To say that the NCPD is struggling to keep crime in Night City under control is an understatement. It has never had much funding and since the Time of the Red, when the city rebuilt, the NCPD wasn't given enough resourced to handle the increase in population. The result is an organization where many take bribes just to make ends meet and others can't see why they should care much about a city that doesn't care about them. The few honest cops that remain are working in headwind and often find that they need to bend the rules and potentially break the law themselves in order to actually achieve justice.
There are increasing calls within the City Council, with support from mayor Lucious Rhyne, to privatize much of the police force. A corporate structure could run the police department more efficiently and even provide services that could turn a profit. Critics question if the police ever could, or even should, try to be profitable. And even those who think it's otherwise an idea doubt that it would mean the NCPD would keep a presence in Pacifica.
Structure
The main NCPD offices are in The Glen and all skilled specialists are attached to the headquarters and then assigned to different cases as needed. This includes CSI staff and labs, for example. Every district has its own precinct in charge of fighting crime there, but they can call on HQ if something is over their head or requires coordination across district lines.
Each precinct is led by a captain who answers directly to the NCPD commissioner appointed by the mayor. Smaller organizational units have a lieutenant in charge and who then answers to their captain. Senior officers given responsibilities over others are sergeants.
Patrol
The majority of officers work in patrol tied to a precinct. It's their job to monitor what happens in the city and keep order. Smaller crimes that don’t require investigation might be handled by patrol directly. No need to call someone in to determine that a bar brawl comprises assault and battery.
Beat Patrol
Beat cops might have the most dangerous job on the force. They are the ones to patrol areas on foot and be seen by citizens to feel safe or to go to for help. It also places them close to the worst street violence and in direct contact with the roughest elements of Night City. Beaing on beat patrol in City Center is tiring and a nasty reminder that the weather is still a concern. Patrolling Pacifica means full body armor and an assault rifle at the ready doesn't feel like enough protection. Fuck rain — they're worried about a sudden shower of bullets.
Cruiser Patrol
This is the motorized compliment to beat patrol. They drive cars or motorcycles and keep an eye out for crime as well as be ready to provide backup to any other units who need it. It’s a more comfortable job than being on the beat, but it can still land you in a world of trouble when you get called as back-up into a shitstorm of a situation.
Airborne Patrol
Airborne is what it sounds like. They have flying AV cars and sometimes personal jet-packs. Since it's expensive to keep them in the air constantly, they are stationed throughout the city and called in by other units when they need urgent back-up and air support. Cops assigned to this department are usually seasoned and highly skilled. They're called in when no one else can and their priority is to get the worst situations under control.Traffic Patrol
Other parts of the police force look down on traffic, even though their job is vital for the city to function. They don't just maintain traffic laws, though that is a large part of it, but they also keep the streets safe in other ways. The stretches of highway and the motorways on the outskirts of the city are frequently under attack and it's the job of traffic patrol to make them safe again. It's a thankless job, but it has to be done.
Investigation
While much smaller than the patrol division, investigation is still the second largest part of NCPD. It's responsible for solving crime when it requires more than immediate reaction or connecting with civilians. As such, the requirements for joining the Investigation division are higher.
Vice
A lot of things are legal in Night City, but not all. And things that are legal might require permits for the sake of taxation. This applies to arms dealers and prostitutes, for example. While some recreational drugs are legal, most aren't. Of course, trafficking, forced labor (as opposed to disadvantaged labor), and a lot of other things in by the criminal underworld are very much illegal. Vice is charged with cleaning up all of it. Many of the officers are undercover within gangs or are free agents among criminals. It's a dirty job, but without Vice, the city would be even worse.
The whole point of Vice is to act across the city and thus, they are always connected to HQ and never any specific precinct. This has sometimes led to officers looking down on local law enforcement the way the criminals they are surrounded by do.
Robbery
From muggings on the backstreets to billion-eddy art theft, this department is in charge. The way theft is performed varies a lot, and it has proven most effective to let each precinct's division handle it the way they think best and then share information with the others.
Homicide
Night City has too many cases of homicide to investigate all of them, of course, but they're still added onto the pile. It's a current debate if it’s useful to go after as many killers as possible or if it would be more cost effective for the city to focus resources on cases with high-profile victims. After all, ensuring that those with money feel safe is likely the strategy to provide most funding for the police force. Until then, Homicide is constantly overworked and understaffed while threatened by the worst of the worst.
Crime Scene Investigation
CSI are all connected to HQ and only have labs at some precincts to work more quickly. They are called in by captains of other divisions when scientific or technical analysis is required for a case. The department comprises researchers who don't feel at home in academia and are too principled or incompetent to get the much more well-paid jobs in the public sector. In return, they get a thankless job where colleagues will always try to over-interpret or dismiss results based on their own agenda.
Special Investigations
This department is tiny and replaces most of its staff regularly. But it's also the source of much intrigue. It exists to tackle with crime bigger than any one department or that has special requirements. Examples include organized crime, international conspiracies, or tackling megacorps.
Tactical
Sometimes, the police need to borrow from the military playbook to keep order. This is where Tactics come in. These officers often consider themselves a cut above the rest, while others think they're grunts with advanced gear.
S.W.A.T.
Special Weapons and Tactics is called in when any other part of the force needs firepower at their side. They help enforce search warrants, protect witnesses and much more.
MaxTac
Formerly known as C-Squad or the Cyberpsychosis Unit, Max-Tac isolates and takes down the most dangerous active shooters: those with massive amounts of cyberware. It helps that many of them are rehabilitated perpetrators themselves.
Riot
Defense without escalation. Riot shows up at any protest or other large gathering that could turn violent, but might not.
NetSec
Network Security is tiny compared to any of the other enforcement departments. More than anything else, they are a liason service between the NCPD and NetWatch. They have their own netrunners to perform investigations, but if anything gets too big, it's handed over.
Internal Affairs
With all the corruption within the NCPD, there's a need for the ungrateful task of policing the police. Also, with all the corruption, Internal Affairs is under funded, understaffed, and frequently bribed. For being a department tied to HQ and little contact with civilians, there's a high number of unsolved attacks on IA officers.
Administration
The unsung heroes of NCPD are the clerks who file the paperwork, manage offices, and so much more.
Comments