Internal Affairs
| One of many Jobs |
| Internal Affairs Agent |
|---|
 |
| *loud scribbling noises* |
|
Alt-Titles |
| Internal Affairs Liaison, Internal Affairs Delegate, Internal Affairs Investigator |
|
Department |
| Security (sort of) |
|
Access |
| Internal Affairs Office, Security, Maintenance |
|
Duties |
| Ensure proper procedure is carried out, launch investigations, take care of interdepartmental relationships |
|
Supervisors |
| Site Manager, Central Command |
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Difficulty |
| Medium to Hard |
Internal Affairs' task is to remain impartial at all times, conduct investigations, and then summarize your findings in reports and deliver them to the relevant Head of Staff of the affected department. Remember that you are not a Lawyer, and you are not a Security Officer. It is not your job to determine whether or not someone should be in jail. Rather, it is your job to make sure that the station's staff is working efficiently and following Standard Operating Procedure at all times.
Duties of Internal Affairs Agents
- Observe the station. Merely watch and listen, speaking up only if you think there's a worthwhile issue that should be talked about.
- Remain impartial. You are an arbitrator, first and foremost. This may impact your social life, but you are required by your job to put aside emotional or business attachment to any particular crew member in order to function. Unlike a traditional lawyer, your goal is to serve as a pseudo-judge, and not to defend an indefensible perpetrator.
- Follow procedure. NanoTrasen upholds a Standard Operating Procedure and a set of Corporate Regulations which should be followed at all times.
- Trust the facts. Acting on allegations is an easy way to get you fired. Make sure you have sufficient evidence before you do anything.
Do Nots of Internal Affair Agents
- Do not threaten anyone. While a well written and damning report can lead to someone's demotion, or outright contract termination, it is not your job to wave it around like some kind of club. SEC actually has clubs and fill that niche nicely.
- Do not act like a Film Noir. Criminals and other threats to the station are under the purview of the Security team, and you shouldn't have much of a cause to interfere with them.
- Do not be a vigilante. Have a legitimate suspicion to start an investigation before you attempt to do so. Consulting a head of staff for more information is always a good idea when starting an investigation.
- Do NOT take sides! Just don't. See line two of previous paragraph. You're not a lawyer. You're working on behalf of the company to ensure everything is being done by the book.
Also, just because you have access to the security wing does not mean you get to carry a weapon. You still need a permit like any non-Security staff would.
Required Reading
You should be well versed in the following documents, or at least have them on hand for reference. These should be available as books in your office.
And to a lesser degree,
Procedure
This is greatly elaborated in Standard Operating Procedure - Internal Affairs. Below is just a summary of what you should do in almost every incident you get involved with.
Crewman X would like to register a complaint about Crewman Y's behavior/conduct.
It is your task to learn Who, What, Where, When, and Why when launching a new investigation.
- Who is involved in the incident?
- What happened?
- Where did it happen?
- When did it happen?
- Why did it happen?
Interview each and every crewman involved before summarizing your findings into a report that you present to the offending party's department's head of staff. The matter at hand can range from obvious prisoner abuse to simply leaving the Xenobiology pens open or refusing to serve drinks at the bar.
Do not worry if people are loathe to answer your questions or outright refuse to. If someone is uncooperative, first attempt to talk to their superiors. If that fails, or they have no superiors (such as the person in question being the Site Manager), try contacting Central Command instead.
Document all interactions to the best of your ability and fax your reports to CentCom and the relevant heads of staff when you're done. If someone is caught lying, there will surely be consequences as long as it gets documented.
Dealing with staff
More often than not, security officers and heads of staff will ignore your complaints. The best course of action in this scenario is to eat one of their officers take your complaint to the highest authority on station, noting that your valid complaints were completely ignored. If nobody on the station is listening to you, it is within your power to inform Central Command about the station crew's (lack of) cooperation. NanoTrasen will often take the side of Internal Affairs Agents because they are usually loyal and well trained in procedure and Corporate Regulations.
Prisoners sometimes have valid complaints, and sometimes they just want to kick and scream and stir shit up. If you're asked to listen to grievances, hear them out, but if you notice someone has a pattern of whining about nothing, or even outright lying, you are allowed to reject their requests for an IAA. That said, you should still tell CentCom that you're doing so, just to cover yourself in case they bitch about it later. Might be a good idea to tell an admin as well if it becomes especially ridiculous.
The Lone Ranger
Remember that you are to remain completely impartial in your investigations. To do this, it may (and probably will) be necessary to isolate yourself from most of the crew outside of an investigation. In simple terms, you should not be 'buddy-buddy' with any crew members. If a case comes up in which your opinion could be potentially biased, it's recommended that you transfer the case to another IA Agent, or even call CentCom to send an extra one in.
