Watch (Kouralia)

The Watch (Vygelas in High Kouralian) is a catch-all term for the civilian Police of Kouralia. There are a large number of

Etymology

The modern word Vygelas in High Kouralian can be literally translated into common as The Vigil, as the modern words are believed to have had a similar historic root. However, it is generally translated into Common as The Watch, with Vygean being translated as Watchman rather than the more literal Vigilant.

Despite the names, Kouralian Vygelas are not related or linked to the Mystrian Order of Vigilants - a prominent historic order of monster hunters.

Departments and Divisions

Each Kouralian Watch is divided up into a number of departments and divisions according to the operational needs of the organisation. Due to the independent nature of each Watch and the differing demand for service places upon each of them, different Watches will have different internal structures. This means that different functions could be being carried out by differently named departments, departments of different sizes, or may not even be carried out by a specialist department, if that function is not required in that area.

Many smaller Watches will form strategic partnerships to share financial responsibility for particular functions if the need for them is sufficiently low that none of the constituent Watches can justify staffing such a department on their own. In other areas, a particular larger Watch may be designated as the Lead Watch or Principal Provincial Watch, and other Watches will pay in and send seconded officers to that Watch in order to staff a Department which provides functions across multiple Prefectures, or across an entire Province.

Local Watchkeeping Functions

The Local Watchkeeping Functions typically provide the day-to-day operation of the Watch in that Prefecture. The majority of public interaction with the Watch will be through the Local Watchkeeping Functions, and they are the functions which are usually delegated to a 'Municipal' Police Force in other nations which have multi-tiered policing.

Local Watchkeeping Functions include the following:

• Patrol & Response Departments may be two separate departments, or be provided by different teams within the same department. Patrol refers to the standing patrol of the Prefectre by officers on foot or in motor vehicles. Response refers to the Immediate, Urgent, or Routine deployment of Constables to incidents that are reported to the Watch by the public. This ranges from Constables attending reports of street brawl, to a citizen being invited to the Watch Station at the weekend for a routine appointment. Depending on the internal procedures of the Watch, this department may handover all non-immediate investigation to another Department, or it may retain basic or 'Volume' crimes to be investigated while handing over those which other departments consider within their remit.

• Neighbourhood Watchkeeping Departments are less tied to the radio, but are still uniformed patrol officers. They are tied to smaller geographic areas and have more time to work on proactive tasking, develop intelligence provided by the community, target persistent victims, offenders & locations, and respond to community priorities. This department will usually be responsible for running regular meetings with community members, providing targeted reassurance patrols to vulnerable victims of serious crime, working with partners like local councils to help prevent crime, and providing a Watchkeeping presence at smaller events like town fayres.

• Contact Management and Watch Control are almost always married together due to the similar nature of their roles. Contact Management is the call-centre you reach when you call the Watch, while also encompassing online reporting. The Watch Control Room is the side dealing with radio communication between units on the streets. These functions are often carried out in the same room from centralised control centres, and is where the Duty Watchkeeper works from. The Control Room teams can filter out as much as 75% of demand on the Watch through determining if an incident is a Watch matter, or through assessing solvability and determining if an incident can be resolved without deployment. Some Watch Support Functions are regularly based in the Control Room, such as the National Watch Database researchers or the Crime Registrar's team.

• Custody is the catch-all term for the Cellblocks at larger Watch Stations and the facilities within them. They are usually managed by one or a number of Custody Sergeants 24 hours a day and a team of Gaolers with on-call medical staff. This is where detained persons are secured and cared for until released, bailed, or remanded to court.

• Licensing is responsible for regulatory enforcement when it comes to particular licenses issued by local authorities which are deemed to have significantly higher risk associated with them, and therefore are not appropriate to be managed by local authority inspectors. This includes licenses to sell liquor and other intoxicants for consumption - i.e. taverns; licenses to sell, store and maintain firearms - i.e. gunsmiths and armourers; licenses to sell thaumically charged items or consumables - i.e. alchemists, herbalists and enchanters; and finally, licenses to sell sexual products - i.e. brothels or 'on-call' prostitution. They typically act as the single point of contact for dealing with infractions against regulations, and can support ongoing investigations or take their own action against persistent problem businesses.

