Sol Federal Police
The Sol Federal Police (SFP), is a government law enforcement agency tasked with enforcing Sol Central Government law, investigating breaches of law, fugitive recovery and transport, and securing ports of entry.
History
Founding
Following the Fleet's establishment, the Sol Central Government (SCG) turned its resources into forming a more conventional peacekeeping agency by seeking to provide a uniformed police service to enforce SCG law over all applicable territories. In the end, the Sol Federal Police was founded in the 2240s to fill the role of a uniformed civilian law enforcement agency that the Sol Central Government wanted. Based on Mars, this fledgling agency was to answer directly to the SCG Security Council, a specially appointed committee overseen directly by the Senate itself.
Over the following decades, public opinion of the agency fell sharply due to a largely received lack of confidence exacerbated by low staffing levels due to budgetary restrictions, lack of cooperation between SFP and local law enforcement agencies, as well as by the emergence of dozens of frontier crime syndicates at the fringes of civilized space.
Reformation
Through the support of majority parties within the Senate, the SFP was able to obtain a significant increase in their allotted budget that allowed them to have a greater presence throughout Sol territory. This managed to repair its name and win over the confidence of Sol citizens far and wide for their reliable work and unwavering integrity. Despite their best efforts, the minority groups within the Senate continued to voice doubts, saying that the fledgling law enforcement agency was little more than a band of government-approved vigilantes patrolling supply lines and eliminating a handful of various frontier cartels and human trafficking operations.
As the SFP continued to grow, various organizations continued to increase their expectations of the agency. Most prominently involved were companies like NanoTrasen with investments towards deep space mining operations, who demanded tighter security and enforcement on customs and intergalactic trade lines. In response, a series of closed Security Council sessions resulted in the authorization of two distinct changes to the agency. Firstly, for the first recorded time in history, agents of the SFP and members of the Second Fleet were embedded in the newly minted Home Guard. Secondly, the SFP was granted judicial discretion in deputizing and compensating licensed and trained private citizens to pursue fugitives from justice. Formally called Trackers, they were individually granted permission by the upper echelons of the SFP and required to wear a unique gold badge with blue backing prominently on their person.
Conflict
During the opening phases of the Gaia Conflict, the SFP rapidly withdrew their resources from the Helios, Kruger, and Lacaille systems and worked to evacuate the civilian populace where they could. With news of the conflict reaching home and with the Fleet mobilizing to deploy, numerous member states became concerned for their safety as civil unrest and paranoia grew. Nevertheless, SFP agents continued to work tirelessly to dispel the growing wave of opportunistic crime pervading the outer territories to reasonable success.
Today
Cases in the recent years, particularly the high profile arrests of government officials, have lead to no shortage of gossip or speculation that Terran spies have infiltrated the highest levels of society much to the chagrin of the agency and leading to countless inquiries and 'witch hunt' style investigations into those influential or wealthy enough to warrant public scorn or distrust. Most of these claims, fortunately, have been determined to be insubstantial by the agency, although with the terrors of Gaia still fresh, suspicion and skepticism has become a defining quirk of many veteran SFP investigators.
SFP and the SEV Torch
The SFP has been asked by the Expeditionary Corps to help augment the Security staff aboard the SEV Torch by embedding agents that are a part of the Territory Support Division within their team. Most often, agents are employed in an investigative capacity but can be utilized in a general law enforcement role. Although the SEV Torch generally operates outside of SCG territory, the Torch itself is considered SCG territory and as such agents maintain their authority to enforce law and arrest when needed. Supervisory agents are not normally embedded with this vessel.
All agents embedded aboard the Torch are provided their gear by the Expeditionary Corps while their uniform is provided by the SFP. Although they are not part of the Expeditionary Corps or Fleet they are expected to follow the procedures and regulations as they pertain to other crew and contractors. Although they can send messages to SFP through facsimile, any response back will be likely delayed and be handled far too late.
SFP and Bounty Hunting
The SFP still utilizes Trackers to find and arrest low-level fugitives from justice. These low-level fugitives are only wanted for low crimes as listed by Sol Central Government Law. The payments are typically announced in conjunction with the posting of the bounty and are paid upon delivery of the fugitive. In the event that a fugitive is returned deceased or maimed, any bounty payment is halved at a minimum; it's not uncommon for payments to be refused in cases like that.
