¶ Security Standard Operating Procedure (SOP)
¶ About
First to describe what security on Horizon is – A private security company, hired by the station to keep it and its people safe from harm. Your main objective will forever be to do just that, protect those around you. It’s why you’re paid to be there, and while you can be a crooked cop, you probably wouldn’t take such a low paying job that puts your life on the line unless you didn’t have some sort of want to keep the station safe. Your loyalty lies to the station and its people, but not any one person. You are not deathly loyal to the HoS, or even the captain, even if you should show them your respect and follow their authority. Even they are not immune to your cuffs if their actions lead to harming the crew or station. This goes for you as well, so watch your step.
With your main objective in mind, you should understand that your workers are not perfect. Some days they make a mistake, some days they have a bit too much to drink, or go through a rough time that makes them want to start stabbing the people around them. If they become so insane as to bring a lethal weapon to work, you need to understand that they are still crew, and your job is to protect them, even if it means from themselves. To that end, you should always, always try to apprehend someone using non-lethal means. Even if someone is trying to outright kill you, if you have any means to subdue them non-lethally, you are pressured to do so. If someone IS attacking you lethally, you may respond in kind if there is no other reasonable option, but always shoot to incapacitate, not kill. If you kill a crewmate intentionally, you will be branded a murderer. Execution is a last resort, and can only be done with the agreement of the HoS and Captain, or if the offender agrees in Looc that it makes sense to end their scene that way.
Keep in mind that mechanics should be the end-point of a conflict, as it will most likely lead to an apprehension of a criminal (or a wipe of a sec team) and should be done after a solid amount of roleplay has taken place. Antagonists are here to tell a story, and we should always give them a proper spotlight to do so.
It goes without saying that synthetics are as much part of the crew as any organics on the station, and will be tried equally. Even the AI is subject to a pair of virtual cuffs.
¶ Processing Convicts
The above will be used as a reference point and quick guide for dealing with convicted crew.
¶ Severity
Severity will be the starting point of every conviction, as it determines the type of sentence someone will receive. The “Code” color of a sentence should be agreed upon by officers, with the HoS’ say having the most weight, but able to be overturned by a unanimous agreement by other officers.
¶ Green
Green is the most basic sentence. This includes but is not limited to:
- Bar Fights
- Vandalism
- Stealing low value items (someone’s sweetroll)
- Battery/Assault with non-murderous intent
- Misbehavior (Determined by Heads of staff, or officers for assistants)
- Rubbernecking
- Flourishing Contraband (Details further on)
- Trespassing into departments/low access areas
- Sexual Harassment
- Public nudity (If bits are showing - skimpy clothing is OK. Nudist practicioners can request a Nudist License from the Head of Personnel or stand-in access manager.)
Generally, anything that is very easy to fix, repair, confiscate, reverse, or heal up is considered a green offense. This is more of a slap on the wrist.
¶ Yellow
Yellow offenses are more complex. These offenses are handed out to “those who meant harm” or did harm to a larger group of individuals. This includes but is not limited to:
- Assault with murderous intent
- Larger damage to infrastructure
- Harming animals/pets
- Stealing unique items (teleporter, saber, ID cards)
- Trespassing into high access areas (heads offices, vault, etc)
- Sexual Assault (If you want to do non-con rp, should still take it somewhere private)
Generally, anything that takes longer to fix, repair, confiscate, reverse, or heal up is considered a yellow offense. This is for when they’ve done a serious no-no.
Yellow offenders may be subject to demotion at their heads’ discretion.
¶ Red
Red offenses are of the highest order, an individual who has proven to not only want to harm, but possibly kill one or more members of the station. Such actions include but are not limited to:
- Murder, straight up.
- Emagging/hacking a borg or Brainwashing a carbon
- Attempted grand sabotage or mass-murder (planting a bomb, gassing multiple people)
- Hostile takeover/attempted coup
- Kidnapping someone against their will (Just looc if it’s kinky business)
- Stealing massive amounts of resources (includes credits, the armory, a notable quantity of resources from the silo, etc)
This is reserved for valid antagonists, and should not be given to normal crew members. If someone has done something so terrible as to deserve this, they better be an antag, or approved by staff, they may be subject to discipline for doing so without permission.
