Police Forces

[CJHusVar]

Does anyone have any thoughts on the status of some of the larger urban police departments? I don't really find anything in the published material that discusses them. "State Defense Forces", sure, but nothing on local or state law enforcement.

These are LARGE organizations, especially when one looks at departments like the NYPD, the Chicago Police and the LAPD. Granted a good number of officers would be mobilized reservists or draftees, but surely these agencies just didn't pack it in.

[Olefin]

The NYC module Armies of the Night mentions that whats left of the police force has retreated from Manhattan and is with what is left of the city government in the Bronx - describes it as a handful of metropolitan police. You would figure that in many areas the police may have broken up or been recruited into either militia units or impressed into military MP forces.

[Raellus]

I've been wrestling with this question in my Arkansas-set T2030 campaign. Like you said, a lot of reservists and National / State Guard members will be recalled to active duty. Then again, a lot of volunteer and auxiliaries will likely be "called up to the big leagues" as it were. I reckon you'd see a lot of hasty deputizations as well. I still think you'd see a net loss in law enforcement manpower at pretty much every level (national, state, county, municipal), though, with departments shrinking as they lose officers to the military.

I think it will also vary state-by-state. I think a lot of states will declare martial law and activate their State Guard/State Defense Force, using said at least part of the time for law enforcement duties. This would be prevalent in states that have been invaded (i.e. the Southwest or Alaska & the Pacific Northwest), or those dealing with groups like New America.

In any case, State Guard /SDFs will probably wear two hats- traditional military and law enforcement.

[Legbreaker]

Working on what to do with police in the Anzac book too. What I've come to is that every area will be different and local conditions dictate the situation.
One area for example is essentially a police state with the government and law enforcement holding very tight control over almost all aspects of the citizens there.
Other areas the best you can hope for is a sympathetic vigilante coming by....maybe...

[StainlessSteelCynic]

I can imagine though, that governments would try to preserve their various police forces for as long as possible simply because you still need police even if there's a war on.
I would question the idea of most (or even, many) police officers being called up for military service because there has already been a precedent set from WW2 whereby certain occupations were seen as vital for the functioning of the state and were thus exempt from military service.

This exemption, depending on the national need, applied to farmers, truck & train drivers and police as well as other occupations.
However for T2k, once the war starts grinding down the world and governments start losing their influence & control, I can easily see the police force being run down either through poaching of personnel, neglect by the government or by choice of the individual police officers (who feel that other issues are of more concern for them e.g. protecting their families).

[bash]

I don't see any reason for anyone's military to actively draft police officers for military service in the TW. In terms of warm bodies the selective service pool is far larger and skews younger than the average police officer. A drafted police officer and fresh high school graduate require the same BT/AIT investment. It's not like you hand the typical police officer an M-16 and they're an instant Rambo. Even SWAT is usually just some extra training, a couple qualifications, and getting to wear TactiCool gear once in a while.

That being said, there's no way any government is going to take police off the streets in light of a nuclear exchange. Most areas will need all the help they can get maintaining order and/or responding to the active disaster that is the world. Police forces would likely increase in manpower with deputization and crash training programs.

As order breaks down later in the war police forces might form the nucleus of some local militias or bandit gangs due to the fact they had some pre-war organization and infrastructure. Police stations would also make good HQs for militias and bandits for the same reasons.