How to Security Officer 202?

[The Grim Sleeper]

I am learning a lot from this thread, mostly about being robust outside of combat and that a lot of people feel ok about the Cops cracking down hard on suspicious characters.

But here are 2 cases that I run into frequently that leave me almost paralysed with 'incompetence':
1) Seemingly normal people engaging in minor crimes that could have far reaching consequences, like stealing EVA gear from public area's or hacking a vendor, having a fight etc.
2) Obviously (and possibly illegally) 'enhanced' people not doing anything super bad but engaging in minor vices that should be punished, but can't be handled by one beat-cop unassisted; Like fully decked out miners or transhuman geneticists looting the by then quite-derelict station.

Mostly things where I feel the right preventative action could save the station (or at least make Sec not seem completely incompetent till the shuttle arrives) in the long run, but would also be unwarranted police brutality in a very direct and immediate sense.
2 people fighting could be just 2 infantile morons who aren't even worth the trouble, but it could also be a traitor silencing a key witness, and your hesitation to pick 'who gets brigged first' the last mistake you ever make.
And then applying all that robust-ness and communication without fucking up. Do you tase them first, call backup and then apply cuffs, or apply cuffs second, then call backup? Or do you call backup first and hope neither runs away before you get a good look at them?

[Frank_Stein]

The way I usually handle fights is I stand where they both can see me and watch. Most of the time they'll keep at it, but they won't straight up kill each other in front of you.

If someone is making it lethal, arrest someone. Usually, it's best to arrest whoever is losing the fight. The reason for that is if you get who's winning, they are usually bitter about it and the loser will be more likely to try and continue fighting even while you're arresting. With the loser, a lot of times they'll just be thankful to be pulled out of the fray, and the guy who was winning will move on. Generally, whoever seems calmer is the guy you should take.

After that, you can privately question the other guy to get more info about why they were fighting and either release him or continue with a brigging. Most of the time it's over petty theft, and you can usually get the item back and return it to the owner yourself.

The main thing to keep in mind is it's all about conflict resultion. The goal is stopping the fight and preventing future ones, not finding the guilty party and punishing them. A brigging in these cases should be considered more of a way to separate the two parties and for the crewman's safety, so whoever you do arrest don't treat them like a dangerous subject until you've been given a reason to.

[Ed Venture]

Also for any new officers out there you have to know and accept that no matter what you do someone will still call you the shittest Security Officer to ever grace Space Station. Do not let this get to you. If you seriously mess up on the job the only opinions that matter are the admins who for the most part are almost always watching Security. Don't let the fact that you are most likely being watched by a admin get to you either. The Admins are very lenient towards Security players and understand as much as you do (or will understand) that security officers go though hell sometimes just trying to do the right thing and that's what admins look for in Security players even when they mess up if they see you are trying your best to do the right thing they won't be angry.

Security Officers are the players that protect the station and all of it's crew and they do it while baring all the hate around them. You are a good Officer believe in yourself, follow your best judgement and you'll do just fine.


Also take it from me, keep a clear head at all times as a Officer even when things are darn right annoying. You getting mad and acting in anger will 90% of the time make things worse for everyone involved.

[Grek]

A fight that needs stopped now where there isn't an obvious guilty party is a perfect time for a flashbang, IMO. Whistle in one hand, throw flashbang with the other. Blow whistle after the bang, then demand to know what the fuck is going on here. Keep your bag open with your cursor over the taser while you wait for answers.

[The Grim Sleeper]

Holy shit, the lessons are working!
I think I even managed to apprehend a traitor and kill a traitor (fully justified,one had a revolver the other had a cloaking device).
Well, almost kill a traitor. He robusted my ass and it was actually an emag-ed firebot that blew him out of a hull breach. But I'm calling it WIN, dammit!

[The Grim Sleeper]

Since my previous post, I've had another few rounds in as Sec. But my success hasn't stayed.
I've brought a few people in, but never a traitor. Only one of the 6 was even a miscreant.
Haven't even identified an actual traitor either. Just roughed up a few people breaking into EVA.
And there was a Blob round in which my automated assistants kept arresting the counter-blob force.
I didn't just get called shitcurity, I felt like shitcurity.

