Republic Security & Law Enforcement

Law enforcement jurisdiction in the Republic of Biesel is handled on a three-tier level. Corporate Agencies, whose job it is to enforce the law within major corporate facilities, such as in and around a headquarters building. Regional Agencies, such as the Mendell City Police Department, who perform a bulk of the policing duties in the Republic, focusing on specific cities or continents, and who often have specialist teams to handle unique threats. Federal Agencies, which are often incredibly specialised, heavily funded departments that have jurisdiction over the entire republic.

Federal Agencies

Biesel Security Services Bureau

The Biesel Security Services Bureau is the domestic intelligence and security service operating across the Republic of Biesel, holding jurisdiction over federal crimes that are particularly severe, target the overall republic, or cross member state territories. It often works alongside regional agencies to target and eventually break up pockets of crime across the republic, as well as the Tau Ceti Armed Forces for crimes occurring in space (such as smuggling).

The BSSB was founded in 2452 following the Republic of Biesel's independence, first comprised of senior MCPD officers, defected SIP-CA supervisors, and senior corporate counter-intelligence case officers. As a result of the lattermost and NanoTrasen Corporation being behind much of the BSSB's equipment and network provisions, the BSSB has always turned a blind eye to federal crimes involving the phoron company where possible, often colluding with them to see any legal issues disappear. Under President Åke Torvald, this has gradually begun to shift, but much of the entrenched leadership of the BSSB continues to see NanoTrasen as a beneficial force within the Republic of Biesel.

Director of the BSSB — Clarisse Lyon

The Biesel Security Services Bureau is headed by Clarisse Lyon, a Biesellite who was appointed all the back in 2454 by former President Dorn. Prior to her appointment, Lyon was employed by NanoTrasen Corporation as a counter-intelligence case officer, combatting corporate espionge — or organising it. She would be among the first senior leaders of the BSSB after its founding, responsible for quickly raising the fledgling intelligence agency to the same standards as other Spur intelligence agencies. Following the untimely death of the first BSSB director, she would takeover the office, and has held the position ever since, firmly entrenched with her years of experience and a rumoured continued association with NanoTrasen. Whether she remains in the position with Åke Torvald trying to shake things up is yet to be determined.

Divisions

Special Investigations Division

The Special Investigations Unit is the division most people think of when picturing the Biesel Security Services Bureau. They are the face of the organisation, with the agents within tasked with investigating cross-Republic crimes, severe federal crimes such as terrorism, or any other crimes that fall under federal jurisdiction (such as those on spacecraft and space stations, where no regional agencies are). Today, the SID is almost entirely dedicated to stopping the blackmarket phoron operations within the Republic.

Tactical Response

The Tactical Response Division is the specialised quick response team of the Biesel Security Services Bureau. Standard operations include serving arrest warrants to those deemed a threat to national security, disrupting possible terrorist actions, and assisting the Special Investigations Division if required.

Government Security

The Government Security Division is responsible for investigating and reporting on people or groups deemed to be a risk to the security of the Republic as a whole. Since the election of Åke Torvald, the upper files of the division have been seeded with former Biesel Intelligence Service officers who are loyal to the Torvald administration, which has seen some success in flipping the BSSB to his machinations — more active political opponents of the president often find themselves harassed with corruption scandals and smear campaigns. However, the BSSB’s leadership itself have not taken fondly to this, often throwing hurdles in the way of division case officers known to have BIS or Torvald connections. This has resulted in the Government Security Division essentially being a cold battlefield for the BSSB-BIS interservice rivalry, reducing the division's effectiveness to the point many government buildings or personnel rely on private security.

Consular Officer Bodyguards on the SCCV Horizon are BSSB Close Protection Officers from the Government Security Division by default. Other private/megacorporate security bodyguards are permitted using customised loadouts.

Analytics and Cybercrime

The Analytics and Cybercrime Division is responsible for assisting the other divisions with analytical reports and in combating high scale extranet crime of all kinds, often being responsible for the arrest of those attempting to buy or distribute black market goods and services. They are responsible for keeping the Organized Crime Registry, which is a complete database of all the known information on various organised crime groups currently operating or thought to be operating in the Republic. The Registry is accessible by the Biesel Intelligence Service, however, planetary policing forces are required to request authorisation to access the Registry.

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The symbol of the Biesel Intelligence Service.

