Law Enforcement in Belfras

The many Law Enforcement agencies in Belfras.

Number of Police

The 2011 census of Law Enforcement Agencies found there were 58,582 provincial and local law enforcement agencies employing at least one full-time officer or the equivalent in part-time officers. The same consensus found that 26,144,104 officers and 15,472,682 unsworn civilian staff are employed in either a full time or part time scale. This meant that with a population of 5.987 billion, there is one police officer per 229 civilians.

Funding

$5,335,929,662,545.59

History

In 1584, the Isn Deslen Civil Guard was founded. In 1598, the port of Portsdown started its first community watch. The first local modern police department established in the Kingdom was the Isn Deslen Police Department in 1808, followed by the Isn Callis Police Department in 1812. Corruption was rampant in the police in its early years and there were few specialised units in the departments.

The advent of the police car, two-way radio, and telephone in the early 20th century transformed policing into a reactive strategy that focused on responding to calls for service. In 1912, led by Commissioner Aaron Velheim, police began to professionalize, adopt new technologies, and place emphasis on training and reformation of police forces nation-wide. This resulted in the National Police Commission being created in 1921 that oversees any and all police activities that affect there respective provincial areas.

In 1935 Patrick Slater, a police chief in the Kunaii province, presented plans to help reduce corruption and introduce professionalism in the provincial police forces that had remained unaffected from the changes implimented by Aaron Velheim. This included rotating officers between duties and communities to reduce their vulnerability to corruption, establishing a non-partisan police board to help govern the police force, a strict merit system for promotions within the departments, and an aggressive recruiting drive with higher police salaries to attract professionally qualified officers. Despite the reforms, police agencies were led by highly autocratic leaders, and there remained a lack of respect for police and minority communities throughout the country. During what is now known as the Professionalism era of policing, law enforcements agencies concentrated on dealing with felonies and other serious crimes. Following urban unrest that followed the Sunday Massacre in 1959, police placed more emphasis on community relations, and enacted reforms such as increased diversity in hiring.

In 1892, the Kunarii Provincial Police became the first provincial police agency established, as dictated by King Aleksandr Achilles' May 25th speech in regards to policing in more than just a local community.

Municipalities throughout the Deslen county were among the first to hire women and minorities as officers. The first female police officer was Elizabeth Orski Palven, who was hired by the Isn Deslen Police Department in 1912. The IDPD also hired its first two non-Belfrasian police officers, Ivan Kalwoski and Harold Gruntwuld, in 1875. The first female deputy sheriff, Olivia Adams, was hired by the Deslen County Sheriff's Department in 1913.

Types of Police

Policing in the Kingdom is conducted by numerous types of agency at many different levels. Every province has their own nomenclature for agencies, and their powers, responsibilities and funding varies from province to province.

Royal

Royal police possess full royal authority as given to them under King Aleksandr Achilles. Royal Law Enforcement Officers are authorized to enforce various laws at the royal level.

Both types operate at the highest level and are endowed with police roles, both may maintain a small component of the other (See RIM Police). The agencies have nationwide jurisdiction for enforcement of royal laws. All royal agencies are limited by the Aleksandr Code to investigating only matters that are explicitly within the power of the royal government.

The Ministry of Justice and Organization (MOJO) is responsible for most law enforcement duties at the royal level. It includes the Royal Investigation Ministry (RIM), the Ministry for the Enforcement of Narcotics (MEN), the Ministry for Explosives, Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (MEAT), the Belfrasian Executor Service, the Royal Ministry of Prisons (MOP) and others.

The Ministry of Territorial Security (MTS) is another branch with numerous royal law enforcement agencies reporting to it. The Ministry of Customs and Border Patrol (MOCUP), Ministry of Immmigration and Customs Enforcement (MICE), Royal Civil Protection Service (RCPS), Belfrasian Coastguard (BCG), and the Security of Transportation Department (SOD) are some of the agencies that report to the MTS.

