LAWMEN SOPs

Duties

 

• Enforce the law in your jurisdiction.
• Arrest, Jail, and/or Fine lawbreakers.
• Receive and Process Bounties returned to your jurisdiction.
• Inform newcomers of any town-specific laws.
• Maintain up-to-date criminal records.
• Set Bounties for fugitives charged with crimes in your jurisdiction.
• Pursue bounties posted in your jurisdiction.

Restrictions

Personnel:

• The maximum number of Deputies you can have is 1(see below for more detail)​.
• Posses:
  • Max size outside town limits: 6
  • Max size inside town limits: 8
  • Inside Sheriff’s Jurisdiction, posse should be Sheriff-led.
  • The posse leader is responsible for all posse actions (including civilian casualties).

Uniform:

• Badge visible at all times while on duty.

Conduct:

You can NOT alter or remove currently existing criminal records without Admin approval. 

“RP before bloodshed” is required at all times. In 90% of instances, you should not shoot unless fired upon first. Unless fired upon first, you should make verbal contact before firing.

Your goal should be to react to crime, not to prevent it from happening.

Corruption:

This is an elected role and most often, the consequences of your actions will be reflected in voting. You also bear the burden of funding your law enforcement endeavors. To this end, you may find that corrupt behavior suits both your voter base and your account ledger.

Be warned that felony actions (bribery, fraud) may be investigated by the US Marshal Service. Once a case has been made to support the charges, the US Marshal Service is responsible for arresting and sentencing the accused Sheriff or Deputy.

In the event a Sheriff is charged with a Serious Felony, or charges deemed serious enough by the judge, they will be held in custody until a trial can be arranged. If the Judge upholds the charges, the Sheriff will be removed from office. The Sheriff’s charges will be documented in their respective jurisdiction’s record system.

Deputies:

Each Sheriff is permitted to hire 1 permanent deputy at a time. Training and payment are the Sheriff’s responsibility.

To hire a new deputy, open a ticket in #in-game-support to request permissions from admin. This provides your deputy with full access to the Sheriff’s office, and the Deputy SOP on the website. Character must be online to receive permissions from admin.

To fire or hire a new deputy, open a ticket in #in-game-support to have the deputy’s permissions removed. 

Jurisdiction: 

• As defined by the server map boundaries (if you don’t have the law menu,  you’re outside your jurisdiction).
• Sheriff may be deputized by any other Law Official for temporary service beyond their jurisdiction.
• Sheriff may pursue suspects whose crime was committed within their jurisdiction across jurisdiction lines.
  • If a bounty is on your bounty board you can pursue fugitive across jurisdictions.
  • If you path crosses with another Sheriff within their jurisdiction, and they’re tracking the same fugitive, you should concede the capture to them.
• In cases involving Serious Felonies, prisoner safety, or suspected corruption, the US Marshal Service may take over within the Sheriff’s jurisdiction.

Town Ordinances:

As Sheriff you are allowed to create and enforce up to three (3) ordinances for your jurisdiction on top of currently existing Federal Laws. You should give newcomers to your town some leeway if they unknowingly violate one of those laws, and it is your responsibility to make sure those laws are known to everyone in your jurisdiction.

Town ordinance cannot block player access to server features such as shops, tailors, hotels, or bounty boards.

Maximum Fine: $75
Maximum Time: 5 days
Cannot place bounties for violations of town ordinance. 

Detainment, Arrests, and Fines:

Detaining an individual is to place them into your custody and restrict their ability to leave before interrogation. Before detaining or restraining, you must clearly identify yourself and whether the suspect is being detained or arrested should be made clear to them.

If interrogation or questioning is required, ensure you and the suspect are in a safe area before beginning any line of questioning or interrogation.

Once a positive identity is made and you are certain of the suspect’s guilt, make every effort to finalize sentencing, fine, and jail within a reasonable time frame. Avoid extended periods of inactivity and isolation in cells or holding areas. 

As Sheriff, you may only Jail or Fine someone charged with crimes in your jurisdiction. If you come across a crime(s) being committed outside of your jurisdiction you should report it to a Marshal or the local sheriff.

Fines should be fair and reasonable to the crime(s) committed and should almost never be the max fine. 

Procedure:

1. Detain a suspect and move them to a nearby safe location for questioning.
2. If you have evidence of a crime, or get evidence after questioning, inform them they are under arrest.
3. Take them to your jurisdiction and process them.
4. Inform them you will take their weapons while serving time. (“Take Weapons” found in L > Law > Processing menu.)
5. Remove cuffs after locking the jail cell and taking their weapons. You should not be in the jail cell with someone while they are uncuffed!
6. Make sure to look up their criminal record at this stage.
7. Inform them of their crime(s) and what their fine and jail time will be.
   1. Once this is done you can NOT change their crime(s), fine, or time!
8. Fine the individual then jail them
   1. NOTE: cannot fine more than the character has in their wallet and bank. On successful fine, a notification will display at the top of the screen.
9. Add to the Criminal Records.
10. Make sure to return weapons to the individual after their sentence is complete unless they were used in the crime(s) committed.