Biesel Intelligence Service

The Biesel Intelligence Service is the foreign intelligence service for the Republic of Biesel, and is responsible for gathering, processing, and analysing intelligence regarding the Republic’s national security. It is responsible for conducting covert investigations concerning foreign powers, as well as monitoring civilians in foreign nations who are potential threats to the Republic. It has both a reputation within the Republic as integral to the young state’s defences, but also one cloaked in secrecy and ruthless in its purpose..

While the BIS’ mission is to perform intelligence and covert operations outside of the borders of the Republic of Biesel, the Service regularly exceeds its jurisdiction and operations within the Republic, much to the frustration of the BSSB. Furthermore, the BIS is one of state organisations of the Republic of Biesel to not be entirely hollowed out by the megacorporations, with few inter-dependencies and oversight from such.

The agency, beyond more mundane duties, is often rumoured to be involved in targeted assassinations of both anti-Republic, pro-Solarian Hegemony, or anti-megacorporate actors, blackmail of an administration’s political enemies, illegal cover-ups, and many other shady activities. Over the Republic’s short history, there have only been two major scandals regarding such and, in both cases, the illegal activity was determined to have been done by a rogue case officer — both found having taken their own lives.

The BIS was officially founded after the Republic’s independence from the Alliance in 2452. However, there are both facts and rumours contradictory to this, with some records showing mentions of the BIS in NanoTrasen Corporation’s and independence groups’ correspondence as far back as 2430 — two decades prior to independence. It is uncertain just when the organisation was founded, its early purpose, or who it was formed of.

Since Ake Torvald’s election in 2466, the BIS has seen its funding increase and powers expanded. Its upper ranks are reported to be dense with loyalists of the President, with a purge having been conducted in the two years after his election.

Director of the BIS — Jack Prueksakasemsuk

The Biesel Intelligence Service is headed by Director Jack Prueksakasemseuk, an older Valkyrian senior intelligence officer who was recently appointed to the position in 2467 by President Åke Torvald. Unlike previous directors of recent times who were often politicians, Prueksakasemsuek was promoted from within the BIS' senior leadership — he was formerly the regional director of BIS operations in the Southern Solarian Reconstruction Mandate. Being a newly public figure, little is known about the new BIS director besides his former office, but his appointment does reveal that Åke Torvald is rewarding choice BIS senior leadership as opposed to installing bureaucrats to the lead position, and some others speculate that Prueksakasemseuk was a BIS associate of Torvald during the president's own time in the intelligence agency.

Divisions

Espionage Division The Espionage division is responsible for the BIS’ covert operations and is generally the division people think of when the BIS is mentioned. The division has regional operations throughout regions of the Spur problematic for the Republic — as well as unpermitted operations within the Republic of Biesel — and field case officers who manage intelligence gathering and covert operations from their regional bases.

Counter-terrorism Division The Counter-terrorism division is responsible for counter-terrorism operations and preventing foreign terrorist groups from harming the Republic. The division works closely the other divisions, and often works alongside the Tau Ceti Armed Forces — particularly the Frogmen — when performing raids abroad. The Counter-terrorism Division is also rumoured to heavily exceed the powers given to it, going beyond surveilling and intervening on foreign terrorist groups, but also home-based anti-Republic, pro-Solarian, and anti-megacorporate groups.

Cyber Division The Cyber division handles cyber threat intelligence for the Service. It collects and analyses information about potential or existing cyber threats, pulling from a range of surveillance sources — space traffic monitoring, social media and other extra- and intranet traffic, etc. — within and beyond the Republic of Biesel to inform its decisions. It is a rare case where the BSSB and BIS do cooperate closely, with the Cyber Division working closely with the BSSB’s Analytics and Cybercrime division, and receiving expedited access to their Organised Crime Registry. The Cyber Division also has close ties with the recently organised Electronic and Cyberwarfare Legion of the Tau Ceti Armed Forces, with the BIS freely supplying intelligence on military targets and personnel to the ECL.

Marshals Division The Marshals are the BIS’ internal security and enforcement division. On paper, the division is responsible for security at BIS facilities, protection of high-value persons, detentions and arrests of rogue or compromised BIS agents. In practice though, the Marshals are additionally reported to serve as an unofficial police arm of the BIS, making arrests within Republic territory where involving the BSSB or regional agencies could threaten a more clandestine BIS operation — as such, they work closely with the Counter Terrorism division, and have a poor inter-agency relationship with the BSSB’s Tactical Response Division.

