[V:MP] LSPD Command - Vision and Update 06/05/2020

[Jcstodds]

Los Santos Police Department

LSPD Command Update 06/05/2020

Good morning Officers of LSPD,

I would like to give a brief update of what I have planned in the near future with the support of our ARPD command staff.


LSPD Vision

My vision for V:MP LSPD is as follows. In this order.

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. To handle the vast majority of interaction ingame and not on the forum. This includes training, officer exams, punishment (cops and criminals alike).

I have purposefully kept this vision short. If you would like to discuss or if something isn't clear, please contact us in the LSPD Discord Server.


LSPD Membership
We are accepting applicants even if they are in a criminal RP group or clan. If you RP a criminal it does not affect your chances of joining. 
This is related to the vision pont 1 - we welcome all good RPers to have fun with LSPD activities and we can train those with a lack of cop experience.

Any toxic behaviour or attitude towards the community will not be tolerated. On duty or Off duty.


Planned Changes

Rank Structure

The Rank structure will be simplified to reflect our smaller Department at this time. This is a work in progress but I envision it something like this:

Chief - (High Command) - I will be directing the Department with the support of ARPD Command Staff.
Sergeant - (Low Command) - These are the players leading by example in their RP capability and police knowledge. These players are active ingame in creating training and patrols. Sgts will be able to /equip weapons.
Senior Officer - These are players leading in example with their RP capability and police knowledge. This is a reflection of their experience in ARPD and can /cancelsuspect at their discretion.
Officers - Officers are our members who have shown they can RP to a good standard and have a practical knowledge of police RP.
Cadets - New players to the community or players new to cop RP. Cadets will be reviewed on how well they engage with the community whilst learning how to RP a cop.


Payment & Salary
I am aware of the issue with LSPD being the most underpaid role ingame at this time. I'm discussing solutions with server management directly as well as with LSPD. You can join the discussion on the LSPD Discord Server.


SWAT
SWAT is in the pipeline and will be released only when there is a stable and active Officer base.


Command Staff Activity
A number of transfers were made from other departments to create an active Command Staff when I became Chief. Due to real life disruption and circumstances we have not been able to hit the ground running in terms of ingame activity.
All transfers from IV:MP and SA:MP were given on a probationary basis and will be reviewed at the end of May 2020 (approx 3 weeks from now) in line with the above rank structure.


If there are any other questions, please let me know either here or via discord.


Chief Stodds

[FuryJK98]

Good one!

[Kowalski.]

Interesting.

[Jcstodds]

Updated to add the following on Membership requirements:

LSPD Membership
We are accepting applicants even if they are in a criminal RP group or clan. If you RP a criminal it does not affect your chances of joining. 
This is related to the vision pont 1 - we welcome all good RPers to have fun with LSPD activities and we can train those with a lack of cop experience.

Any toxic behaviour or attitude towards the community will not be tolerated. On duty or Off duty.

[Jcstodds]

Added the above section on Command Staff activity.

Command Staff Activity
A number of transfers were made from other departments to create an active Command Staff when I became Chief. Due to real life disruption and circumstances we have not been able to hit the ground running in terms of ingame activity.
All transfers from IV:MP and SA:MP were given on a probationary basis and will be reviewed at the end of May 2020 (approx 3 weeks from now) in line with the above rank structure.

[Huntsman]

I don't think that allowing people from criminal groups to join is a good idea for two reasons:

1) I believe that the PD is doing rather well as it is, especially given the lack of any real situations at the moment, so such a rather desperate measure is not needed. If the criminals want to have fun as cops, they can always go on freecop duty;
2) We should encourage more and more civilian/criminal roleplay, because as evident, we're greatly lacking the civilian/criminal element in the game right now.

[Jcstodds]

I don't think that allowing people from criminal groups to join is a good idea for two reasons:

1) I believe that the PD is doing rather well as it is, especially given the lack of any real situations at the moment, so such a rather desperate measure is not needed. If the criminals want to have fun as cops, they can always go on freecop duty;
2) We should encourage more and more civilian/criminal roleplay, because as evident, we're greatly lacking the civilian/criminal element in the game right now.

Hi Huntsman. I understand your sentiment here but I would like to make it clear that this decision has not just been made to help recruitment. Many good players can roleplay cops, criminals, business man, dog, whatever... and as I believe that freedom of roleplay style is at the heart of Argonaths vision, I do not want to set an arbitrary rule that excludes players because they already belong to another RP group. We would be doing a disservice to ourselves to set such a limitation. 

LSPD will be home to those who want to grow their RP experience in terms of organised police roleplay, and home to those who can lead by example in roleplay and having fun with the community. This is a group, not a job. I don't want members to dedicate 100% of time to LSPD, and I actively encourage trying different roleplay characters to broaden your experience and perspective.

On the flip side, there are some limitations. Players' membership to this group (LSPD) is subject to their behaviour regardless of whether they are on duty or not. If a player is the perfect cop, but shits on the community when RPing a criminal they are not welcome (see post above).

I would prefer career criminals to RP a different character as a cop to their criminal character, however as a supporter of free RP I don't really mind, it's the players dicision, go ahead. If some Mafia Don is respected in the community and RPs corruption in a reasonable way which doesn't abuse any scripts or go against the vision, it will be dealt with in a fun and fair RP way too.


In terms of point 2) If we want some good RP events it's quite handy to have criminals to manage larger events and RP scenarios. In these type of events I need trustworthy players to lead whichever side I am not organising. Having trustworthy members in the community to go off duty and RP as criminals for a bit will likely improve the outcome.
 
I will lead this by example... as some already know I am one of the biggest criminals of the server already with a different RP character...

[Jcstodds]

Moved to News & Announcements for visibility.