The lines between each code level are blurry to allow context to give way to a raising or lowering of any offense. Officers are expected to use their best available judgment to access a proper sentencing code for each case.
¶ Repeat Offenses
Repeat offenses are handled in a short-and-sweet manner. If someone repeats an offense once, they are given the same sentence but 25% longer. If they do it a third/fourth time, elevate them to the next code level.
¶ Visible Contraband
Visible contraband consists of if an individual was seen with an object in their possession. This does not include objects that you assume someone has because of meta knowledge (I.E. emags, chameleon gear, implants) though if they are using such gear, they are probably headed for a code-yellow or worse anyway.
If you see visible contraband on someone, you have every right to confiscate it, but use your best judgment to not be a dick about it. Remember you are here to tell a story, and people do make mistakes mechanically with objects all the time. Give people a break if you think they deserve one.
If you see someone use an implant, and there is no other explanation (gear they can hide in plain sight, laser arm, camo box) then you can have it surgically removed and confiscated, but do not use this as a means to ‘check’ if you are not certain.
Refusal to hand over contraband is considered a green offense, which of course can be overturned by the HoS or captain.
¶ Compliance
The fun one, if a convict is being cooperative or not. If someone is being a good boy/girl/NB then they should be given a more lenient sentence. Of course this is not REQUIRED for an officer to do, and should never be expected, but is a nice thing that officers can do if someone is being really good about their whoopsie. Green and yellow sentences can be reduced by up to half, but again, use your best judgment. If someone is being a total dick IC, feel free to give them their full time.
¶ Searching/Contraband List
This is one tough nut to tackle, but we’ll try to cut this down as simply as possible. When a green code convict has been compliant, you SHOULD give them the benefit of the doubt. If no contraband has been spotted on them, do not search a cooperative green convict. Otherwise, you will always want to do a search on an individual you have to run in.
The following list can be considered contraband, but is not exhaustive:
- Department specific objects and tools (Power tools, surgeon tools, security garb, NOT normal tools)
- Unique, high value items not designed for their role (teleporter, spare ID, etc)
- Dangerous objects (designed to be dangerous) like melee weapons, guns, bombs, harmful chemicals and more
- Tools designed for sabotage (Emags, sequencer)
- Black market uplinks, telecrystals.
If you can say that something on someone is probably not something they should have, it’s fair game to confiscate it unless they can give an appropriate reason.
All objects can have written consent by the HoS or captain to have possession of, with their stamp of course, and keep in mind that when the station is in dire need (red alert) then all is fair game for use.
Anything that can be returned to its proper department, or owner, should be at earliest convenience. Any weapons, gear, or other things can be used by sec– so long as It won’t cause harm to the station or its people.
¶ Base Sentencing
Remember that it is not only the Warden's job to process criminals. They uphold the brig, but officers have the power to assign sentences to convicted criminals, and escort them to and from perma.
¶ Green
Sentencing a green convict should be as seamless of a process as possible, as it isn’t meant to keep anyone anywhere longer than they need to be. It’s meant to be more of a formality, to punish someone for doing something wrong as an IC consequence. Typical green code base sentencings are:
- 10 minutes in the brig (down to five for good behavior, a very short in and out)
- 100cr fine, to cover damages or stolen goods
- A waiver, the HoS or Captain can choose to waive a green sentencing
A green convict can decide if they want to stay the brig time or pay the fine, provided they are not waived.
¶ Yellow
Sentencing a yellow convict is more difficult, as their crimes are a bit too severe to just be waived. When upgrading a convict to a yellow code, please use as much context as you can. Typical yellow code base sentencings are:
- 15 minutes in the brig (down to a minimum of 7.5 minutes for good behavior, still pretty short.)
- Implanted with a tracking device and released. Cannot be re-used for repeated offenses, but allows sec to monitor you.
- 15 minutes in perma, provided there are other prisoners.
A yellow convict can choose between these three options, and should not be held from either choice if it is applicable (Haven’t already been tracked, there are prisoners for them to interact with.)