Mug Shots: 

Any time a criminal is sentenced to jail time, a mug shot should be taken and added to their criminal record. 

1. Clearly RP taking the mug shot. 
2. Take a screenshot of the criminal. 
   1. Recommended app: ShareX (see Setup below) 
   2. Pic should be square, from the shoulders up, and clearly capture the criminal’s face. 
   3. Pic should be taken in a well lit space. If it’s nighttime, you’ll need to utilize additional lighting for best image quality.
3. Upload the screenshot to imgr. Copy the image link. 
4. Select the criminal record, then click “View Record.”
5. Click the mugshot space, paste the image address. 

Setup:
We recommend using the ShareX app as it streamlines the
mugshot-to-criminal-record pipeline. 

1. Download and install ShareX.
   1. https://getsharex.com/downloads/
   2. Select the most recent version.
   3. Download and run that version’s setup.exe 
2. Set your “Capture region” hotkey. 
   1. Hotkey Settings is found in the left column.
   2. You’ll use “Capture region” to take mug shots. 
3. Set ShareX to automatically share screen capture to Imgur. 
   1. Click “After capture tasks”. 
   2. From dropdown, click “Upload image to host” to select.
4. Set ShareX to automatically Imgur address to your clipboard.
   1. Click “After upload tasks”.
   2. From dropdown, click “Copy URL to clipboard” to select.
5. Set Image upload destination to Imgur.
   1. Click “Destinations”
      1. From dropdown, hover over “Image Uploader” then select “Imgur” from new dropdown.
6. Setup complete! To use:
   1. Press the “Capture region” hotkey you just set to take your mugshot. 
   2. Open criminal record and press “CTRL + V” to paste the Imgur URL. Done! 

Sentencing

Always take into consideration time served during the sentencing process: Time with little to no RP collaboration during detainment or processing should be subtracted from remaining time left to serve in cell.

Make sure to update the criminal records while the individual serves their time or immediately after release.

Serious Felony Sentencing Guidelines: To be utilized to calculate the sentence length, not the number charges documented in the criminal record.

Crimes against Peace Officers: Charges x 2

1st Degree Murder and Attempted Murder:
1 x 1st Degree Murder = 1 Charge
1 x Attempted Murder = 0.5 Charge
E.G. 3x Attempted Murder + 3x 1st Degree Murder = 4 Charges. If against peace officers: 4 Charges x2 = 8 charges

1 CHARGE: 72 hours (4320 days)
2 CHARGES: 1 week (10,080 days)
3 CHARGES: Life Sentence Vote
(Charges over lifetime)

Serious Felonies EXCEPT 1st Degree Murder and Attempted Murder:     
FIRST OFFENSE: 
1-2 Serious Felonies: up to 30 minutes (30 days)
2-4 Serious Felonies: up to 24 hours (1440 days)
5+ Serious Felonies: up to 72 hours (4320 days)

SECOND OFFENSE: (with history of serious felonies)
1-2 Serious Felonies: up to 1 hour (60 days)
2-4 Serious Felonies: up to 48 hours (2880 days)
5+ Serious Felonies: up to 1 week (10,080)

RECIDIVISM (3+ serious felony records)
1-2 Serious Felonies: up to 24 hours (1440 days)
2-4 Serious Felonies: up to 72 hours (4320 days)
5+ Serious Felonies: up to Life Sentence Vote

Life Sentences

Deputies are not permitted to initiate a life sentence, but may participate in voting. 

Life sentences must be unanimously agreed on by 3 separate lawmen (Sheriff, Marshal, or Deputy) OR 2 lawmen (1 Deputy max) and 1 honorable and impartial citizen, and can be overturned by an Admin. Discussing the possibility of a life sentence must be done in front of the accused so they can participate.

If consensus is reached and it’s agreed a life sentence is appropriate, the convicted must then be given the option of:

1. Life Sentence: Sentence to be served in prison. [This provides the option for the convicted to reach out to admin for a review of charges if they believe their sentence is unjust.]
2. Death Sentence: Death by firing squad or hanging. This provides a dramatic end to the character’s story.
   
   IMPORTANT: Hanging RP is not allowed on the server. If a player wishes it to be server canon that they were sentenced to hang, so be it. However the act will not be permitted to be role-played out on the server.

Clearing bounties

• Existing bounties should be rescinded only in cases of legal self-defense OR payment by money or labor exchange.
• In cases where the presiding Lawman may be biased in their determination to rescind the bounty, an alternative Sheriff or Marshal should be contacted to make the decision.
• When bounties are cleared, funds received should be (in this order):
  • Used to pay the bounty hunter who turned in the bounty.
  • Given to the victim(s) if any can be located.
  • Added to the Sheriff’s jurisdiction fund.

NOTE: Bypassing the above steps and pocketing the funds is a good example of corruption and would be considered “fraud” by an investigating US Marshal.

Federal Laws (click to view)

You should have quick access to the Federal Laws whenever you are jailing/sentencing a convict. When choosing charges, it’s important to ensure that the charge fits the crime for which you have evidence.

[1 Day in IC = 1 minute OOC]

The Marshal SOP is private.

The Rangers SOP is private.