Major Regional Agencies

Biesel

Mendell City Police Department

The regional agency regarding the enforcement of the capital of the great Republic of Biesel, the Mendell City Police Department is an institution that has existed long before the independence of Biesel. For many years, before and after independence, the organization managed to keep a lid on violent crime within the city a majority of the time, only sometimes needing assistance from outside forces. However since the onset of the Scarcity the MCPD has found itself overstretched and understaffed, as crime rates rise to record highs and quality of life drops, leading to widespread civil unrest. The MCPD has barely managed to keep a lid on things, and has begun relying heavily on Corporate Security Officers to bolster its ranks.

Operating in the vast and unpredictable capital city, the MCPD is often put at the forefront of incredibly specialist and unique crime, leading to experienced MCPD officers being sent across the Republic to train, advise, or handle emergency situations that the local agencies are untrained or otherwise unable to deal with. A notable manifestation of this is specialist financial crimes detectives being sent to far flung, often rural areas of the Republic.

History

One of the oldest institutions within the Republic of Biesel, the Mendell City Police Department has become integral to the functioning of the capital. Its first iteration was the Colonial Enforcement Service, a policing body established during the initial colonisation of Biesel. The Colonial Enforcement Service was tasked with preventing as well as dealing with any criminal elements that arose during the early days of planetary colonisation and were largely successful in doing so. It continued to operate as the CES until the 2180s, after which it transitioned into the Mendell City Police Department. In spite of their early successes, the Mendell City Police Department began to fall short of its reputation shortly after the Second Great Depression began, with corruption quickly breeding among its ranks. With the economy in tatters and poverty rising sharply, it was inevitable that crime would start to proliferate - with many in the MCPD using the rise in crime as an opportunity to line their own pockets. Various districts found themselves controlled by syndicates, with those meant to protect them turning a blind eye. It wasn't until the late 2290s, after the conclusion of the Great Interstellar War, that the MCPD returned to their duties - attempting to wrangle the crime they had allowed to grow under control.

They eventually succeeded and, for over a century and a half, managed to keep a lid on the rapidly growing Mendell City with few incidents. It wasn't until 2464 and the onset of the Phoron Scarcity that the situation began to spiral out of control, as falling quality of life, unequal rationing, mass unemployment, and an outbreak of black markets and smuggling began to see a sharp rise in crime and civil unrest. These conditions only continued to worsen, which saw crime and civil unrest rise as well, heavily straining the MCPD. They began to heavily rely on Corporate Security Officers to bolster their ranks, deputizing them and giving them the authority of a civil police officer. As the scarcity has continued, the situation has only gotten worse for the MCPD, and today they are overstretched and barely keeping a semblance of order within most of Mendell; in some districts they've given up entirely and abandoned them.

Major Divisions

Uniform Patrol Division (UPD)

The Uniform Patrol Unit is the regular policing division of the MCPD, represented by the uniformed officers who conduct the vast majority of policing duties within the city. Easily recognised by their distinct uniforms and squad cars, these officers are seen as the public face of the MCPD. Corporate Security Officers are commonly seen filling this role in contemporary times.

Criminal Investigations Division (CID)

The second-most recognised division of the department, CID is responsible for general investigations into criminal activity. Detectives in CID depend on their interview skills, investigative aptitude, and extensive knowledge of the criminal justice system to perform their duties.

Synthetic Oversight Division (SOD)

Synthetic Oversight is responsible for cases that directly involve synthetics, either as victims or as perpetrators. Outside of this SOD also assists the other departments of the Mendell Police where a synthetic is indirectly involved in a crime, such as interviewing witnesses or directly handling informants. The Synthetic Oversight Department is also known for working in conjunction with Ceres Lance, both as a support role and to ensure that Ceres Lance works within Biesel law.

Cybercrime Investigations (CCI)

Cybercrime Investigations, while similar to CID, entirely focuses on investigating anything related to the extranet or computer technology. CCI finds itself working closely with Criminal Investigations and Synthetic Oversight quite often, with members of Cybercrime Investigations typically working alongside members of other teams in a wider investigation.

Rapid Action and Interception Division (RAID)

The first of two specialist tactical divisions, the Rapid Action and Interception Division is responsible for responding to quickly escalating incidents where armed suspects are expected, as well as intercepting those suspects that are considered high flight risks. Officers of this division are often armed with rifles and deployed in armoured vehicles.