Investigative Watchkeeping Functions

The Investigative Watchkeeping Functions are responsible for ascertaining if a criminal offence has occurred, who has committed it, and for gathering sufficient evidence to secure a conviction before a Criminal Court. This includes Reactive investigations and Proactive investigations. They may be responsible for all criminal investigations and for all safeguarding of vulnerable victims and witnesses, or the local Response departments and Neighbourhood may retain volume investigations that do not have the complexity to need specially trained investigators.

Investigative Watchkeeping includes the following:

• The local Crime Squad is typically the jack-of-all-trades of the Investigative Watchkeeping Function, and is where most detectives will start and remain as it is responsible for the majority of investigations. Beyond the Public Protection Squad below, many Watches will see the Crime Squad retain all non-major reactive investigations rather than establishing Specialist Crime Squads, so there can be a wealth of experienced detectives within this department who can give support and advice to uniformed officers in managing an investigation. Usually suited rather than uniformed, the Crime Squad Detectives will also be the first investigators to respond to major incidents during unsociable hours, and can often be abstracted from usual duties to support major investigations.
• The local Public Protection Squad is a department seen in almost every Watch across the Crown Union; it is responsible for investigating offences that are seen to be safeguarding-led, where protection of and sensitivities around the victim are of such a paramount concern that more specialist teams are needed. The offences investigated by this department will include high risk domestic and honour-based violence cases, human trafficking and modern slavery cases, and both serious and child sexual offences.
• Some Watches will establish Specialist Crime Squads where operational demand requires - or resourcing allows for - particularly serious, problematic, or sensitive offences to have their own dedicated investigators. Common examples include Burglary Squads, Cyber Crime Units, or Narcotics Teams; despite this though, any criminal trend could have a dedicated team created if it becomes a big enough problem for the Watch in that area. This allows particular officers to build up expertise in dealing with a particular offence. These teams are often changeable and are formed or disbanded as problems appear and are dealt with, such as burglary squads or Gang Taskforces. Other teams such as Cyber Crime investigators are usually retained at Headquarters and are rendered permanent due to the higher levels of specialism required when investigating such offences.
• A Target Squad is a Specialist Crime Squad where the link is offenders rather than the offence. These units will usually take on a joint proactive and reactive role investigating a particular organised crime group and will regularly make use of covert techniques. Target Squads may look at gathering evidence on a particular individual, but it would be rare for one person's proclivity for crime to reach the level where that was needed. Any volume crime investigated by these units is more likely to be part of the daily business of that organised crime group.
• The Watch's Major Incident, Homicide, or Murder Squad is the most prestigious reactive crime unit, if not the most prestigious Department out of all Investgiative Functions. Overseen by senior detectives, each Murder Squad - of which there may be multiple - will usually only have a couple of cases ongoing at once. It will consist of a number of teams working in concert, including outside enquiry teams, potentially a covert policing cell, and the Major Incident Room which is a staff of supervisory detectives who review and develop all the information that is obtained throughout the enquiry.
• A Covert Watchkeeping Cell
• An Intelligence Bureau
• Crime Support
• The Central Regulations Office

Centralised Operations Functions

• The Watch's Tactical Operations Cadre
• A Tactical Firearms Cadre
• A Tactical Thaumistry Cadre
• A Canine Branch
• A Mounted Branch
• A Highways Branch
• A Marine Watchkeeping Branch
• A Drone Support Unit

Specialist Operations Functions

• Some Watches will have a Special Branch
• Units commonly referred to as Special Branch Grenadiers, but technically officially titled 'Advanced Tactical Armed Operations Cadre' are responsible for
• An Ordnance Inspection & Disposal Squad
• A Provincial Civil & Watchkeeping Air Service
• The Protection Command

Watch Support Functions

• Learning & Development
• Resourcing & Personnel
• Legal Services
• Fleet & Maintenance
• Facilities
• Business Support
• Accounting & Payroll