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Introduction
Hey again, kid. So you're ready to get to business, eh?
First of all, let me tell you a bit about what the Dawn Alert Community
Protection Service is about. We're about serving our community-- protect,
serve, and track down those perps and bring them in so they won't be back to
bother our people again. That means, we're not out to rack up a body count,
and we're not lone vigilantes bringing justice to the Perimeter-- we're a
team, and everyone has their part to do.
Some call us DA-Cops. Other people call us the Fuzz, 'cause we hire so many
dog-men and Devilcats. Still others call us Brothers, and they don't mean in
a nice way. Doesn't matter; if they're people who pay us or on the grounds of
people who have a contract with us, they're our customers. And law and
justice's our service.
Rank
DACPS is one of the biggest Perimeter security agencies going, and that means
we have a lot of territory to cover, and not really enough people to have a
man on every corner. We have to use our people smartly. That means, you stay
in contact with headquarters, and if there's more trouble than you can handle,
you let us know and we'll send backup. Otherwise, you'd better be able to do
your own job.
We have several levels of agents:
| Cost | Social Status | Job Level | Description and Perks | Pay |
| -0.5 | 2
Poor | Associate | You don't have any official ties with us. | We'll call you in when we need you, and we pay by the job. |
| 0 | 3
Poor but Happy | Patrolman | You get a badge, a gun, and a regular beat. You don't get a squad car; you're supposed to be out on the street, making sure Dawn Alert's seen protecting our community. | 1,200 crowns/week |
| 1 | 3
Poor but Happy | Senior Patrol | We start giving you tougher beats. Call in if you have trouble; we know you aren't going to turn white over a few druggies now. | 1,500 crowns/week |
| 2 | 4
Low Standard | Detective 3rd Class | Once you've served a little time, you'll start working the city, going to crime scenes and helping us track down perps | 2,000 crowns/week |
| 3 | 4
Low Standard | Detective 2nd Class | You get tougher cases. If you can't solve them, file 'em. Not every crime is solved on the first time - ever heard of a serial killer? You will. | 2,400 crowns/week |
| 4 | 4
Low Standard | Detective 1st Class | You get our toughest cases and a lot of respect. Remember that; it's going to be the only thing that comforts you when the Commissioner's chewing you out over the perp you haven't caught yet after months of searching. | 2,800 crowns/week |
| 6 | 5
Average Guy | Sergeant | You get an office. And you can start delegating your cases to the subordinates. | 3,200 crowns/week |
| 10 | 6
Comfortable | Lieutenant | You get a window office and a secretary. You'll probably be in charge of a major task force. | 6,000 crowns/week |
| 16 | 7
Well-to-Do | Captain | You get two offices, one for you and one for your secretary who screens your visitors before they go in. You'll be in charge of one of our major departments - homicide, organized crime, etc. | 12,000 crowns/week |
| n/a | 8
Wealthy | Commissioner | You're in charge. You work in the penthouse, and you have a personal staff. | 24,000 crowns/week |
On the Take
Some people are on the take. We don't approve of it, and if you're into
taking bribes, you'd better not let it interfere with your job. We have a lot
of people who have faith in us. If we lose their trust, we just might lose
our next paycheck too.
| Cost | Status Increase | Level of Corruption |
| 0 | none | You're straight. |
| 1 | +1 | You collect a certain amount of money for overlooking parking tickets and misdemeanors. |
| 2 | +2 | You're not beyond letting people get by you when you're guarding a warehouse, or deal drugs on your watch. |
| 3 | +3 | You shake down small businesses and citizens for money. * |
| 5 | +4 | You're thoroughly corrupt, and you probably pilfer from the company armory, too. * |
| 8 | +5 | You're an organized crime mole sabotaging our operations and reporting our actions. * |
* While any level of corruption will, if detected, result in fines and
punishment for the offending officer, these levels will result in especially
severe punishment up to and including shooting on the spot.
Equipment
You've signed in and
gotten your badge and uniform, so come along and let's see where you'll keep
your stuff.
This is your locker. You'll keep your standard issue here, when you're not
on-duty. If you need something heavier, you'll need to requisition it from
the armory.
Standard Issue
Light body armor. You put this on over your uniform. This here's your
breastplate and shoulder pads, you slip this on first. Feel that belly plate?
It'll hurt if you get hit here, but not as bad as it would if that shot
penetrated. Then suit up with your arm and leg protectors, and tie this groin
protector on. You don't want to go down 'cause you were kneed by a perp,
believe me, you'll take a lot of razzing from your buddies.
