User:Red/OCIE
Office of Civil Investigation and Enforcement | |
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Basics | |
Full Name: | Office of Civil Investigation and Enforcement |
Short Name: | OCIE |
Formed: | ~2440 |
Style: | Uniformed Civilian Law Enforcement Agency |
Recruitment | |
Join Requirements: | Any SolGov Citizen |
Minimum Training: | 8 Months |
Training Style: | Police Academy |
Operations | |
Function: |
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The Office of Civil Investigation and Enforcement, or OCIE, is a government law enforcement agency tasked with enforcing Sol Central Government law, investigating breaches of law, fugitive recovery and transport, and securing ports of entry.
Contents
History
Founding
Following the Fleet's establishment, the Sol Central Government turned its resources into forming a more conventional peacekeeping agency by seeking to provide a uniformed police service to enforce SCG law over all applicable territories. In the end, the Office of Civil Investigation and Enforcement was founded and was to fill the role of a uniformed civilian law enforcement agency that the Sol Central Government wanted. Based on Olympus, Mars, this fledgling agency was to answer directly to the SCG Security Council, a specially appointed committee overseen directly by the General Assembly itself.
Over the following decades, public opinion of the agency fell sharply due to a largely received lack of confidence exacerbated by low staffing levels due to budgetary restrictions, lack of cooperation between OICE and local law enforcement agencies, as well as by the emergence of dozens of frontier crime syndicates at the fringes of civilized space.
Reformation
Through support of majority parties within the General Assembly, the OICE was able to obtain a significant increase in their allotted budget that allowed them to have a greater presence throughout Sol territory. This managed to repair its name and win over the confidence of Sol citizens far and wide for their reliable work and unwavering integrity. Despite their best efforts, the minority groups within the General Assembly continued to voice doubts, saying that the fledgling law enforcement agency was little more than a band of government approved vigilantes patrolling supply lines and eliminating a handful of various frontier cartels and human trafficking operations.
As the OCIE continued to grow, various organizations continued to increase their expectations of the agency. Most prominently involved were those with investments towards deep space mining operations who demanded tighter security and enforcement on customs and intergalactic trade lines. In response, series of closed Security Council sessions resulted in the authorization of two distinct changes to the agency. Firstly, for the first recorded time in history, special agents of the OCIE and members of the Second Fleet were embedded in the newly minted Home Guard. Secondly, the OCIE was granted judicial discretion in deputizing and compensating licensed and trained private citizens to pursue fugitives from justice. Formally called Trackers, they were individually granted permission by the upper echelons of the OCIE and required to wear a unique gold badge with blue backing prominently on their person.
Conflict
During the opening phases of the Gaia Conflict, the OCIE rapidly withdrew their resources from the Helios, Kruger, and Lacaille systems and worked to evacuate the civilian populace where they could. With news of the conflict reaching home and with the Fleet mobilizing to deploy, numerous member states became concerned for their safety as civil unrest and paranoia grew. Nevertheless, OCIE agents continued to work tirelessly to dispel the growing wave of opportunistic crime pervading the outer territories to reasonable success.
Today
Cases in the recent years, particularly the high profile arrests of government officials, have lead to no shortage of gossip or speculation that Terran spies have infiltrated the highest levels of society much to the chagrin of the agency and leading to countless inquiries and 'witch hunt' style investigations into those influential or wealthy enough to warrant public scorn or distrust. Most of these claims, fortunately, have been determined to be insubstantial by the agency, although with the terrors of Gaia still fresh, suspicion and skepticism has become a defining quirk of many veteran OCIE investigators.
OCIE and the Torch
The OCIE has been asked by the Expeditionary Corps to help augment the Security staff aboard the SEV Torch by embedding Special Agents that are a part of the Territory Support Division within their team. Most often, Special Agents are employed in an investigative capacity but can be utilized in a general law enforcement role. Although the SEV Torch generally operates outside of SCG territory, the Torch itself is considered SCG territory and as such Agents maintain their authority to enforce law and arrest when needed. Supervisory Agents are not normally embedded with this vessel.
