Daily life in Melza: The City Watch

The City Watch of Melza (colloquially, "The Watch") is a law enforcement agency that functions as a municipal/metropolitan police equivalent in the city of Melza.

 

Melza's law enforcement falls under several different agencies, each with its own leader. However, the undispusted chief of all these institutions is the Lord Mayor, and in an advisory role, his security ministers.

Melza's law enforcement has decent inventories of equipment, but lacks heavy weaponry or aircraft and only owns a few small auxilliary boats in addition to ground vehicles. Much of the police's equipment includes special tools and less-lethal incapacitating weaponry.

Both the City Watch and the Frontiersmen Corps have their central headquarters in the Watch Wing of The Houses of Rule.

 

The City Watch of Melza coat of arms, from my Orbis Furum (Thick as Thieves) fantasy setting.

Based closely on the coat of arms of Melza. It removes the river motif from the shield, but keeps the city gatehouse with flags, and adds an or/argent (golden/silver) eye above the gatehouse, symbolising the all-seeing eye of the law and justice, as well as adding an or (golden) sun above that on the heraldic right side and an argent (silver) crescent moon above that on the heraldic left side. The sun and moon symbolise the Watch guarding the peace both during the day and at night.

Behind the shield are two crossed argent (silver) one-handed arming swords. Like the coat of arms of Melza, the City Watch CoA also carries the baronial crown of the Melzan monarchy as its crest.

The organizational structure of the City Watch

The City Watch conducts most of its activities only in the city proper, though they will occassionally venture out into the city state's outer, rural areas and investigate criminal activities over there as well. They are the biggest and main law enforcement agency of the Melzan polity.

The head figure of the City Watch is the "Chief-o'-the-Watch", also known colloquially as the Chieftain or simply the Chief. He is subordinate to the Lord Mayor and all members of the City Watch are in turn subordinate to him.

Currently, the City Watch operates seven service branches (six of them "bureaus" and one a special branch). Most of these also have their own, further specialised investigation departments.

Municipal Patrol and Security Bureau - This is the most populous and easily recognisable service branch of the Melzan police force. Ah, the good old patrolmen and patrolwomen of the Watch ! The true foot soldiers of The City's police. Whether you like it or not, as a thief, these men and women serving on the force will be the policemen and guards you'll be encountering most frequently (outside of private security guards). The equipment and uniforms of the Patrolmen, while unified, can have slight variations depending on their rank and the location they're serving in. Arms-wise, they tend to wear no armour or only lighter armour (e.g. padded armour, brigandine, etc.) and generally wield one-handed swords, clubs, shortbows, certain types of crossbows and pistols. Some of them occassionally carry a stun bomb, so it's not wise to rely too much on the notion that you can always outfool them and their weaponry while making your escape. Patrolmen can be dangerous and deadly to you due to their sheer numbers, and the fact that they often cooperate with colleagues from other Watch branches or with random citizens-bystanders that call on them for help. In short, don't underestimate the bobbies…

Burglary and Theft Investigation Bureau - One of the two bigger "plainclothes" branches of the Watch. This is the bureau most dreaded by the professional thieves of Melza, for obvious reasons. When you're a thief, it doesn't pay off to leave much evidence behind, as this particular bureau of the The Watch has been becoming increasingly professional and scientific in its examination methods as of late. The “B&T” or "BTI", as people on the Watch like to call it, is staffed by civilian-clad detectives, crime scene investigators, experts on assessing the burglary methods used, and experts on assessing property damages. The bureau has its own minority of armed officers to accompany the detectives, and they can be every bit as risky to run into as the regular Patrolmen. Armaments of these individual armed officers are highly similar to those of their aforementioned colleagues. Due to the nature of burglary investigation, even the detectives tend to carry small personal defence weaponry from time to time.

Homicide Investigation Bureau - One of the two bigger "plainclothes" branches of the Watch. It's staffed by the aforementioned civilian-clad detectives, coroners, murder scene investigators, medical examiners, and several groups of lab rats focusing on particular areas of (primitive) forensic research. The bureau has its own minority of armed officers to accompany the detectives, and they can be every bit as risky to run into as the regular Patrolmen. Armaments of these individual armed officers are highly similar to those of their aforementioned colleagues. Due to the nature of homicide investigation, even the detectives tend to carry small personal defence weaponry from time to time. In recent years, the bureau has started using increasingly modern methods of murder investigation. Unless you've decided to become a killer and you were foolish enough to leave plenty of traces behind, you needn't worry too much about the homicide investigators. Unless you provoke the armed officers or even detectives to chase you or get into a scrap with you, you should be fine.

