I thought that, since the HPD is in a transformational phase, it would be good to have a place to discuss what makes for good arrest RP.

And just to clear things up before I begin talking all types of badness - This is NOT official PD policy. We're just shooting the shit about roleplay ideas.

Okay, first thought I had: The Visible Weapons Policy.

We know it. Some love it. Some feel differently. One thing's for sure: It's amped up Police RP, as it means we can - and, officially, should - confiscate any visible weapon, and detain and question its owner.

But hey, we're human beings playing human beings with other human beings. So a few things follow, I think:

One, we got to make these encounters interesting. If we're just going about a weapons confiscation robotically, we may as well just be weapon-eating bots. It will bore and, maybe, offend the other player.

So let's try to keep it interesting: Go into the scene with some sense of making it distinct - witty banter, negotiation, making exceptions, going hard on them; whatever's appropriate for your character. Maybe you can also bring a little flavor to it with idiosyncrasy - like you've got acid reflux from all the stress of weapons collection, or you're hungry and want to process the person quick, or you get chatty about some recent current event.

Just breathe some life into it. And I think it's important to see it through from start to finish.

Two, I think this is a good opportunity to humanize the cops. Everybody on the streets is beginning to expect us to just be drones about a confiscation. But your character probably has their own opinions and strategy to it:

Say, they have a particular group of friends who they won't go after. Or maybe they're a total hardass about this. Or maybe, they have a plan.

For instance, Hakkon has a plan. He's phone-called a few patrol Officers about it.

His plan is to lay off the civilians who generally would play nice with the cops, when it comes to weapon confiscation - say, warn them, or just turn a blind eye. Meanwhile, the people who are bastards to the police and to the public at large get his full attention.

His plan being that, if we busted everyone, then everyone would hate the cops. But if he goes after the people who hate the cops already, while helping out the other civilians as much as he can, then he gets a better rep on the streets - him and the HPD as a whole. Also, it has the added benefit of creating a civilian force that can protect themselves, and gangsters who're disarmed.

What're some of your individual Officers' attitudes about going after confiscations?

Another point: Team Leadership.

Sergeants are expected to take some initiative in organizing patrols. For some, this means Detective work and for others, it means rolling hard down the streets and going on raids.

Hakkon's in the latter category. Here's some of what he's been trying to do, to be a more effective leader:

He calls up cops on their phones and gets to know them. He also tries to find out who he works best with, and what their strengths are. Then, when Bad Craziness goes down on the street, he has a bit better sense of who to send against what, and how.

It's fun to give people things to do. Micromanaging is one thing, but getting a group of cops together for a patrol or a bust is good stimulation. That's his attitude.

It also helps with a big theme of the HPD - "corruption." A nebulous term, but for Hakkon it means that he looks out for his friends on the Force, and tries to hang around those that'll look out for him.

I think this'll make for a more coherent, social HPD - rather than a few roving groups of cops or individual Officers who don't have much practice working together.

I'm especially excited about these Incident Reports, and all the follow-up on crimes that they suggest can happen.

I know Kyben has talked to me a bit about what he wants to do with some Officers: Get a kind of "static team" going by giving assignments to a select group of Officers he wants to work with.

In my opinion, that's a cool management style, and will be great when it comes to the "detective work" kind of police play: Investigating crimes, following up on evidence and witness statements, and keeping an eye out for suspects is just the kind of assignments that, it seems to me, Sergeants could hand down. And so many crimes in The Den demand it:

It's almost impossible to look into an assault or a murder scene by oneself. Sometimes the suspect Residents aren't on, or the time is too short when you yourself are on. With Kyben's idea of doling out assignments to Officers and having those Officers file reports in reply, we could go a long way to realistically and real-time investigating crimes that were just too complex or overwhelming to look into before.

I would love to hear thoughts from Sergeants on their management style, and from the Officers on how they like to play and what kinds of duties they like to play.