¶ Red
Sentencing a valid, red convict is the most complex out of the three, but arises much more rp opportunities. Again, only true approved antagonists should ever reach this stage, so do be cautious when assigning it, as you should perhaps ahelp if you think someone was griefing instead. Typical red code base sentencings are:
- 30 minutes in perma (down to 22.5 for good behavior in niche cases)
- 30 minutes paroled under a head, to which they are given a personal officer to keep watch over them.
- The Big Trial™. This is probably the most interesting choice, as it then allows for the lawyers to get involved. With a jury of 7 crew, the captain as overseer, and two assigned lawyers, a red convict can appeal for a trial to try and be absolved of their crime. The captain must agree to this.
A red convict can choose between and has a right to any of these options, so long as they are available to be done.
¶ Non-Crew Station Threats
More than likely, when a station is experiencing a station-wide, Non-Crew threat, the station will go into a red/delta alert. A red/delta alert is an admission that a security team can no longer handle a threat at hand, as they are more of a police force than a military. When this happens, all crew members are encouraged and allowed to get involved, taking up their own department’s tools in an all-out fight to save the station. When this happens, contraband and rubbernecking laws are lifted for the time being, and with the coordination of the security team, all crew must work together to fight the threat.
This includes, but is not limited to:
- The Blob
- Xenomorphs
- Molds/Vines
- Pirate/Malicious faction attacks or boarding parties
- Space Dragons
If the threat is successfully contained, and an alert is lowered, the contraband laws will be reinstated, and all departments are expected to hand over any weapon they had obtained for the purpose of fighting the threat (Within reason. Do give people time to actually fulfill this.)
¶ Prisoners (Assigned Role)
¶ Conduct
Prisoners who sign up to that role are not antags by default. They're welcome to be shadey, be a bit hard to manage (within reason), and be otherwise what they are assigned as, a criminal, but they should not work to cause so much issue for security that it takes their attention away from the rest of the station. If a prisoner wants to stage an escape, they should ahelp for appropriate approval before doing so.
Likewise, officers should not abuse their prisoners. It will be repeated as many times as it needs to, but security is not immune to being tried, fired, or incarcerated for committing crimes. If you abuse the prisoners, you may find yourself without a job, or worse. That being said, feel free to fulfill reasonable requests for the prisoners, but also remember it is generally frowned upon to spend more time within perma then is necessary.
In the event of an emergency, such as:
- A meteor storm
- Inhospitable atmospherics
- Other significant damage to perma
Officers may escort prisoners to safer holdings until Perma is safe to enter in again. If it seems like there is no chance of that happening, officers may decide to either move prisoners to the labor camp, or to parole the prisoners for the time being.
On a code red, it is not unheard of to even give a prisoner a gun to help defend the station-- after all, failure to contain a code red threat could mean station wide destruction.
¶ Parole
Usually those who sign up to play as a prisoner do so because they want to have that slice-of-life type roleplay, but there are often times when prisoners are by themselves, or just generally not having that great of a time. Instead of them cryoing, they may ask an officer for parole.
Giving parole to a prisoner is very much encouraged for officers to do if it seems they are not having enough to do, or people to talk to. The standard procedure is to escort a willing prisoner to the Head of Personnel to be assigned a job that is on the lower end of access. Janitor, cargo tech, service, and if they have an appropriate background, medical doctor or science researcher.
The assigned department's head or standing head should give approval before this is done, and an officer may wish to keep watch over the prisoner if they so choose, but is not 100% necessary if the prisoner is particularly well behaved.
¶ Going Off Station
There comes a time where officers may be presented with an option to wander off station, be it to explore or to patrol the space around the station itself. This is totally acceptable! But first, you need to make sure of a few things first. One, that there's no immediate, known threat on the station that needs your attention, and two, that you have permission from your HoS or Higher Command to step off station to do so.
Accompanying a crew bought shuttle is just another way to fulfil your job's number one priority: Keep the crew safe at all costs. Do take note that this is not a license for a security officer to suddenly start doing a miner's job. Please leave that to their role unless they specifically request help.