Fellow Staff Sergeants who every day - aggressively attempt to co-hearse Marines into obedience, fear not for your time although limited, has come to an end.
I, like many Marines don't like to be flashed (spam flashed especially), pushed by fellow Marines and MP's who have disarm intent enabled, randomly yelled at and told where to go for no apparent reason, and general beatings for - what was it again? - "Trying to find the Bathroom."?
Before you Harmbaton
If you're going to be a Staff Sergeant MP, know the basics first. Your job, believe it or not is to ROLEPLAY and uphold Marine Law, specifically when you dictate when. You do not get to ignore the Marine that just Murdered the CO because you thought he was a dick and deserved it, but you can choose to warn instead of baton and beat the Tech trying to hack a Vendor. Your most common enemy is yourself, use your words to your advantage, walking around in full armor and with a stun baton out and charged is one way to get your ass shot 9/10 times.
READ MARINE LAW! You are to FOLLOW this at all times! No questions asked, you will not be corrupt and uphold the law, sure the WY will try to Bribe you, and may suceed but know where your OOC limitations breach your IC Character. This job is about anti-grief, in a way you're a mobile-mod, you impact the round DIRECTLY through your actions and could cost the Marines the fight if you decide that arresting the entire Alpha Squad for crossing the river .2391041 SECONDS EARLY is worth it.
Getting Started
Generally speaking at the start of the shift is simple:
- Grab a holster and equip it to your Jumpsuit.
- Equip a flash-bang and an extra pair of cuffs in your Duty Belt. Don't forget to pocket the Police Tape and grab some Latex gloves by the forensic computer.
- Depending on where you're going to position yourself, grab your armor, and move it to the desired MP Locker nearest to it (for example if you're going to sit on the Bridge and make sure salty Marine's don't interfere with Bridge Ops, or just generally because it's a good idea to have security in the most key position on the troop carrier, put your armor in the gun locker to signify it's yours.)
- Next, goto the West Brig and open up one of the gunlockers, equip your duty firearm and the extra Magazine in your other pocket. DO NOT FOR ANY CIRCUMSTANCE BESIDES LIFE-THREATENING (marine pointing a gun at you or a hostage, cm, etc.) USE YOUR DUTY WEAPON. You may want to grab a pack of buckshot shells and equip it in your armor, for security reasons of course. You are not permitted any other firearms, only one duty pistol that is to remained holstered at round start - do not transport weapons, and do not secure weapons in the brig - you don't need a M41A or attachments.
If there is a Shots Fired Call, don't walk out without any armor and no lethal prepared, you should know as an Officer where you draw the line. You can always ask the CO / XO / BO's to deploy lethals for a short amount of time to regain control of a situation, until then don't respond one by one, group up nearby and come in by force with a plan.
Non-Lethal Robustness
In most cases, a flash will suffice unless of course they're wearing sunglasses- at this point spam flashing a Marine is only going to piss everyone nearby off if you're doing it incorrectly. Every situation you're involved in requires some delicate care, most marines want to roleplay - that's why they cause attention to be diverted from the round to them. Your duty is to make sure that they don't take too much time for the rest of the crew. Resolving situations quickly, isn't always the best way.
Flashbangs: Don't deploy unless there's a riot or a massacre, in most cases this is overkill and will cause more damage to the nearby Marines and MP's than it will the individual(s). This is where the next item comes in:
Tasers: Oh what a lovely thing, you can keep someone on the ground for ultimately ever if you decided, however don't abuse this function. Once you taze an individual, ensure that you're cuffing them promptly, and not causing too much substantial stamina damage.
Stunbaton: It hurts a shit ton, not really unless you harmbaton them, still - great power comes great responsibility. Maintaining your distance from possible close combat encounters and whenver you can deploy a taser or flash over projectiles and harmbatons.
Side-Note, the Taser and Baton (pointed out in the comments) are ID Locked, meaning only authorized personnel (typically command and MP's) have access to use the equipment.
While some of THIS is a copy and paste from the SOP, it's a refresher on your equipment, make sure you have everything you'll need for a patrol, you don't want to be trapped in the bathrooms without any help or equipment to stop the hostile marines from lynching you.
Teamwork
What Number is this? I forgot....KNOW YOUR COWORKERS! You work as a Team, you're all for one and one for all - if one of you fucks up it makes the whole team look bad, you don't want to be shot because Baldie McBalderson harmbatoned a Alpha Squad Leader to critical and shot one of their Marines, that's your job to step in and arrest them. That being said, know when to backup your partners - without them you won't make it far in a 3v1 Marine contest.
Lastly, you're a Staff Sergeant, most people won't respect you, but they won't DIRECTLY fuck with you - use your power sparingly, don't pick a fight with the Marine who has a bad attitude against MP's, rather save that energy for the individuals who are messing with Operations and essential personnel to the Mission.
ROLEPLAY.
Your job is fifteen percent being robust, eighty five percent roleplay. Arresting someone for thirty minutes because you can, doesn't mean that there aren't alternatives to the situation that can get them back to fighting and you to patroling. Form Relationships and mold Marines into good-hearted, mean-machine fighting Metal Bears.
Military Officers and military law enforcement agents are expected to use their best discretion when applying sentences and apprehending those who violate the above laws. Failure to do so will result in immediate contract termination at the discretion of Central Command military officials. This line gives you the right as a Law Enforcement Officer to use your discretion when applying sentences and apprehending those who violate the law, ultimately it is your decision to arrest someone, HOWEVER: that does not give you the right to ignore orders, and allow a Marine to be free because you don't like being ordered to arrest individuals.
Executions
Make sure all Executions are legal, if you process a illegal Execution because Baldie McBaldersony hacked a Vendor, prepare to be slept and job-banned with atleast a tiered vacation.
YOU ARE TO FOLLOW MARINE LAW BY THE LETTER!
Any other suggestions to this insight post is encouraged.