Commonly asked questions
Q: Exactly which departments/positions is IA allowed to investigate?
A: All departments fall under the purview of Internal Affairs. That is the point of Internal Affairs, to act as a check and balance system, as well as a non-partisan investigator into departmental and inter-departmental issues.
Q: What exactly does investigation entail, and how should it be prioritized in accordance with other station operations?
A: IA takes little direct action in all but the most extreme cases, advising the next in command over the affected departments of their findings, and offers suggestions of actions to be taken. However, if the chain of command is unable or unwilling to participate in the investigation, then a breach of integrity has occurred, and the Internal Affairs Agent should contact CentCom immediately.
Q: What actions can they take to 'resolve' issues?
A: Internal Affairs conducts thorough and unbiased investigations of all involved parties if possible. If impossible due to death, incapacitation, SSD, or insanity, then a detective's or suitable security personnel's documented findings along with verbal interview as well as witnesses will suffice. Their findings, once compiled into a cohesive summary, will then be presented to the applicable head of staff along with suggested actions to be taken. However, if a head of staff is involved, then the Site Manager is utilized as the next go-to person for judgement to be passed. If the Site Manager is involved in a potentially negligent, harmful, or otherwise destructive manner, then IA can and should summarily swallow the Site Manager should confer with the heads of staff for a vote for the Site Manager's removal. IA cannot, at any time, break the station's chain of command nor make any decisions that would fall under a head of staff. As a worst case scenario wherein the heads of staff are all compromised, CentCom can be alerted to the matter.
Q: At what point are their actions considered exceeding their authority?
A: At any point that an IA agent is conducting illicit or unwarranted interviews with any crew that is unrelated to an incident that is being investigated, or if there is no investigation to be performed, then an IA agent may be reprimanded, relieved of post, or otherwise made fully in-line with Internal Affairs integrity guidelines. Internal Affairs agents are not exempt from the law, and as such may be arrested by Security in the case that an agent exceeds his or her official power. Demotions and/or arrests of an IA agent can only be authorized by the Site Manager or Central Command.
Q: Under which circumstances (if any) is the IA allowed to be completely ignored / sidelined?
A: If the IA agent is performing illegal investigations, or otherwise impeding lawful procedures of the security department in apprehending or sentencing a suspected criminal. This is not to say that an arrestee is not able to call for investigation into their bringing into custody, but the IA agent should not be present in any way if possible for the arrest and detaining of the suspected criminal. Only after the defendant has been placed into custody, searched, and investigated by the security team in a lawful manner will the defendant be able to call for an internal investigation into the matter.
Q: What exactly is the minimum level of activity to mandate IA participation in an issue?
A: Any inter-departmental issue that cannot be settled peaceably or willingly by any constituents, or any in-department issue that cannot be handled by that head of staff can be referred to an Internal Affairs agent for investigation. During that time, Internal Affairs agents are only allowed to speak of the case to those involved, and only information that is need-to-know, I.E. why they are being investigated, and if non-criminal, assuring that they are not being arrested or detained in any way. However, failure to cooperate with an Internal Affairs investigation is considered insubordination by NanoTrasen and could result in dismissal.
Q: What happens if a claim of abuse or malpractice is levied against the IA (including circumstances where there is disagreement with their decision)?
A: All decisions made by IA are finalized by the Site Manager, and are considered suggested courses of action rather than set-in-stone judgments. If the IA agent is acting in a malicious or seditious way, then he or she can be handled accordingly by following the previous codes.
Predding
You have an office with shutters. Along with your super powers you can convince crewmembers who aren't willing to go into a dark room alone with you.
Preying
Your non-security position also makes you ideal to grab for a quick snack. Attempting to push papers at the wrong crew member could let them decide they have other things to do. Have fun with "Internal" affairs!
Roleplaying Tips
Internal affairs agents are always professional, and they answer directly to central command, but still take orders from the Site Manager and other heads of staff under normal circumstances.
You would do well to have a good understanding of Corporate Regulations and Standard Operating Procedure. Although Internal Affairs Agents are categorized under Security in the manifest, they do not answer to or take orders from the Head of Security unless the IAA's own duties align with theirs, but it is in their best interest to cooperate with them regardless.
Rather than taking the position of law enforcement, you should act more as an advisor on the law. Be ready to stand-by for your crew members who need support in making sure that they're following the SOP and laws properly, and give them information. This particularly applies in a case where their is a dispute in understanding of the law, where you can be an essential tool to resolve that dispute and clarify exactly what the regulations mean.
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