Commerce Inspection and Smuggling Prevention Bureau - One of the three smaller "plainclothes" branches of the Watch. The “CISP” is the bureau that specialises in dealing with economic criminality, from anything smuggling-related to “white collar” crime. (Not that they're all that successful combating the latter in particular, with corruption and cronyism being what it is.) Outside of investigating, the employees also engage in customs work, though in an amount that is secondary to the customs policemen working for Melza's gendarmerie, the Frontiersmen Corps. Due to the frequent overlap of cases between the CISP bureau and the customs employees of the gendarmerie, of the seven City Watch branches, the CISP bureau cooperates the most with said other law enforcement service. Thieves dabbling in smuggling, fencing loot, the running of front companies, etc., should be on the lookout from the CISP investigators and the watchmen assigned to accompany them. Along with the burglary bureau, this is possibly the branch one can anger the easiest if he or she is not careful.

Transport and Traffic Bureau - One of the three smaller, mostly "plainclothes" branches of the Watch. Its employees oversee the transport safety and abiding of transport regulations within the state and The City in particular. In one of the few examples of The Watch having jurisdiction outside of Melza, instead of The Frontiersmen Corps, there is Railway Policing Department within the bureau. All trains within the Barony's borders, whether the national train franchise or privately operated companies, are staffed by uniformed coppers of the department, acting as railway policemen. Reflecting some interservice rivalry, the “T&T Bureau” is often mocked by the other branches of The Watch for supposedly being “the place with the easy jobs”. Naturally, Traffic Watchmen get annoyed by the old cliché and will spare no time in trying to set the record straight in front of civilian strangers. The branch of The Watch that the “T&T”-s cooperate the most with (and generally get along the best with) is the CISP Bureau. Though some of the old jokes about “T&T-s having it easy” still abound, there is a sense of camaraderie between their employees. Armaments of individual T&T watchmen are highly similar to those of the average Patrolmen.

Ethnic and Species Relations Bureau - One of the three smaller "plainclothes" branches of the Watch. It is the youngest, newest branch of Melzan police. After a decades and centuries long history of recurring rioting and squabbles among specific groups of a species, racial, ethnic or religious nature (especially in some notorious or troubled parts of Melza), City Hall decided it's high time to form a specially trained branch of The Watch for the sake of mitigating and preventing such occurences. The “ESR Bureau” and its “Essers” were born. Of all the policemen serving in The Watch, the Essers are arguably the most plainclothes of all, given their role as negotiators and semi-psychologists. They are deeply knowledgeable about local issues and how to diffuse them (usually peacefully, if possible). You can count on them to “know the lay of the land” in terms of social and cultural contexts.

The Watch Specials - Not a bureau of the Watch in the classic sense, but they are run quite similarly. In terms of duties, they are the most varied of all seven of the Watch’s services. These policemen and detectives are called upon whenever there is a need for more out-of-the-ordinary missions and procedures. Anything from resolving riots and kidnappings, sniffing out criminals on the run, or even thwarting the abuse of the latest technologies for criminal purposes. The departments (or more precisely, units) of the The Watch Specials are:

a.) The Flying Squad - They're a form of up-gunned policemen, created to deal with crime scenarios requiring rapid crisis response. “The Squaddies” were originally organised as a slightly better armed group of plainclothes detectives, sent out to investigate higher risk warrant services or conduct police raids. Over a number of years, it became increasingly obvious to the municipal government and the leadership of the City Watch that the average death toll of a Flying Squad employee is ridiculously high. Thus, it was decided that the department's employees will be greatly re-equipped and retrained, in order to better handle armed scuffles with particularly dangerous criminals. Unlike their Patrolmen counterparts, the Squaddies are quite armour-clad (usually in medium armour) and truly “bring out the big guns”. They are the most heavily armed policemen in the Watch, toting civilian versions of military-grade firearms, bladed weapons and polearms. They also carry stun bombs and stun mines as standard issue. From a thief's perspective, though there is generally little reason to worry about them being called in, it is nevertheless a possible outcome - especially if you blow a heist attempt in a high-security public institution. Beware, Squaddies have a tendency of following a “shoot to kill” policy. Flying Squad members occassionally include dog handlers, adding to a pilferer's plight if he underestimates the situation.