Your handgun. You've got your choice of a Capitol M-13 Bolter, a Mishima
Ronin, a Bauhaus MP-105 machine pistol, an Imperial Aggressor, or a
Brotherhood Piranha. You'll be issued clips for it as well. Watch your
usage; if you use more than your quota, you'll be charged for it. Me, I carry
a Bolter, it's good solid Capitol gear, and those big shells have a little
more stopping power than the pansy Mishima bullets, especially if you load it
with dum-dums.
Your police baton. This here's official issue, if you don't know how to use
it, you should learn. You can't just use it like a club, see here, you can
hold it like this, protects your arm when you're fighting. Got it? Good.
Your walkie-talkie. Be careful when you're talking over it, it's not got
that good a range and it can only be set to so many channels, so while you're
talking to your partner with it, some perp could be listening in and getting
the good.
Your air filter. It'll clatter and get in your way. Keep it handy. If you
or your partner has to unleash some Boke in a close space, you'll be glad you
have this.
Handcuffs. These here're solid steel, they'll hold most humans, but
they aren't meant to hold anything more dangerous, if you get my drift.
If you, Cardinal forbid, manage to subdue something that looks like it
came out of the Dark, you'll have to radio to headquarters for better
containment gear. Let's hope you won't need it.
Gloves. They're latex. Dispose of 'em after each shift, or after
you've been touching stuff that looks like it's plague-ridden, you've got
spares in this pouch here. You don't want to be frakked because you
helped some poor sod out of a ditch and he turned out to be a Darker.
Flashlight. This here's impact-resistant, it'll hold up to a little
bouncing, but if you've got to subdue someone who's getting a little
cybered, well, that's what your baton's for. This here's just for
lighting your way.
Boke can. Point this away from you-- it's one-shot pressurized Boke.
If you can't reach your baton, this might help give you an edge on some
low-life punk that's trying to rip your nose off.
Utility knife. Your basic Bauhaus army knife. Unfolds a knife blade,
saw-blade, and several kinds of screwdrivers.
Utility belt. This here's where you stow all your gear. You've got
attach points here, and here, and this pouch comes in handy for the little
fiddly bits you pick up that you're meaning to take back to headquarters.
Squad Car
If you're out on roaming patrol, not just walking a beat, you'll probably get
assigned a squad car too. We assign these out from the vehicle pool. Most of
these are bulletproof; if you have any questions about your car's make and
equippage, just ask the tech on duty. Right, John? Yeah. I know, I always
bring them back, don't I?
Here's what you've got:
Radio. This is in the middle between you and your partner, here. Like with
your walkie-talkie, be careful what you say, it's harder to get police radios
but there're still a lot of wackos out there who have one.
Siren and lights. Use the siren if you want people to make way while you're
on your way to a crime scene, but remember that a lot of people don't pay that
a lot of attention. You'll have to get real creative if you want to make it
across the Perimeter in time for the party.
Log book. Use it, if you wind up fragged, we'll want to know where you were
and what you did to get the crazies upset with you.
Megaphone. You'll find this handy when you're trying to wake up a bunch of
sleepy-heads and get them out of a burning building.
Let's pop the trunk now:
Capitol-make M516S shotgun. A nice, solid model, it'll put a nice cloud of
pellets in your perp's face, or you can load it with slug rounds for a little
more stopping power. It's locked down, but you can release it like this, see?
And the bullets are underneath. We never carry these loaded, so you'll have
to load them by hand when you need them.
Grenades. Unsnap these racks like this. There's always supposed to be two
explosive grenades, standard frag, four of the crowd control grenades, for
laying down a wall of Boke when you want to stop a riot, and two smoke
grenades if you need to get some cover. Scruddy techs don't always reload
them when they're supposed to, so you should make a point of checking before
you leave headquarters. After's the wrong time to find out you're not
stocked.
Riot shields. These're latched to the trunk lid, pop them like this.
They're called that 'cause we use them to form a police wall to contain riots,
but when it's you and your partner by yourself, you'll find they come in
awfully handy when you're dealing with a perp who's got his hands on some
heavy weaponry. They're easy to use, just duck and cover behind one while
you're moving to better cover. Don't treat 'em like tank armor, though,
they're not that strong. Your body armor isn't, either.
Unfolding barricade. This here looks like a pile of sticks, but it'll
unfold wide enough to block one lane. Set 'em up like this-- it's really a
two-person job, but one person can do it-- and flip this rack out and lock it
in place and you've got your basic stop sign, net fence, and tire-rippers to
discourage any runaway cars.
