Los Santos Police Department
Dear LSPD members,
Here are the latest updates from Command HQ on what's going on behind the scenes and also what is planned for the future.
AMWC WinnersFirstly - huge congratulations to Team LSPD who won 2nd Place overall in the Argonath Motorsports World Championships. The team effort and high activity from Officers Luther Kingston, Lidia, Ownezz, Senior Officer Darius Johnson and Sergeant's Mac and Kawashty secured 2nd place across 30 events - beating 3 other teams by a large margin.
LSPD VisionFor our new cadets and officers - the vision of LSPD under my command is the following:
- To create a group of RPers that have fun together, are respected by the community and engage with fair roleplay. I want to make LSPD the best RP group.
- To enable a variety of cop RP styles that are interesting and engaging. There is not one style fits all and those who can make positive impact in training and leadership will be rewarded.
- To handle the vast majority of interaction ingame and not on the forum. This includes training, officer exams, punishment (cops and criminals alike).
This is perhaps the first time such a vision is implemented in ARPD - whereas previously different branches prioritised different attributes. Stopping the most crime, having the most realistic cop experience, being a formidable force of death and destruction... I have seen such leadership in the past.
However we must remember that we are a community of players regardless of what role our characters play as. This means building good relations with other members of the community whether cops or criminals. You will all have a more enjoyable RP experience whether cop or criminal if you carry mutual respect, understanding and even friendship.
This is why you will notice - the vision isn't about being good cops - it is about being good players to create a good community. Within this community you have the power to shape and lead cop RP how you like.
Feedback Results Earlier this month Sergeant [TCL]Mac carried out various surveys and questionnaires to LSPD members in order to identify the good, the bad and the ugly. Thank you to everyone who responded.
I will highlight a number of the challenges and how they will be addressed moving forward. It is very important to me that the command staff are in sync with the members in developing LSPD.
LSPD AcademyA basic academy system has been established and Senior Officers Harzy and Darius Johnson have been assigned as our first Instructors. With Megamidget the Academy system will help streamline the journey to Officer Rank. The requirements for Officer rank still relies heavily on RP ability and attitude (adhering to the vision), and the academy will teach the basics of cop RP.
Cadets will have 4 basic trainings and this system will roll out shortly as a top priority. We are looking for instructors and this is a good way to show leadership and responsibilities suitable for Senior Officer+ ranks.
ActionsLSPD Academy will launch by the end of the week. Training is already being delivered ingame.
Rank StructureLSPD started from zero with only a handful of members. It did not make sense to have so many ranks. I was very active in the first 2-3 months establishing LSPD with various challenges to overcome. As most came from IV:MP - a playerbase I was not familiar with - I needed to establish the vision and carry out the early development myself.
The Sergeant ranks are equivalent to Captain/ Leuitenant and have been the core command staff. This has allowed me to assess players who I have not met before and get a feel for activity and capability.
LSPD is becoming more stable and established so I will be looking to reintroduce the Captain and Lieutenant ranks to improve the efficiency in supporting me and managing decision making and processes ingame and on forums.
ActionsI will review activity across our membership (and myself) to see if we are ready for this transition.
Activity of Command StaffOne priority of mine is to have a command staff activity ingame. I will now include reviews as part of these updates which you are welcome to comment on.
The original minimum activity I imposed on Sergeants is 1 organised patrol/ event per week. This will be policed more strictly.
Chief [Rstar]Jcstodds - Low activity in the last 2 months due to AMWC - should be back soon focusing on LSPD and RP events.
Sergeants:
[TCL]Mac - Very active ingame.
[TCL]Kawashty - Very active ingame.
[Rstar]Norrage - Somewhat active ingame with NOOSE & admin duties.
Megamidget - Insufficient activity.
ActionsSergeant Megamidget's activity will be reviewed over the next month.
We will be recruiting more active Sergeants to lead ingame patrols, training and events.
Activity of Cadets, Officers, and Senior OfficersAs the server is still fairly new my policy was that no activity check was required for Senior Officer ranks and below. As our active community grows and stabilises it's unfair for those aspiring to rank up and find support if our membership is bloated by inactive players.
As the responsibilities of our Officers and Senior Officers grow - their activity will be reviewed and their ranks suspended as required.
ActionsCadets, Officers and Senior Officers activity will be reviewed. Inactive players will be suspended.
Discipline of OfficersThere have only been a few instances where officers have been reported in an official route on ARPD forums and these have been acted on accordingly.
All members are welcome to PM me personally with any complaints of officers and I will act accordingly.
ActionsThe department is still small and complaints will be handled on a case by case basis.
Subdivision support and purposeSubdivisions exist to give motivated players a chance to trial and organise new RP activity in their own vision. There is freedom to express your ideal cop RP and share with other officers. If it is proven to be successful, the division can become official with script support from the server developer.
It is a chance to show your leadership skills and activity. It is a chance to shape LSPD's future with your vision. Any officer can make a subgroup - but not everyone can make a successful group.
Please note though at this time the development is very constricted - and it is slow enough to get support for LSPD as it is.
Script support is not given without proof that the concept of the subdivision works, with evidence of good leadership and support within the community.
To encourage and enable these divisions -
I will spawn vehicles and objects on request for RP activity for subdivisions - as well as help map certain objects or items that can help you with RP. Contact me ingame for this support.
I will also lift the rules of one officer per group. If the groups allow - you can now join multiple subgroups to RP different styles in a more organised way.
Actions1 subdivision rule lifted.
Subdivisions can request vehicles and mapping ingame to support RP.
Moving forwardsI have opened more channels in discord to have a direct line with the direction of LSPD - Including a suggestions topic. Please feel to respond to this topic, PM me directly or tag me on discord if there is something that you feel was not covered and would like to be discussed.
Thank you for your time and I look forward to working with you all to make LSPD the best group in Argonath.
Chief Stodds