The Police Department & You

[Lloydski]

I'd like to jump in on the Community Events bit for a second, seeing as that's my thing.

 

We do our absolute best to host events - but there are a lot of limitations that we, unfortunately, have to deal with. I'll try and give a brief list:

• Available officers - it's particularly hard to predict what server pop will be like and what crime rates will be like on any given night, and due to us being a police department of around 130ish officers who aren't always on at the same time this can cause a real impact. We have a whole system where anyone can request LSPD presence or participation in events that you can see on our forums here. A department like the LAPD has dedicated units for each, but for our community relations units, we're all basic units first which means if there are emergencies and a lack of officers, we go.
• Game limitations - Part of running events is trying to immerse those present in the atmosphere. It's extremely hard to do this with pure text-based roleplay, which is why the script supports things such as roadblocks, exterior furniture etc. These script-based things are limited though, and with server crashes being an ever-present threat, events that rely on these things can sometimes turn into a chore as everything gets reset.
• Lack of Interest - we try to portray a police department to the best of our abilities and sometimes that means doing events, such as our community meetings, that some people thoroughly enjoy and others don't even want to touch. It's hard for us to gauge interest and we've had events go both ways where more or less have turned up that expected. Because of this, we try to focus on events that people will enjoy roleplaying in.

So, what are we doing to get around this?

• We actively encourage community members to submit event requests to us. We have a whole system on our forums where anyone can request police presence or participation in events being run by the community. You can find that system here.
• We are trying to build relationships with factions in the server in the hopes that joint events will become more commonplace. A great example of this is the faction R-Motorsport, who we've been working with since last year to create an enjoyable and legal racing environment for players. You can see examples of their events such as last month's Paleto Forest Rally here.
• Whilst we do our best to seek out new opportunities with businesses and factions, we're not omniscient. We rely on others sending us suggestions, requests, propositions that we may not have considered. The only way we improve is with work from both sides and I welcome any and all help from this community.

In summary, community relations roleplay is often criticised heavily yet in my experiences a lot of those most vocal about condemning us for it don't actually wish to take part in such roleplay. We're doing our best and we will make mistakes along the way, but the majority of that will be an IC issue (see this latest racing incident). But please don't ever feel afraid to contact the Media Relations & Community Affairs Division if you think that you can help us create events or improve community relations roleplay for everyone.

[Lemon]

Before I lay out my message I'd like to make it clear to LSPD leadership that what I'm posting here is my personal opinion and not the faction I'm with — I'm representing myself and my opinions.

 

In the few months I've been here I noticed a couple of things with the LSPD that I personally feel do not fit the department you guys are trying to emulate or general roleplay standards through-out the faction itself. I know personally that you simply can't monitor every single faction member and you'll always have bad apples which is why I won't use any specific situations as my examples, rather situations that keep repeating themselves with different players in the faction. Of course you guys have a lot of exemplary roleplayers in the faction but sadly (as with any other faction) it's the bad ones that stand out.

 

My biggest pet peeve is rushing roleplay on scenes. This is something that I noticed in almost every scene I had with the LSPD - we pull up to a shooting, the suspect is gunned down and then within almost a minute we have officers already moving up to secure him. What's the rush? Roleplay with the suspects, have them spread their arms out, move away from the gun, whatever. Lay a plan out, get a shield, assign officers to handle the vehicle and some to handle the suspect, etc. In real life officers never move up almost immediately after a suspect is gunned down. Officer safety is number one when it comes to situations like these.

A perfect example here (warning, the video is graphic) — this is an LAPD OIS, notice how they shoot the suspect down, call for backup and even after backup arrives, they wait for more and more backup, and then get a shield up, assign officers to do specific things and then move up. And that's just a suspect with a knife. If he had a gun? Probably wait for more backup then what they had there.

It's the small things that you roleplay that impact the scenes the most. Passive roleplay, take your time and roleplay with the suspects and trust me that they'll appreciate it.

 

Other than that type of rushing, I've noticed multiple times officers are extremely eager to pull out of situations as soon as they turn static. A 911 or a pursuit aftermath, as soon as the suspect is cuffed? "Hey Sarge, can I clear out?" — I get that useless units should clear out once the situation doesn't require further backup, but what's the rush? Passive roleplay, roleplay with your fellow officers, secure the car, hold perimeter, whatever. Just don't rush to clear out and go back on patrol.  I know I said I wouldn't use specific situations but that one will serve as a great example to the statement above. Just recently we had a JTAC which resulted in a shooting. The suspect was gunned down and a deputy got shot — we roleplayed leaning him up against one of the LSPD Scouts and I applied first aid. During our roleplay an officer just got into the Scout and drove off with no interaction with us whatsoever. Left us in a very awkward situation to roleplay. Not sure if it was done on purpose or he just didn't pay attention, and I'm not going to name anyone, but it's just a small example as to how rushing scenes can look bad.

 

 

[Gambler]

Providing feedback for PD is not even worth it.
-You criticise it? You get justifications.
-You report it? They just get a little spank in they arse.
-You file IC casefiles and win 10 cases in a row? No one loses his job.

 

I don't care much what you guys do, but please don't ruin the experience for other players. I've seen so many cops issue tickets or impound vehicles to grief others, saying they did their job, when they know they're abusing their power. Impouding takes 2 minutes. Waiting for your vehicle takes 1 day, and if you want to take it to court takes at least 4 days. I'm sure there are good cops/rpers, I'm not taking that away from you, but majority of you guys, straight suck.