High Risk Tactical Division (HRTD)

The High Risk Tactical Division is the MCPD’s answer to chaos. It is responsible for executing search and arrest warrants for the most violent criminals and hunting escaped violent prisoners. Virtually every HRTD officer is a transhumanist, boasting military-grade cybernetic augmentations and are often issued armed exoskeletons to boot, with it being a de facto requirement to even transfer into the division. The HRTD is the only MCPD division willing to execute warrants in districts where the rest of the MCPD have pulled out, though is only deployed where deemed vital.

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Cape City Metropolitan Police Department

The Cape City Metropolitan Police Department is responsible for law enforcement in Cape City and the areas surrounding it. The department has a stigma for targeting non-humans or ignoring complaints made by non-humans, though recently, they have pushed recruitment campaigns targeted at skrell, tajara, and unathi in an attempt to rectify this reputation. This has caused division among the city's populace, but also seen the CCMPD bogged down by almost constant BSSB investigations.

Cape City is notable for having a unique search and rescue division that opts to use donkeys and search dogs in the mountainous terrain - something that other police departments have cut in favour of infrared drones and aerial vehicles.

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Phoenixport Police Department

Embroiled in the 2462-2464 dispute over the ownership of Phoenixport, the Phoenixport Police Department has seen a constantly changing budget over the past decade, making job security for its officers and other employees a thing of the past. Due to this, bribery is an issue spread down to the roots of the department, with only a select few ‘morally righteous’ officers refusing to take bribes, and suffering financially for it.

Following the dispute, the Department has had two major departments that are often put at odds with each other. On paper, the Corporate Assets Division is responsible for handling policing inside corporate facilities, taking this role from the corporate agencies. However, in practice, they act as a private police force for Einstein Engines, being used to gather intelligence into competitors in Phoenixport. The counter to the Corporate Assets Division is the Corporate Jurisdictions Division. Set up in 2464 following NanoTrasen Corporation’s appeal, the CJD is directly overseen by the BSSB, ensuring tensions between the major corporations in the city do not boil over.

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Belle Côte Police Department

Known colloquially as the ‘Fashion Police’ after a series of high-profile raids targeting a textile sweatshop cartel early in the department’s history, the Belle Côte Police Department is responsible for enforcing the republic, and planetary laws in Belle Côte and the surrounding Pandeia Peninsula. The department is also the de facto enforcement body for much of the Xavier Sea, and its surrounding bays.

A major, and arguably the largest division of any law enforcement body on the planet, is the Belle Côte Maritime Police, which is composed of a significant minority of the BCPD’s officers. Officially, they are responsible for policing the waterways of Belle Côte and Gregor’s Sea, ensuring maritime traffic is abiding by regulations, but the division has rapidly grown in size, and BCMP officers are often seen policing the ports and harbours of Craterview, often to Idris Incorporated’s dismay, as well as those of Scottsdan.

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City of Ashton Police

The City of Ashton Police is the smallest of the major regional agencies, only responsible for policing the urbanised area of Ashton, and not vast miles upon miles of farming towns that are officially still part of the city. Instead, these farming towns are grouped into ‘commissions’, which are policed by Commission Sheriffs Offices that work closely with the City of Ashton Police, as they often lack resources to deal with major incidents.

The Resettlement and Disputes Division is one of the few divisions of the City of Ashton Police that maintains a jurisdiction over the entirety of Ashton, instead of just the city. The RDD is responsible for handling land disputes between the wealthy landowners, and the constantly-arriving refugees and immigrants.

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Scottsdan Central Police Department

Scottsdan Central Police Department is responsible for law enforcement in Scottsdan and around its mountainous environment. Where most in Scottsdan have a reputation as diligent workers, the SCPD has the opposite, with a laconic approach to minor offences in the city and often only seen in the media policing the many sports tournaments that occur in Scottsdan. Many serious crimes, especially those related to the phoronics industry of the city, are handled by Nexus Corporate Security, who the department works alongside closely.

The Sports Policing Division is one of the larger divisions of the SCPD, and is responsible for crowd and riot control during and around the many sporting events in Scottsdan — of which many are hosted in Scottsdan, with it being the capital city of the sports-mad continent of Eos.