All Special Agents embedded aboard the Torch are provided their gear by the Expeditionary Corps while their uniform is provided by the OCIE. Although they are not necessarily a part of either Expeditionary Corps or Fleet chain of command, they are to follow the internal Security chain of command with the Chief of Security being their immediate department supervisor. Although they can send messages to OCIE through facsimile, any response back will be likely delayed and be handled far too late.
OCIE and Bounty Hunting
The OCIE still utilizes Trackers to find and arrest low-level fugitives from justice. These low level fugitives are only wanted for Low Crimes as listed by SCG Law. The payments are typically announced in conjunction with the posting of the bounty and are paid upon delivery of the fugitive. In the event that a fugitive is returned deceased or maimed, any bounty payment is halved at a minimum; it's not uncommon for payments to be refused in cases like that.
Any high-level fugitive from justice is typically tracked down and arrested by the Fugitive Recovery Division of the OCIE. These fugitives are not posted bounties and thus are not often targets of Trackers. If a high-level fugitive is successfully arrested and returned by a Tracker, delayed payment is often arranged. Payment amounts can vary greatly due to that and can often be delayed as long as a month.
Any bounty is issued by a local court or tribunal following their local law or SCG law. They are typically issued as a last resort when local law enforcement are unable to arrest the fugitive due to logistical difficulties or are unable to locate the fugitive. These bounties are uploaded to a warrant tracker database maintained by the OCIE for distribution.
Agency Structure
Internal Positions
Specialized Units
Name | Base | Purpose |
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Organized Crime & Vice Division | Sol | To disrupt organized crime operations involving human trafficking, controlled substance trafficking, or organized violence within SCG territories. |
Territory Support Division | Alpha Centauri | To embed with and support local law enforcement or outside agencies; to maintain security at ports of entry. |
Special Investigations Division | Sol | To conduct investigations that the OCIE has deemed particularly sensitive, urgent, confidential, or otherwise prominent. Considered the most competitive of the four to join, few people who join this division end up transferring out to a different division. |
Fugitive Recovery Division | Sol | To locate and arrest any outstanding fugitives that local authorities either can not locate or require assistance arresting; to coordinate and conduct transportation of arrested fugitives. |
Non-Agency Positions
Recruitment
Candidates and Joining
As the tasks that the OCIE handle are varied in nature and objectives, it is only fitting that the agency itself be made up of individuals from various backgrounds. Recruiters particularly seem fond of talking recently-retired Defense Forces personnel but you'll find a growing number of individuals who do not come from a military background. Applicants are subjected to written testing, physical fitness tests, psychological and medical examination, and oral boards. If they pass all of those steps then they are offered a post at the academy as a candidate to prove their mettle.
To keep standards high, all Special Agent candidates are required to have at minimum an associates degree in any law, business, medical, or science related field of study prior to entering the academy. All Supervisory Agents are required to have at minimum a masters degree in the same fields of study. Both ranks are required to partake in yearly physical fitness tests in order to maintain their job and are subject to a mandatory retirement age of 60.
The vast majority of Special Agents and Supervisory Agents are human. The only non-humanoids authorized and allowed to hold those ranks are Integrated Positronic Chassis. If any IPCs do join, they are typically assigned to investigatory positions. There is no restriction on species for Special Deputies.
Academy and Training
Located on the grounds of the OCIE headquarters, the training academy is an eight month long live-in police academy broken into two phases - Foundation and Growth. The Foundation phase is three months long and consists of mostly physical fitness training, self defense training, weapons training, and internal policy education. The Growth phase consists of the remainder of the academy and shifts focus from physical training to police procedure, Sol Central Government Law, investigatory procedures, and other academic lessons.
Once graduated, Special Agents may be sent to additional schooling related to what their role is within their assigned division or whatever agency they will be embedded with. This often includes, but is not always limited to, forensics courses or regional language courses.