Updates: August 2014 - present

[~Legend~]

Here's a roundup of the most significant updates that have taken place over the last few months.

• Recruitment process made faster: Based on officers' feedback we have made sure that waiting time is kept to a minimum. A larger proportion of credible applicants will be passed onto the Academy and trained in a short space of time. Game time related prerequisites, like a set number of days played before applying, have been removed, and applicants will be judged fully on their personal qualities and enthusiasm.
  We have already seen some success under this open and efficient recruitment system. Shortly after implementation 4 applicants were trained and passed back to back, all within 3 days.
  
  
  
• Devolution of powers: Many people asked for more responsibilities to be given to experienced staff. In response, Sergeants, Senior Officers and FBI Special Agents have been given new powers to discipline staff, oversee recruitment & training, assign duties, organise activities, and in a nutshell, manage the VCPD.
  To help them in this a special support centre has been opened, filled with resources which will be of benefit to them and other officers.
  This change also means that the Academy Leader/Academy Staff initiative has ended. We thank Agents Verz, Shadow and Stormeus for their efforts.
  
  
  
• Individual assignments: In an ongoing effort to make VCPD distinct and unique to other groups & organisations, each of our assignments are now carefully tailored to match the interests and skills of the officers receiving them. You no longer have to wait to reach a high rank or to be recruited by an intelligence agency to get special missions and objectives.
  Additionally, these assignments are now being given by a range of senior VCPD staff, rather than just members of Command.
  
  
  
  
• SWAT & FBI forums re-opened: As some of you may know, when the division forums were moved back to the main ARPD site, none of VCPD's content was transferred whatsoever. For some reason we were excluded and for 7-8 months were left without any of our specialist areas, topics or member contributions. Finally, after a lot of unanswered questions I was given an old version of the ARPD forums to physically search through, and I spent a few days and nights just copying each and every forum post & topic.
  Now everything is fully functional and these boards can be accessed from the top ribbon under the 'Divisions' tab.
  
  
  
• Radio codes updated: With the help of Senior Officer PulseEffect, we have updated the department's official radio codes.
  As ever, the main aim of these codes is to make communication faster. For example, typing '10-15' is much quicker than having to explain that 'the suspect has surrendered and has been arrested'.
  
  Take a look at the new set of codes:
  
  

  10-4 10-15 10-76 10-80 Code 1 Code 3 Code 4 Code Alpha Code Bravo

  Message received, understood Suspect has surrendered/in custody En route to location Chase in progress, in pursuit Non-emergency response, no sirens Emergency response, use sirens No further assistance needed Primary situation  During multiple call outs/emergencies Secondary situation  During multiple call outs/emergencies

  
  The use of codes is not mandatory, but it is important to be able to identify their meanings.
  These codes can be incredibly useful when you want to get a message across in a short amount of time; they are great tools for communication.
  
  
  
• Closed VC:MP applications more accessible: The majority of departments don't have their old applications viewable. To help future officers complete their applications and for the general interest of guests we've made all of them available.
  We hope this will also bring back a few memories.
  
  
  

Signed,

Legend
VCPD Chief

[Gruia]

Indeed Chief, lots of progress happened these months. All thanks to you for leading this department like a wise man

[Huntsman]

It's wonderful to see changes, still, I expected that "Inactive staff is now going to face consequences" will be included but.. Good work. 

[~Legend~]

Any questions that people have or points that you want me/other VCPD senior staff to check out?

[Gruia]

Pretty much this:

http://arpd.argonathrpg.com/forum/index.php?topic=33366.0
http://arpd.argonathrpg.com/forum/index.php?topic=33361.0

[Kessu]

Any questions that people have or points that you want me/other VCPD senior staff to check out?

How strictly will possible future inactivities going to be dealt with?

Are there more changes incoming to the VCPD structure that us the players should know about?

[~Legend~]

How strictly will possible future inactivities going to be dealt with?

We now have a new scheme in place to make sure that the impact of inactive staff is greatly minimised.
In the past we've noticed that inactivity has been largely due to a lapse in communication. Now, each member of staff is paired with a senior VCPD officer who is their first port of call on matters of activity. In return, the senior staff offer their expertise and support, and they are also responsible for ensuring that the officers under their command remain active.

This new partnership should eliminate the problems of the past and we're happy to say that elements of this novel scheme are unique to VC:MP only.
VCPD will still remain to be the open, all inclusive organisation that is respective of individual's personal commitments beyond Argonath. All provisions are now in place to make sure that staff can receive leave/exceptions when they need it, but if they show that they are completely unwilling or inconsiderate of the opportunities that other players create for them then they will be demoted & fired.

Are there more changes incoming to the VCPD structure that us the players should know about?

Yes, internally the devolution of power has spread out many of the responsibilities across the VCPD and our SWAT & FBI divisions.

These new positions will be formalised at the end of our current assignment period, which closes within the next few days.

[Kessu]

Sorry if this is already out there somewhere, but is SWAT and FBI still invite-only, or have you added applications to those divisions?

[~Legend~]

Sorry if this is already out there somewhere, but is SWAT and FBI still invite-only, or have you added applications to those divisions?

They are invite only, but we have been giving officers trial sessions to give them a flavour of the 2 highly specialised divisions.

[Huntsman]

• Recruitment process made faster: Based on officers' feedbackHuntsman being an annoying cunt and bothering me till I decided to change my mind we have made sure that waiting time is kept to a minimum. A larger proportion of credible applicants will be passed onto the Academy and trained in a short space of time. Game time related prerequisites, like a set number of days played before applying, have been removed, and applicants will be judged fully on their personal qualities and enthusiasm.
  We have already seen some success under this open and efficient recruitment system. Shortly after implementation 4 applicants were trained and passed back to back, all within 3 days.
  

Fixed it for ya

[~Legend~]

Update - December 2014: The VCPD Handbook and its structure are nearing completion