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Portsville Police Department

Portsville Police Department is responsible for law enforcement in and around Portsville and its peninsula. After the Mendell City Police Department, PPD is one of the more over-burdened police departments, dealing with surging social issues affecting the city — drug epidemics, unhoused people, and conflicts between local and Martian refugee communities, primarily. In recent times and with Hephaestus Industries’ heavy investment into the city, the department has begun working closely with the megacorporation. For more robust equipment provided to the department and Hephaestus providing a number of welfare nets for Portsville’s deprived populace, the Portsville Police Department has taken a more active role assisting Hephaestus’ crackdown on unions where they present.

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New Marfa Security Force

The New Marfa Security Force is heavily influenced by the Elyran diaspora in New Marfa, though a unique aspect of the Security Force is that a vast majority of its officers are IPCs owned by the city itself, and is often used as a path to citizenship for the synthetics lucky enough to serve the Security Force. Additionally amongst its ranks are many Elyran-made IPCs. These Elyran IPCs are oftentimes Elyran citizens sent abroad by the Elyran megacorporations.

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Idris South Beaches PD

Recently renamed to ‘PD’ instead of ‘Police Department’, as ‘PD’ was considered more marketable, the Idris South Beaches PD is the regional agency responsible for law enforcement in Craterview and its surrounding islands. The agency is directly owned by Idris Incorporated. The department is widely considered second-rate by most other agencies on the planet, primarily due to the perceived safety inherent in Craterview, leading to a stereotype that South Beaches officers act more like lifeguards than actual law enforcement officers. This stereotype is not helped by their uniform — an Idris-teal short-sleeved shirt or tank top with khaki shorts and Idris SPORTSMAX trainers.

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Continental Police Departments

A majority of Biesel’s population lives in just 5% of the landmass that the planet’s cities are built upon, these cities are often incredibly population dense, and thus can afford to field sizable, independent police departments, but towns and smaller cities often cannot afford to run independent departments, which is where the Continental Police Departments takeover. These departments provide the same services that agencies like the MCPD provide on a much smaller scale, and are also responsible for policing the planet’s vast network of highways.

The Continental Police Departments are split into the;

• Continental Police Department of Eos
• Astraeus Continental Police Department
• Selene Continental Police Department

These are then further split into regional commands, which have their own divisions and specialist teams.

New Gibson

New Gibson Police Service

New Gibson is policed by one police force, the New Gibson Police Service (NGPS), that is arranged into divisions based out of the major cities. True to the exomoon's Scandinavian colonial heritage, the NGPS is generally considered more well-trained in community outreach and deescalatory practises, putting it at odds with its Biesellite counterparts — consequentially, it is sometimes criticised for being lazy or ineffective, especially with the increase in smuggling in the 2460s.

The NGPS is particularly well-known for its Environmental and Nuclear Crime Protection Branch which polices the smuggling of New Gibson's naturally occurring radioactive materials, and also fields the Specialist Greimorians Unit (or ‘Gibsonite jomsvikings’) which tackle the exomoon's invasive greimorians in chainmail getup.

Read more about the NGPS here.

Corporate Agencies

Corporate agencies is the on-paper name for any megacorporate security department or division thereof that has been commissioned with law enforcement powers by the local government. The jurisdiction of corporate agencies is usually limited to and was intended to be limited to corporate property and the immediate surrounding area. However, and originally to some outcry by public law enforcement that has since been forgotten, it is not uncommon for this to be extrapolated to the entire district in which a megacorporation’s branch office sits in or, taken to the extreme, every road a megacorporate property sits on (and so very quickly, the entire city). As such, the regional police forces of all cities that have a megacorporate presence work alongside corporate agencies, squabbling for jurisdiction over crimes involving megacorporations or committed in too close proximity to a branch office.

For many, these corporate agencies are vital in keeping up with high crime areas, such as Mendell City. Any law enforcer on the street — be it federal, regional, or corporate — is taken as good. For the lower echelons of other agencies, it saves them having to respond to certain violent crimes, which is always a plus, especially when the corporate agencies typically field more advanced equipment. For the upper echelons of public law enforcement, opinions may differ, with the constant disputes over jurisdiction or with public agencies having to turn a (often financially motivated) blind eye to the often excessive force employed by corporate agencies.

Any city across the Republic of Biesel that hosts a megacorporate branch office is likely to have a corporate agency. Mendell City is therefore riddled with them, with all megacorporations having a commissioned corporate agency within the district their offices sit and, naturally, NanoTrasen Corporation has a corporate agency in every major city across Tau Ceti (except where they have no operations at all, eg. Anemenostrovilos on Reade).

See Also

• Republic Law