City Charter Initial Thoughts + HIRING [30/SEP/2017]

[ObZen]

 

 

What are your initial thoughts? We still have more to post about the courts. Specifically, we don't know if we have the ability to maintain such a complex system (judges on every case in a timely manner, police and fire lawsuits, and so on).

 

Additionally, we need officials for the following positions:

 

Executive Branch:

City Attorney [X], Public Defender [X], Asst. City Attorneys [Hiring], Asst. Public Defenders [Hiring]

City Clerk [X]

City Treasurer [X]

City Engineer [Hiring]

 

Legislative Branch:

City Council Members [Hiring - 3]

 

Judicial Branch:

Judges [Hiring - 3]

 

If you are interested in any of these positions, please send me your character's background and experience in these areas, as well as intentions for this role. I'll gladly speak to you about any of these roles as well.

 

If you have any suggestions, please post below.

Edited October 10, 2017 by ObZen

[goddessoflife]

Suspects/convicted criminals should be able to dispute their charges whether that is before or after the fact. I know it's difficult to have an actual court system in place and have every arrest be processed through a court system before they get convicted. However, if you allow them to do so after the fact and have those who are deemed innocent be compensated for the time they sat in jail. This means the judges have all the time to take a look at the cases, the District Attorneys and Public Defenders have time to make their cases and I'm sure that not everyone will make work of it if they are only able to do so after the fact and conviction. But it is essential for suspects/convicted criminals to be able to fight their charges that were made against them. 

Not sure if you have that in place already or have only given it a thought. 

[Dopli]

19 minutes ago, goddessoflife said:

Suspects/convicted criminals should be able to dispute their charges whether that is before or after the fact. I know it's difficult to have an actual court system in place and have every arrest be processed through a court system before they get convicted. However, if you allow them to do so after the fact and have those who are deemed innocent be compensated for the time they sat in jail. This means the judges have all the time to take a look at the cases, the District Attorneys and Public Defenders have time to make their cases and I'm sure that not everyone will make work of it if they are only able to do so after the fact and conviction. But it is essential for suspects/convicted criminals to be able to fight their charges that were made against them. 

Not sure if you have that in place already or have only given it a thought. 

What I've talked about with Obzen is that the judges would do court sessions in game and PD would take a felony suspect to a court where would be a judge waiting for him that would review his case. This would take no more than 10 minutes as Obzen told me so people would get a chance to actually dispute their charges if one judge is available in-game. I would also give criminals a chance to find the judge themselves if they can contact him and call him in-game so his case can be reviewed. F.e.; criminal is allowed to see a judge if he has committed a felony crime and is able to call one in-game in no more than 5 minutes so people don't stall RP. It also would be against the server rules if the criminal would say that he can call a judge and instead he would call his friends to ambush the cruiser.

 

What would be a great thing for judges is that all the PD DB casefiles ( murder casefiles, RICO, etc.) would go through the court system but before that, FM would review the casefile and see if there was any MG involved so people don't complain about PD metagaming. Then, judge will start a trial, etc.

 

And, if you will get arrested for a felony crime and you will want to dispute your charges, you can take it to court right away and if you win the case, your charges will be removed and you will be given money from the state.

Edited October 2, 2017 by Dopli

[goddessoflife]

Sounds pretty neat, but why have it against server rules to ambush a cruiser when they say they call for a judge. Shouldn't he be put in a holding cell and wait in a safe environment for his lawyer? I think that be a police procedural thing really.
 

So, from what I read I can assume there are District Attorneys and Public Defenders? Or sort a like?

[Dopli]

It would be against the rules because you stall the roleplay and lie to win a situation by calling your friends to rescue you.

It should be up to a suspect whether he wants to see a judge or not, it shouldn't be mandatory for PD to go around and ask judges if they can hop in-game unless it's RICO, DB related w/e.