Magnesium flares. These are your basic snap'n'light types. They'll give
you a nice bright light for about an hour. You can use them to mark off
accidents, or signal your position if you're in the dark and needing a
pick-up.
Pry-bar. This end's bent; you can use it like your regular pry-bar.
Other end's a hex wrench. Comes in handy from time to time.
Special Assignment
If you're slated for special duty of some sort, you can pick up additional
equipment on a case-by-case basis. We don't use these as part of standard
issue because there's the danger that if an agent is captured or robbed, all
his equipment might go into the hands of criminals and, frankly, we don't want
our agents to engage in trigger-happy behavior.
This here's the Armory. You'll have to sign out equipment from the clerk
here. For the lightweight stuff, you can just sign a form and it'll be issued
on your recognizance, but the more expensive gear might require a call up to a
sergeant to authorize. A lieutenant, if you're asking for something that
might raise eyebrows up in the Old Town.
Pass me up a few samples, would you, Mister? Ah right, here we are, some of
the likely bits of equipment you can requisition. If you need something a
little more exotic, you can always ask the clerk, but chances are that it
might take a bit of time to get ready.
Capitol CAR-24 sub-machine gun. This here's your basic SWAT weapon when
you're going to go into a tight spot or doing some gang-busting action. It's
got an integral grenade launcher; load it with Boke gas and you've got some
crowd-pleasing goodness there.
Mishima Tambu M-11 "Kensai" light machine gun, rubber bullet load-out. It's
not quite as heavy as the M606 the CAIPs use, but it's adequate for
crowd-control use. It includes a bipod so you can rest it on your squad car,
and you'll want to have your partner help you feed the belt in, so it doesn't
get tangled.
Bauhaus AG-17 Panzerknacker assault rifle. This here's what you'll use for
heavily armed opposition. Ask for one with the grenade launcher attachment,
then you'll have a weapon with take-down capability against both men and
vehicles. We keep pretty tight controls on these babies, so don't let yours
walk off or it'll be coming out of your paycheck.
Capitol SR-50 sniper rifle. If you're dealing with a hostage situation,
you'll want your partner backing you up with one of these. Make sure the tech
gives you a bipod and a nightvision scope for it, that'll boost your friend's
accuracy.
Full medium body armor. You'll feel like you're ready to be a Doomtrooper
in this gear, kid, it's bulletproof on every point, and once you snap down the
visor, you're ABC-protected-- atomic, biological, chemical-- but once you try
to move, you'll realize why we don't use these for standard patrol duty. It
won't stand up to heavy weapons for long, either, so don't try and play tank.
Training
Now, this is not an inclusive list of the equipment that may be issued you by
the agency. If you're going to go into action, we'll try and make sure you
have the right stuff for the job. It's your responsibility to know how to use
it. There's a company firing range, and we'll pay for your training if you
want to go to night school.
If you're a technician or medic, we expect you'll stay out of the line of
fire-- we'll send someone along to ride shotgun for you-- but you'll still
want to pick up some training with a handgun.
We advise our patrolmen seek out training in hand-to-hand combat as well.
Remember, not everyone is a perp-- if you're dealing with a citizen who's had
too much to drink, he's still one of our paying customers, so if you can
disable and restrain him without killing him, then you'll be doing us credit.
Shooting him just opens us up to lawsuits and claims of excessive force.
Remember, kid, Dawn Alert's here for the peace and order of our community.
It's not about body count or fragging them before they frag you. It's about
keeping our customers paying for our service.
Protect, serve, and get those perps. Got it?
Police Procedural
So what's a typical workday going to look like for you?
Well, you'll have to get to work first. This can be a bit of a struggle at
the best of times; in the worst, it's Darkin'. If you take the Underground,
they run the risk of having a breakdown that'll make you late for work, and
you have to deal with crowds where there're always pickpockets and robbers
looking to lift your money. Taxis are safer. I have a car of my own, the
vehicle pool techs look after it for me, and I carry a gun in the glove
compartment just in case.
Get in, sign the log, and you'll get your duty assignments. For the average
beat cop, it'll be patrol duty, but once you get some experience under your
belt, you'll start drawing casework.
Departments
We do a lot of stuff around here, and you'll probably be on loan to one
department or another, but each department has its own specialty and way of
operating. Here are some of our biggest and most public departments:
Public Safety Bureau - When you're starting out as a beat cop, you'll probably
be assigned to these guys and put on patrol somewhere safe that just needs
someone to keep an eye on them. There's no shame in it, you have to pay your
dues before you can get assigned to one of the hot tickets. Besides, most
of the time, you aren't going to be shot at on patrol.