Thing I have learned:
- Murders don't send their bodies to the morgue. If they show up there, they aren't worth checking out.
- Don't bother with securitrons. They get in the way of other players and all too often your target won't be in the records anyway.

Time for more lessons.

[Frank_Stein]

Since my previous post, I've had another few rounds in as Sec. But my success hasn't stayed.
I've brought a few people in, but never a traitor. Only one of the 6 was even a miscreant.
Haven't even identified an actual traitor either. Just roughed up a few people breaking into EVA.
And there was a Blob round in which my automated assistants kept arresting the counter-blob force.
I didn't just get called shitcurity, I felt like shitcurity.

Thing I have learned:
- Murders don't send their bodies to the morgue. If they show up there, they aren't worth checking out.
- Don't bother with securitrons. They get in the way of other players and all too often your target won't be in the records anyway.

Time for more lessons.

Regarding securitrons, your id can unlock their controls so you can turn them off during blobs. 
You can also turn off their patrol which is great for when you just need to set them up as extra muscle in an area. 

Whenever you've positively id'd a suspect, set them to arrest as soon as possible either by stopping back at Sec or asking a fellow officer or the AI to do it. It'll help you a lot now that there's the new Sec Hud

[Noah Buttes]

- Don't bother with securitrons. They get in the way of other players and all too often your target won't be in the records anyway.

Beepsky has saved my hide more times than I can count.

If securitrons are arresting blob fighters, just turn off their contraband sensors.

[Boon Yoon]

I wouldn't ignore securitrons. I have been in miscreant rounds where the securitron was the only capable officer.

[Ed Venture]

Beepsky is your pal """and will always have your back""". I like to use my PDA to summon him to my location while making arrests just in case something goes wrong. Also if he gets in the way as he will some of the times just turn him off or ask the AI to if you are indisposed. Beepsky is just another tool for a officer to mastered.

[The Grim Sleeper]

The securitrons seem to respond poorly to summons. Is there a way to modify their settings remotely?

[atamusvaleo]

Just takes ol' beepers a while to get there. If you're concerned with timing, build a personal securitron and drag it around with you (it's nice for catching perps when you aren't paying attention too).

In an effort to whip this station into shape, I've been instituting a strict "NO VIGILANTE" law while playing a security role. 

So far I've had one person who was kind when I confiscated his taser and explained to him that by carrying weapons it only serves to distract security from chasing real criminals.

Other times have been a bit rough. I had another person curse at me for an entire round and in the ooc after. Mind you, he shot me when I was questioning him about a traitor and expected to be set free immediately after. What?

No vigilantes. Crack down on them as hard as you would a traitor!

[atomic1fire]

Beepsky can guard rooms.

Summon beepsky but turn off patrol. You can do this with every securitron and it comes in super handy with wizard rounds where wizard is bound to show up in the medbay hallway and get swarmed by securitrons.

I suppose if you wanted to be a huge jerk, you could leave a beepsky in a place where people always make contraband and then get beepsky to arrest them, then just show up and confiscate their zip gun or pipebombs.

[The Grim Sleeper]

No vigilantes. Crack down on them ...

I suppose if you wanted to be a huge jerk, ...

I appreciate the zeal, and good tips on proper use for sec-bots, but it's not helping me catch the guy making liquid genocide, murder-machines, TTV-bombs and lots of dead people in some dark corner of the station until his compost hits the air-scrubber.

[ferriswheel1]

No vigilantes. Crack down on them ...

I suppose if you wanted to be a huge jerk, ...

I appreciate the zeal, and good tips on proper use for sec-bots, but it's not helping me catch the guy making liquid genocide, murder-machines, TTV-bombs and lots of dead people in some dark corner of the station until his compost hits the air-scrubber.

You probably aren't, to be perfectly honest. The station, as well as space, is really big. A singular sec officer can't really cover the entire station, that's why there are five others and a HOS. Cooperation with the other members of the sec team is pretty key to cover the entire station. Even then, with a full security team it's often all sec can do to keep the station running for a little while until everything falls to pieces.

You can't catch everyone, even if you're a god-level supercop armed to the eyeballs, because realistically most of these threats you describe don't become obvious until it's too late. The only way to stop these would be to constantly search everyone which isn't really feasible.