Dispatch is the TNH police station. Military police officers (MPs) work from here, and there are often dozens on duty, with dozens more on call/standby. Dispatch has its own private armory, too.
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Table of Contents:
- Location & Layout
- Shifts
- Patrol Routes
- Rules of Engagement
- Total Members
- Armory
- Conceptual Images
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Location & Layout:
This part of the carrier is centrally located, giving it similar “response times” to all of TNH’s sections, starting with its hangars (where the most activity/work generally is). It is a suite consisting of several secure rooms arranged in a square around a central private hallway. One of these rooms is the MPs’ armory, and another is full of their communications equipment; flat-screen TVs linked to TNH security-cameras and MP helmet-cameras, etc.
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Shifts:
From here, TNH’s MPs go on foot-patrols throughout the whole ship, circling back once their shift-relief (MPs coming on duty to replace them for several hours) arrives (meets them). There are three shifts per 24-hour period, and all of them overlap by several minutes; that’s just enough time for one shift (group of MPs on patrol) to replace the previous one. Each shift has
MPs do not return to Dispatch to be relieved by the/their next shift; they are “relieved in place”. They keep their issued weapons with them at all times –even when they return to their private quarters/berthings. The only time MPs go to Dispatch is when they are assigned to work a shift in here (instead of going on foot-patrols).
* The New Horizon never has long watches except for during sleep-deprivation training. Most of the security efforts are doubled by the A.I. nodes, or handled by them entirely. Weary personnel make mistakes, hallucinate, and lose their cool, and those are things which simply must not happen in high-stakes scenarios, especially this far out in Space.
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Patrol Routes:
These are kept fairly random, though they always cover each section of TNH at least once. MPs on duty/shift from Dispatch will walk to and through all of TNH’s hallways and major/larger rooms (such as the hangars) during the course of each 24-hour period. An individual MP can expect to walk (sometimes casually, sometimes briskly) ~24 miles each shift (3 MPH average walking-speed of a human, times an/the 8-hour shift) –but not day-to-day; there are still days-off, ensuring all MPs get plenty of rest and recovery.
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Rules of Engagement:
First and foremost, the job of every MP on this ship is to serve and protect the other crew members. They only write tickets/citations and make arrests as a last resort. Their job is not to meet quotas by each month’s end, or to rough anyone up for information.
That being said, if ever a human onboard TNH poses a threat to anyone else on this ship, that person will be met, talked with, and detained as politely as possible. Detained people are taken to the ship’s brig. They are treated respectfully at all times.
MPs always work with at least one partner (a fellow MP of this ship/office). Whenever there are more suspects/hostiles than MPs present at any given scene/location, more MPs can and usually will be called. The general recommendation is that the number of MPs equal or exceed the number of suspects/hostiles.
Anytime an MP team/force feels threatened/overwhelmed, they can call for a portion of the Marine detachment stationed aboard TNH to join and assist them.
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Total Members:
Most human communities have ~2 police for every 1,000 citizens/residents. TNH has ~32,000 onboard, standard (and a capacity to transport double that). Thus, there are 64 MPs based out of this office/section of the ship, and another 64 who can be “seconded out” here from other sections/departments.
Vince Nassida is one of the senior-ranking police-officers of Dispatch.
The overall/whole department, however, has even more that can be tasked with patrols.
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Armory:
All of the standard-issue police equipment you would expect to see on a planet-side officer is kept here next to the communications-room. Dispatch’s armory contains 64 sets of primary and secondary firearms, the magazines (“clips”) and ammunition for them, tear gas, gas masks, batons (“nightsticks”), handcuffs, zip-ties, body armor (including ballistic helmets), ballistic shields, eye-protection (ballistic goggles), fireproof gloves and neck-wraps (“neck-gators”), boots, police uniforms, gun cleaning-kits, gun cleaning-stations, mechanical-breaching kits (“hooligan kits”), and a variety of other related things. Everything is serialized and inventoried weekly –including automatically by the ports each item is meant to be seated on / locked to.
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