So, let's say you arrest me for an attempted murder and I will tell you that I want to see a judge and in /b "I contacted a juge, hes gonna come IG so please wait with my arrest.". Instead, I call my friends to hop ig and tell em to help me out of the prison by ambushing the cruiser, because 5 minutes is enough to hop ig, grab a car and guns and go to the precinct just to ambush the cruiser. Obviously, if there is a judge ingame and hes able to review suspect's case, PD will go straight to court.

 

sry for grammar, at uni atm.

Edited October 2, 2017 by Dopli
sss.

[ObZen]

I loosely spoke this morning about having a system where casefiles are presented to the courts, and decided on over a short period of time (ideally less than a week with no more than two sessions for more complex subjects). This would be a different procedure than an officer witnessing a murder, for example, as it's information to determine who committed the crime (and so on), by the LSPD. They (LSPD), would then work with the City Attorney (or assistants) to present this case in court. We may have to have a small portion of this take place over the forums and decided there, with the rest taking place IG. I understand that it's very tough to have all the required players IG at the same time, which is why the forums will (for the foreseeable future) be a necessary evil. Also, I have not thought out a defense system at this time, though I absolutely would like to see private attorneys/a public defense system. 

 

Again, it's all a concept and is by no means the intent or direction of the server to do this at this time, just my spitballing.

 

 

Edited October 2, 2017 by ObZen

[Big_Smokes]

On 2-10-2017 at 11:50 AM, ObZen said:

I loosely spoke this morning about having a system where casefiles are presented to the courts, and decided on over a short period of time (ideally less than a week with no more than two sessions for more complex subjects). This would be a different procedure than an officer witnessing a murder, for example, as it's information to determine who committed the crime (and so on), by the LSPD. They (LSPD), would then work with the City Attorney (or assistants) to present this case in court. We may have to have a small portion of this take place over the forums and decided there, with the rest taking place IG. I understand that it's very tough to have all the required players IG at the same time, which is why the forums will (for the foreseeable future) be a necessary evil. Also, I have not thought out a defense system at this time, though I absolutely would like to see private attorneys/a public defense system. 

 

Again, it's all a concept and is by no means the intent or direction of the server to do this at this time, just my spitballing.

 

 

I agree with the hesitation you made clear in this post, Obz.

 

It is far more important to get everything established (factions & businesses) and get a basic economy going with the players you have. Judges, for the time being, should really act as more of an IA type of side (review the work the police did, say yes/no, concluded) since the police is not going to have an established IA from the get-go. It's unfeasible to say you're going to have judges available all day every day, or even every day at prime time from the very start. 

 

For the system you've illustrated, I suggest you read my post in the other topic in this group. I expressed my views (in regards to casefiles) on judges, the DOJ and police in there. I hope it helps.

[Hollywood]

Prosecution is all well and great in the form of the City Attorney, but Private Attorneys likely won't be a thing for quite some time. Folks won't want to shell out their hard earned cash to pay a private defense Lawyer's retention fees right away. It's important to have a public defense system in place. It will make very little sense for a suspect to be taken in for a police interrogation, get Mirandized, invoke their right to counsel and then be told that there aren't any currently or that they'll have to pay a steep price for one etc. etc.

 

I'm sure it goes without saying but a cornerstone of a believable or 'heavy-RP' law enforcement system is a person's "right to an attorney" and ability to access the services of one within a reasonable span of time/price range. 

[ObZen]

5 hours ago, Hollywood said:

Prosecution is all well and great in the form of the City Attorney, but Private Attorneys likely won't be a thing for quite some time. Folks won't want to shell out their hard earned cash to pay a private defense Lawyer's retention fees right away. It's important to have a public defense system in place. It will make very little sense for a suspect to be taken in for a police interrogation, get Mirandized, invoke their right to counsel and then be told that there aren't any currently or that they'll have to pay a steep price for one etc. etc.

 

I'm sure it goes without saying but a cornerstone of a believable or 'heavy-RP' law enforcement system is a person's "right to an attorney" and ability to access the services of one within a reasonable span of time/price range. 

 

We have a Public Defender and are also accepting assistants - just msg me. Updated to include that.