b.) Unrest Quellers - Popular name for what amounts to the City Watch's riot police squads. Part of “The Watch Specials” branch, where they form their own department. Melzan society tends to be generally quiet all year round, but from time to time, a good old bit of riot or public unrest erupts. The City Watch usually responds in kind. As one would expect, the gear of the average Queller consists of fairly heavy protective armour (the heaviest in the Watch, in fact), riot shields and various melee weaponry (clubs, batons and even maces being the most common, polearms a close second). While the Quellers are no strangers to a ruthless baton charge if one is required and ordered, to their credit, they usually try to focus on merely breaking up a riot or pushing the least reasonable group of rioters aside of the rest of the crowds. Some of Melza's humanitarian-minded personalities have been campaigning as of late to have the old-fashioned batons of the Quellers replaced with ones made of rubber (a recently discovered technological marvel). However, the municipal government and Watch leadership have ignored the proposal for now. Unless you're the type of thief that likes partaking in street unrest or angry public protests, you don't need to worry about these particular policemen.

c.) Dog Handler Troop and d.) Falconry Troop, etc. - Various animal-handling departments of “The Watch Specials”. Simply put, policemen with sniffer dogs, guard dogs and trained pigeon-intercepting or gull-intercepting falcons. They have quite a bit of history in The Watch, surprisingly enough.

e.) Prison Security and Guarding Troop - Overseen by Prison Wardens, this more heavily armed service focuses on guarding prisons and jails in Melza, and escorting suspects and prisoners between prison and a judicial court. They also guard the courts. Occassionally, they serve as guards at executions of criminals, some of them public.

f.) Calc Crime Prevention and Policing Team - A novelty that has appeared in The Watch only in the last few years. With the rise of the earliest calc communication networks in Melza also came the rise of the earliest of calc criminals, or “clackers”, as they are called. Though the government thought of this at first as a once in a blue moon threat that needed to be adressed on a case-by-case basis at most, they soon realised that illegal tampering in the new-fangled communication systems was becoming recurring and rampant. Reluctantly, the go-ahead was eventually given for the formation of a new department within “The Watch Specials”. It's now crewed by the best counter-clackers available in Melza and run on a semi-experimental basis. As the longevity of the project grows, there is talk about eventually moving the department under the Transport and Traffic Bureau. Nevertheless, it might take City Hall some time until it comes to a definitive conclusion on this particular decision. Currently, the team has launched something of a public awareness campaign in places equipped with calcs and calc networking. The slogan goes “If you disrupt a line, you're comitting a crime !”

Quick history of the City Watch

The development of the City Watch began with Melza's original town militia and thief-catchers employed by the municipal government. As the need for law enforcement grew, so did the manpower and professionalism of the future institution, and its technology was improved accordingly as well. When the state separated the outdated town militia into segments integrated into the standing army and segments dedicated to law enforcement only, this laid the foundations of the Watch as it is known now.

The Street service or Street duty employees of the Watch are an evolution of the thief-catchers of old, while the Guarding service or Guarding duty had developed from parts of the town militia assigned to defend the city's walls, gatehouses, chokepoints and important institutions. The Street service provides patrolling (usually by more lightly armed personnel), the Guarding service is more static, more location-focused (usually with more heavily armed personnel). The Investigation service is the latest in the City Watch, and took on its current form thanks to advances in criminal and medical sciences, and criminal investigation techniques as a whole.

A particular department of the City Watch can have a mix of employees from all three services, depending on its needs. Current departments include the Municipal Patrol and Security Bureau, Burglary and Theft Investigation Bureau, Homicide Investigation Bureau, Commerce Inspection and Smuggling Prevention Bureau, Transport and Traffic Bureau, Ethnic and Species Relations Bureau* and The Watch Specials.

(* - Yes, species. It is a fantasy setting after all.)

City Watch insignia and badges

Law enforcement badges used in the city state and small monarchy of Melza, from my Orbis Furum fantasy setting.

There are no other rank insignia but these, since not all of law enforcement has standardised clothing. Additionally, an emblem of either of the two main branches of law enforcement might be worn on the hat, helmet or upper garment of the personnel.

Street duty (first row, left to right): Roundsman, Sergeant, Officer, Captain, Commissioner
Guarding duty (second row, left to right): Sentry, Guard, Watchmaster, Warden, Overseer
Investigation (third row, left to right): Detective, Senior Detective, Inspector, Senior Inspector, Chief Inspector

Boss: Chieftain of the Watch (Chief-o'-the-Watch)

The service the Watchman (policeman) serves under is depicted in the upper third of the badge. A lantern signifies street-patrolling policemen, a gatehouse signifies guarding duty policemen and a (antique) magnifying glass signifies police detectives and related investigators.
The rank level is indicated by a police whistle, the lowest rank being a single whistle and the highest rank being five whistles. For easier readability, the whistle charges come in two alternating designs.

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