Detective Bureau - This is where the majority of our investigative work gets
done. We're the guys who go out and try to work out who did what, and stop
those perps before they hit again. It's mostly sleuthing, except when we've
tracked the perp down and we're in hot pursuit; that's when it can get
exciting. We're divided internally into homicide, arson, anti-terrorism, that
sort of thing, but there's a lot of overlap.
Organized Crime Control Bureau - These guys are the glamour boys. They get to
stake out the glitzy bars and restaurants where the deals go down, and maybe
taste a bit of the night life before they take down a boss. It's a pretty
varied group, 'cause there're a lot of underground rackets and operations--
there's narcotics and vice and gang investigation, and then there's real
organized crime, the people who're investigating thugs like the Triads.
Internal Affairs Bureau - You never want to hear from one of these, because if
you do, they're probably after you to explain some innocent bystander's death.
We call them the banshees 'cause if you've gone rogue, the scream of their
sirens will be the last thing you hear before they put one through your heart.
But that won't happen, right?
SWAT - If you're the gung-ho sort, you'll probably draw SWAT assignment. That
means you'll be doing most of your work for Public Safety or another
department, but you'll also be drawing training in heavy weapons, doing time
on the firing range to stay in practice, and if something big comes up, we'll
ask you to gear up and get out in the field. SWAT backs the rest of us up.
The Armory - These guys run the firing range we have out back in our
headquarters and they keep and maintain our weapons. You'll need to service
your own gun, so you'd better get a refresher course if you don't remember how
it's done, but anything else they'll take care of. Don't get them upset with
you. Remember, they know how to use what they service.
The Vehicle Pool - Hard-working, underappreciated guys. We buy them drinks
now and then, especially if we've just dented a car on a high-speed chase
forcing a perp over. They maintain our squad cars and if you give them a
little money on the side, they'll do some work on your own cars too. We've
got a few heavier vehicles, but that's the domain of SWAT. Usually detective
work doesn't call for tanks, you know?
Forensics - These guys back up the Detective Bureau. Anything that might be
interesting about a crime scene, we pack it up in these little bags and ship
it to them and they'll run fingerprints aganst a central database, analyze the
ballistics of any discarded shell casings or bullets found on the scene or
ahem, in the victims, and conduct autopsies to determine cause of death before
the bodies are either returned to their next of kin for a proper funeral or
handed to the Brotherhood for cremation. Forensics guys are pretty good to
know too, 'cause if we close a case and there's evidence left unclaimed and we
can't determine a next of kin to pass them to, well... 'Nuff said, all right?
Clerical - the most boring part of the whole agency, but essential, all the
same. They cut our paychecks, right? They organize our case records and when
we need some research done, it's usually some poor sod in Clerical who sends
the request on to the Stone Archive or wherever else we need info and picks up
the data when it's ready. And well, they're sort of the 'lil guys-- we like
to let 'em know that they can count on us if they need someone to give 'em a
lift back home and things like that. Some of them live in some pretty
dangerous neighborhoods.
Duties
Here're some examples of what your day might include:
Patrol - you'll be either on foot or in a car, cruising around your "beat".
If you see a crime being committed, radio it in before you try and stop it;
especially let us know if you think that you might need backup. We'll send
someone down as soon as possible. You'll also be expected to note and issue
tickets for misdeanors such as illegal parking, traffic violation, and
disturbance of the peace.
Backup - if someone near you is having a problem and needs help, we'll radio
to you on your own patrol route to go there and back him up. That's what the
shotgun's for-- you've noticed by now it's not exactly the sort of case where
you slap the panic button and an assault rifle drops into your hand, right?
It'll do you, and if you need heavy weapons, we'll tell you to drop by
headquarters and pick one up.
Pursue - sometimes it's a perp running that needs to be corralled, either on
foot or by car. You should talk to the Sergeant, he can show you a few tips
on getting the most out of your car in a chase; he used to be a humvee driver
in Capitol, and I guess it never gets out of your blood after that. He only
*wishes* that he could crush cars instead of having to get lift off a back
bumper and driving on two wheels around 'em. The vehicle pool hates him.
Anyway, usually perps that're running won't be too heavily armed, so your
handgun should do for a case like this, but if they're fleeing in an armored
vehicle, you might have to pick up something heavier and set up a barricade.
