[pmulcahy11b]

Originally Posted by CDAT

Some thoughts, as an American I am trying to figure out where in our system these would fit. Looking up the word Gendarmerie and I came up with "A gendarmerie or gendarmery is a military component with jurisdiction in civil law enforcement."

For law enforcement we have federal, state, and local (includes city and county). Al tho not Law Enforcement or Military we also have security that can in some cases kind of fit into an almost Law Enforcement role (some times does fit into). Some federal security officers have no police powers but are equipped as well as the military.

So my best guess unless I am missing something would be here in the US the closest would be things like NCIS (Naval Criminal Investigative Service) were they are federal civilian police working inside of the military, so they have authority both on the civil and military sides.

In several police departments and sheriff's departments in the US, there may be a Reserve component (they are called in only when manpower requirements exceed the normal staffing of the department), and a group of officers who have finished police academy training, but are awaiting/applying for employment in the actual police or sheriff's department. These also are sometimes called in for short-time employment when the manpower requirements exceed manpower available. These "police promotable" (to borrow an Army term) members do not wear uniforms when not being used by the police departments, do not require police equipment, have no arrest authority, and are not authorized to carry an issue firearm.

In a Twilight 2000 situation, all of these members will be called up, but until the November Nuclear Strikes, will probably be called up piecemeal.