Something that popped up on a mailing list I run. I think it's quite useful for setting up "complicated" law & jurisdiction issues for the PCs to deal with ------- Forwarded message follows ------- Date sent: Sun, 16 Oct 2016 11:49:07 -0600 To: "Swarm Authors' mailing list" <xxxxxx@shadowgard.com> Subject: Re: [Swarm] OT: Why can't truck drivers be President? From: Alan Cranford via Swarm <xxxxxx@shadowgard.com> "POLICE" means many different things. The private police are usually unarmed--but some private police have SWAT teams and the full infantry battle gear right down to armored vehicles with turret-mounted machine guns. The details are "corporate proprietary" but sometimes the weapons are corporate property and sometimes those weapons are loaned to the corporation and a government agency is the actual owner. Government police may include hired "contract security guards" and these "rent-a-cops" may be given police powers or might be only be representatives of the management for specific duties--per contract defining and limiting their work. And then there's military personnel used in law enforcement. Two examples of this complexity are the Transportation Security Authority and Disneyland Resort. TSA may have military personnel, federal police, city cops, sheriff's deputies, contract security guards from a local company, and in-house security all working for the airport governing board. Disneyland used to have the Disney Police, but laws changed over the last sixty-plus years and it's Disneyland Security now; Anaheim police and Orange County sheriff's deputies provide armed force (backed up by California Army National Guard for nuclear, biological and chemical stuff) and there's US Treasury on site because Disneyland is a popular place to pass counterfeit money. Other federal agencies have close ties with the Disney Company because of kidnap and drug marketing--and federal fraud. At the bottom of the Disney Security barrel are the people in brightly-colored shirts directing traffic in the parking complexes and the undercover "loss prevention" force protecting all of those plush Mickey Mouse dolls from shoplifters. There are also private detectives hired to monitor the antics of the rank and file Disney Cast Members (on-stage folks) and the crew (behind the scenes workers) and contractors and vendors. Background checks are conducted a number of ways. Don't forget the armed money truck crews--bank employees, but they do have guns and are instructed to shoot them on Disney property under specific conditions. Each layer of police has a different set of powers and limitations. Entry into an airport or Disneyland involves an implied consent for a "reasonable" search of person and property, but the feds cannot use that due to their rule book--it has to be representatives of the management that do the actual searching. Resist, and you're trespassing--if the undercover people "saw" you select and item, conceal it, and attempt to depart, they can either perform a citizen's arrest and hold you for police or (for felonies) request that a sworn law enforcement officer arrest you. Note that assault or battery may be a felony--not always--so escaping from Disney Security custody may constitute a felony that authorizes Anaheim and Orange County law enforcement to arrest without the law enforcer actually witnessing the alleged crime. Things go down-hill from there... Note also that the protection against double jeopardy (being tried for the same crime twice) is negated by the layers of laws, lawyers and law enforcers. The same act may be dozens of crimes on different levels of jurisdiction. The County may impose fines and jail time for some, then there's the State, and there's Federal--international airports do have some international cops authorized to deal with smugglers and air pirates when the national laws are not applicable or in addition to those national laws. And then you have the corporation rules for the airport--you can be sued by the airport governing board as well as being indicted for a crime for muttering to an undercover airport private detective. Makes walking cross country seem attractive! The Orange County Sheriff's Office even has an armed security guard force--I'm not certain of the exact relationship, but due to California law, these guards are not law enforcement but authorized to carry weapons (includes guns, pepper spray, batons and TASERS--and handcuffs, and video systems and other "weapons" that can inflict harm but are not regarded as weapons by us "civilians"). And then there are a few armed private investigators and private security guards in Orange County, too. http://www.securityguardtraininghq.com/how-to-become-an-armed-guard-in -california-firearm-permit-application-process/ Don't forget that the Orlando Pulse shooter was an armed security guard with extensive background checks and had been on the job for years. Or do you want to talk about an LAPD SWAT cop named Dornier? Sometimes the status of a "security guard" may be murky--deliberately so. Harder to circumvent what you don't know--is that pimply-faced kid in the ragged T-shirt with "security" hand lettered on the back just a wanna-be or an undercover cop? Is it worth the trouble to find out? Deterrence includes a lot of bluffing and posturing. All part of the political show, people! One of many promises for a civilized society, brought to you by your local politician! ------- End of forwarded message ------- -- Leonard Erickson (aka shadow) shadow at shadowgard dot com