[RoamPT]

24 minutes ago, Gambler said:

Providing feedback for PD is not even worth it.
-You criticise it? You get justifications.
-You report it? They just get a little spank in they arse.
-You file IC casefiles and win 10 cases in a row? No one loses his job.

 

I don't care much what you guys do, but please don't ruin the experience for other players. I've seen so many cops issue tickets or impound vehicles to grief others, saying they did their job, when they know they're abusing their power. Impouding takes 2 minutes. Waiting for your vehicle takes 1 day, and if you want to take it to court takes at least 4 days. I'm sure there are good cops/rpers, I'm not taking that away from you, but majority of you guys, straight suck.

Sounds like an IC issue to me. Also let's not mention that 50% of the criminal roleplayers cop bait constantly. Also officers do loose their jobs once they are found guilty. You just seem extremely  frustrated at the faction for something that happened to you and you are now taking things out of context.

[LSNN]

40 minutes ago, Gambler said:

-You criticise it? You get justifications.

We as a different faction but we criticise PD constructively, we get results from it, Big Smokes and his command team is very helpful and is constructive in dialog for those who show respect, it's a two way street. In our recent weeks, we've provided while it may be IC criticism and we've already seen big results from it, officers suspended for their actions. 

 

"-You file IC casefiles and win 10 cases in a row? No one loses his job."

Completely incorrect, we've seen a few officers lose their jobs in the past, just because they have a shield, doesn't shield them from repercussions. 

Edited April 15, 2020 by LSNN

[eTaylor]

@Big_SmokesPolice reports have noticeably been better as of late, whether this is due to recent changes or attention is unbeknownst to me. Regardless, it’s nice to see the vast majority are taking their time to file good paperwork where it’s needed.
 

A comment on investigations and reports; whether it’s a murder or gang violence, casefiles are thankfully produced by those who have genuine interest in that field. If it was any other way this would significantly hurt quality, fun and subsequently engagement. Cops shouldn’t be forced to follow into fields they have no interest in, and should always be free to specialize as they wish. 
 

As for pursuits, have you guys ever seen a real pursuit? 10 cars is nothing. But this is a game, and pursuits are fun. Regardless there’s safety in numbers. You can compare European law enforcement agencies to the US. The department should decide for itself how many cars they want in a pursuit.

[SpartanofSparta]

5 hours ago, Gambler said:

I don't care much what you guys do, but please don't ruin the experience for other players. I've seen so many cops issue tickets or impound vehicles to grief others, saying they did their job, when they know they're abusing their power. Impouding takes 2 minutes. Waiting for your vehicle takes 1 day, and if you want to take it to court takes at least 4 days. I'm sure there are good cops/rpers, I'm not taking that away from you, but majority of you guys, straight suck.

If they’re doing their jobs incorrectly, there is an Internal Affairs division to take this up with. If they find it to be in error, you can take the Police Department to court for money. Officers make mistakes and have been held accountable if reported.

 

This is an extremely good version of the PD making an error and being held accountable for it. We make mistakes and, like it or not, we are held accountable. If they’re not, you have Legal FM and can keep going up the chain if you have issues.

 

If they are indeed doing their job correctly, ergo, you did something wrong and they chose to take your car in compliance with the penal code, that’s not PD doing their job badly. If you have issues with jail times, tickets or vehicle impounds, that’s up to the Judiciary of San Andreas to change. Not PD, not SD.

[Big_Smokes]

20 hours ago, Gambler said:

Providing feedback for PD is not even worth it.
-You criticise it? You get justifications.
-You report it? They just get a little spank in they arse.
-You file IC casefiles and win 10 cases in a row? No one loses his job.

 

I don't care much what you guys do, but please don't ruin the experience for other players. I've seen so many cops issue tickets or impound vehicles to grief others, saying they did their job, when they know they're abusing their power. Impouding takes 2 minutes. Waiting for your vehicle takes 1 day, and if you want to take it to court takes at least 4 days. I'm sure there are good cops/rpers, I'm not taking that away from you, but majority of you guys, straight suck.

 

This is as much a Q&A thread as it is a place to provide feedback/criticism. If people have questions or don't understand why a certain thing is done x and y way, I try to provide an explanation. The second point you've made is far from truthful. Ask anyone that's filed an OOC report to my staff team if they weren't satisfied with the outcome, because I've made sure they were. People get reassigned, terminated or demoted often. Just because you don't see it doesn't mean it doesn't happen.

 

Last but not least, read the original post on this thread and the forum rules. My faction consists of over 140+ people, you have no right to insult everyone in one fell swoop just because you feel like it. Fair enough if you're angry at something, but this is not the place to take it out on.

[aldo]

Police response times are ridiculous, you could be robbing some random drug house in South LS and an alarm could trip and the whole of PD would be outside within 1 minute.

 

Also the constant waste of resources is a huge problem, like when 10+ police are called including a SWAT team just because someone ran away in a fistfight is a problem and when police start to park up in the middle of the road obstructing the cars behind them from moving just so that they can scan up some random car. 

 

 

[Ministry]

24 minutes ago, aldo said:

Police response times are ridiculous, you could be robbing some random drug house in South LS and an alarm could trip and the whole of PD would be outside within 1 minute.

 

Also the constant waste of resources is a huge problem, like when 10+ police are called including a SWAT team just because someone ran away in a fistfight is a problem and when police start to park up in the middle of the road obstructing the cars behind them from moving just so that they can scan up some random car. 

 

 

 

The quantity of response units is definitely something worth looking into. I've had 3 units sat behind me for a routine traffic stop before which is just unnecessary. However have to say the RP I've experienced from individuals in the PD has been top notch.