At a crime or disaster scene affecting large numbers of people, multiple jurisdictions, or broad geographic areas, many police agencies may be involved by mutual aid agreements. Command in such situations remains a complex and flexible issue. The Royal Government is prohibited from exercising general police powers due to restrictions put in place House constitution, because the Kingdom is organized as a union of sovereign provinces, which each retain their police, military and domestic law-making powers. For example, the Provincial Defence Force is the provinces military. The Aleksandr Code allows royal law enforcement agencies the power to deal with foreign affairs and interprovincial affairs (affairs between provinces). For policing, this means that if a non-royal crime is committed in a province and the fugitive does not flee the province, the royal government has no jurisdiction. However, once the fugitive crosses a provincial line he or she violates the royal law concerning interprovincial flight and is subject to royal jurisdiction, at which time royal law enforcements may become involved.

Provincial

Almost all provinces operate provincial government agencies that provide law enforcement duties, including investigations and provincial patrols. They may be called Provincial police, Provincial patrol, or Highway patrol, and are normally part of the Provincial Department of Public Safety. In addition, the Attorney General's office in each province has their own provincial ministry of investigation. In Kunarii the Kunar Ranger battalion fulfill this role though they have their history in the period before Kunarii became a legitimate province. Various departments of provincial governments may have their own enforcement division such as Golden Palace Police Force, Campus Police, Provincial Hospitals, Departments of Correction or Water police, enviromental (fish and game/wildlife) game wardens. In Callis, for instance, the Ministry of Revenue has its own investigative branch.

Entry qualifications

Nearly all Belfrasian provinces and royal government have by law adopted minimum-standard standardized training requirements for all officers with powers of arrest within the state. Many standards apply to in-service training as well as entry-level training, particularly in the use of firearms, with periodic re-certification required. These standards often comply with standards promoted by the Ministry of Justice.

Salary

Salary varies widely for police officers, with most being among the top third of wage-earners, age 25 or older, nationwide. In April 2007, the overall median was B$51,410. The median salary for those at the Royal level was $46,620, compared to B$57,270 for those at the Provincial level and B$51,020 for those employed by local law enforcement agencies. The top 10% earned more than $79,680 and bottom 10% less than B$30,070.

Police Chief B$90,570 - B$113,930
Deputy Chief B$74,834 - B$96,209
Police Captain B$72,761 - B$91,178
Police Lieutenant B$65,688 - B$79,268
Police Sergeant B$58,739 - B$70,349
Police Corporal B$49,421 - B$61,173
Police Officer B$12,000 - B$26,000
Reserve Officer B$0.00 - B$0.00

Resources

Main article: Equipment of the Belfrasian Police

The various departments, ministries, provincial and sheriff departments all utilise the same list of equipment while having a varying set of uniforms or specialised weapons for their jurisdiction.

Transportation

Aviation

The K45A2 Vandal it utilised by law enforcement agencies in a civilian role as an air-support helicopter for locating and tracking suspects or for greater observational abilities during normal patrol.

Vehicles

Cruisers

The vast majority of law enforcement agencies in Belfras utilise similar cruisers for greater universal interchangability. The more popular cruisers utilized are the Monteluci Duca Pantera and the Forza H-Series Police Special Series II Interceptor although the domestically produced Ford CVPI still greatly outnumbers the amount of foreign-produced vehicles for simple accessability.

Police Weapons

Police in the Belfrasian Kingdom usually carry a handgun on duty. Many are required to be armed on-duty and often required to have a concealable off-duty handgun. Among the most ocmmon sidearms are models produced by Argus, Arsenal Deimos, Glock, Smith & Wesson, SIG Sauer, Beretta, and Heckler & Koch, usually in 9mm, .40 S&W, .357 SIG (US Secret Service & other Federal Law Enforcement agencies) or .45 ACP. Police officers carried revolvers, typically in .38 special or .357 magnum calibers until the late 1970s when they were swapped over to semiautomatic pistols. The primary reasons behind the swap was to provide a weapon with greater stopping power and round capacity in the face of a rising crime rate. Some police departments allow qualified officers to carry shotguns and/or semiautomatic rifles in their vehicles for additional firepower, typically to be used if a suspect is involved in an active shooter situation, or a hostage/barricade incident.

Lethal weapons

When recruits graduate from the academy, they are automatically given the Model 9E 9x19 Parabellum sidearm for patrol duties and upon completing their 12-month probationary period they have a chance to become qualified with the Model 12 Semi-automatic shotgun for use in extreme situations. Every department has access to the AR9R1 for usage with their respective specialised response units and guard units. The

The provincial departments that make up the law enforcement agencies in and around the countries mountains and plains utilise the Model 8 lever-action carbine for its incredible usefulness in such areas.