants are required in law enforcement.