Any high-level fugitive from justice is typically tracked down and arrested by the Fugitive Recovery Division of the SFP. These fugitives are not posted bounties and thus are not often targets of Trackers. If a high-level fugitive is successfully arrested and returned by a Tracker, delayed payment is often arranged. Payment amounts can vary greatly due to that and can often be delayed as long as a month.
Any bounty is issued by a local court or tribunal following their local law or SCG law. They are typically issued as a last resort when local law enforcement are unable to arrest the fugitive due to logistical difficulties or are unable to locate the fugitive. These bounties are uploaded to a warrant tracker database maintained by the SFP for distribution.
Agency Structure
Internal positions
| Rank | Badge | Role | Minimum Age | Maximum Age | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agent |  |
Law Enforcement & Investigations | 21 | 60 | As an Agent, you have been given the opportunity to work for a department with a wide scope of possibilities. From organized crime disruption, fugitive recovery and transport, to local law enforcement, the opportunities are seemingly endless. You are a part of a single division within SFP at a time. When embedded with an outside agency, you are provided gear by the agency you are with and wear their badge. You answer to their supervisor. |
| Supervisory Agent |  |
Managing Staff | 26 | 60 | As a Supervisory Agent, you are tasked with either particularly important investigations or with the day-to-day operations that managing a team of Agents consists of. For the vast majority of Supervisory Agents, the job is mostly a desk job. You're rarely seen embedded within outside agencies; if you are, things are already not going well for anyone involved. |
Specialized Units
| Name | Base | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Organized Crime & Vice Division | Sol | To disrupt organized crime operations involving human trafficking, controlled substance trafficking, or organized violence within SCG territories. |
| Territory Support Division | Alpha Centauri | To embed with and support local law enforcement or outside agencies; to maintain security at ports of entry. |
| Special Investigations Division | Sol | To conduct investigations that the SFP has deemed particularly sensitive, urgent, confidential, or otherwise prominent. Considered the most competitive of the four to join, few people who join this division end up transferring out to a different division. |
| Fugitive Recovery Division | Sol | To locate and arrest any outstanding fugitives that local authorities either can not locate or require assistance arresting; to coordinate and conduct transportation of arrested fugitives. |
Non-Agency positions
| Rank | Badge | Role | Minimum Age | Maximum Age | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tracker |  |
Fugitive Recovery | 18 | N/A | As a Tracker, you have been granted permission by the SFP to utilize their warrant trackers to locate and arrest low-risk fugitives of the law. You are not an employee of the SFP but a private contractor that has petitioned for the ability to earn a quick and legal buck by hunting people down. You are bound by the requirement to use the minimum necessary force to complete your job. What gear you use is what you bought or found yourself. What trouble you find yourself in is up to you to get yourself out of. Your paycheck depends on your precise and reliable work. |
Recruitment
Candidates and Joining
As the tasks that the SFP handle is varied in nature and objectives, it is only fitting that the agency itself be made up of individuals from various backgrounds. Recruiters particularly seem fond of talking recently-retired Defense Forces personnel but you'll find a growing number of individuals who do not come from a military background. Applicants are subjected to written testing, physical fitness tests, psychological and medical examination, and oral boards. If they pass all of those steps then they are offered a post at the academy as a candidate to prove their mettle.
To keep standards high, all agent candidates are required to have at minimum an associates degree in any law, business, medical, or science related field of study prior to entering the academy. All Supervisory Agents are required to have at minimum a masters degree in the same fields of study. Both ranks are required to partake in yearly physical fitness tests in order to maintain their job and are subject to a mandatory retirement age of 60.
Academy and training
Located on the grounds of the SFP headquarters, the training academy is an eight-month long live-in police academy broken into two phases – Foundation and Growth. The Foundation phase is three months long and consists of mostly physical fitness training, self-defense training, weapons training, and internal policy education. The Growth phase consists of the remainder of the academy and shifts focus from physical training to police procedure, Sol Central Government Law, investigatory procedures, and other academic lessons.
Once graduated, agents may be sent to additional schooling related to what their role is within their assigned division or whatever agency they will be embedded with. This often includes, but is not always limited to, forensics courses or regional language courses.