Emergency Response Team - if there's been a disaster-- a fire, explosion, or
an unexplained collapse of some building-- we'll send an emergency response
team down to rescue civilians. You might be on the ERT, or you might be there
to provide cover for them. There always seem to be some people who're out to
take advantage of misfortune, or who have a grudge against some of the people
we're helping.
Crowd Control - Luna gets demonstrations just like everyone else, sometimes
even strikes. Unfair working conditions, pfft, if they don't like it, they
should quit and find something else. Be that as it may be, any time you get a
large crowd, things can get volatile, so this is where we go to work setting
up police lines, protecting the high'n'mighties or keeping the looters out of
a disaster area. It can be awfully dirty work too, if you have to break out
the gas masks and throw out the Boke.
Stake-out - we get tip-offs every now and then, probably from the competitors,
that something's going to go down. When that happens, we try to station a few
of the guys down by the scene and bring in the perps. The timing can get
tricky, if you get 'em too early, they'll dump the evidence and claim you're
stepping all over their legal rights. Move too late and you're looking at
thin air where their getaway car used to be.
Undercover work - if you have the right looks for it and you can pass for
street scum, hey, no offense intended but it's just as important a job as any
other, we might send you in as a plainsclothes police. Keep your eyes open,
your ears up, and let us know if you find anything. And don't wait too long
to blow the whistle, either. We need our men alive, not twitching in the
alley.
Bodyguard - this isn't a big line of ours, but it looks bad if someone gets
whacked on the way to us, whether he or she was a witness with something to
say, an expert, a courier with something valuable, or some Corp exec on a tour
of our operations. Sometimes we want you to guard a prisoner, make sure he
doesn't get away or signal someone on his way to Ryker's Mountain. Just stick
close to your guy and keep an eye out and you should be fine.
Homicide - you might find one if you're a beat cop; once you make detective,
we start sending you to these. Find out who killed who, and who owes what for
the damages, and if the killer got away, try and get a make on what he looked
like, and where he went so we can bring him in. Serial killers are the
worst... We have to start looking for a pattern to the killings, and then you
get the "copy-cat killers" who're imitating the original killer's MO -- that's
"modus operandi"; it's Brotherhood for "how the perp did it". It's not often
we get a serial killer, so when we do, the guy who shot him gets free drinks.
Department custom.
Robberies, Arson, Hijacking, Other Crimes - every now and then, someone who's
paid us dues gets his stuff lifted, or a warehouse burns down. Most of these
we can't solve, the guy claims his insurance and his fees go up, but if you
can track down the thief, it's a feather in your cap. What's a feather? Ah,
I don't know, it's something like a medal. Figure of speech. Anyway, do a
good job and you'll make Detective 1st Class in no time.
Gang-busting - we'll get reports now and then about large armed gangs moving
out of the Fringe and into the civilized parts of the Perimeter-- those are
the parts that pay our bills. Or it might be a shoot-out having to do with
organized crimes. Either way, it's our job to bust them up and send everyone
back home before too much incidental property damage and loss of life on the
part of innocent bystanders takes place.
Scrubbing the Dark - this is what we call the dirty job of going after
something that's infested with Dark Symmetry or the Dark Legion. It's a
rotten job, you'll need the heaviest equipment we've got that you can handle,
and you'll probably be in the Dark half the time, but some of our customers
aren't too wild about calling the Brotherhood, so it's up to us to burn out
whatever it is, discreetly, without too much collateral damage.
Organized Crime - once you're salted, we'll start putting you on our big
cases. Now it's not just about tracking down killers, it's about getting the
guys who run the real crime rings, like drug lords and arms dealers who put
the heavy weapons in the hands of those who shouldn't have 'em. Those're the
scum that make the Perimeter that much worse a place in which to live. You'll
be working to pick up any evidence we can use to bring 'em down, and once
you've got enough to hang 'em high in a Brotherhood court, you'll be
conducting the operation to bring 'em in. Alive if possible, dead is okay.
Now that's not an inclusive list of your assignments-- basically, if someone
pays us enough and it doesn't make us look like we're breaking the very laws
we've set out to protect, we'll do it-- but you get the idea of what your
workday's going to look like. By the end of it, you're going to be pretty
glad to get back to the station.
Chin up, kid. Once it's over, it's over, and the next shift can clean up. We
usually stand each other to drinks at the pub, and the guy who had the
toughest day gets his drinks free. Then it's back home, kick off the shoes,
collapse into bed, and when the alarm clock rings, it's up and to another day.
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