Go ahead and ask us anything.
The issues COSA may have and possible solutions to that aside, given everything said in Discord I believe the best solution to your issue with raids would be a compromise rather than one side or the other. As someone with a cop character who is actively involved in some of the raids that have happened, as well as a crim who is involved in raid-worthy activity, I definitely believe an argument can be maid to the frequency of raids. While stopping raids would make it too easy for some who would powergame to build unrealistic wealth with no consequence to reckless behavior, I think that either putting a limit to the frequency of raids or adjusting what the criteria are would put a much better balance on things.
I think that possibly requiring harsher criminal activity to warrant a warrant (heh heh) would make a big difference. Such as having to have video evidence of things to link a high amount of illegal items being stored in a house, confessions, or even sting operations which would create very interesting RP, would make a huge difference to the process that involves a lot more thought and activity on both sides of RP while also extending the length as well.
Another possible solution to mitigate current frustrations would be to add different rules and limitations to raids such as:
-Limiting how much time must pass in-between raid operations
-Limiting the days that raids are done to a specific day in order to allow crims to know when it COULD happen, just not when it could happen to THEM. ie raids are only able to be executed on Sundays.
-Limiting what warrants allow you to confiscate, such as having to specify whether you're raiding the property to find drugs or guns (or any items relating to those such as contacts and keys) and having to ignore any items found of the other type
-Possibly having to do an out of court settlement with the civ/crim if the raid is executed and nothing or not enough of worth is found, placing a consequence to frivolous raids.
All in all, I really don't think it's realistic for PD to just stop raids, especially when they just started doing them again. Limiting them is definitely up for debate imo, even if any new rules or regulations would only be active while COSA is able to work things out on their end.
Once again I would encourage anyone with a free character slot or a current character that's eligible and apply for COSA. The city obviously needs it and it can't get new employees if no one applies.
"All in all, I really don't think it's realistic for PD to just stop raids, especially when they just started doing them again"
To counter this, it's also not realistic to not have COSA around for the general public. You guys need COSA to sign off on the raids, but yet we can't get a hold of them to handle any cases and they aren't doing any because everything has been placed on hold till restructuring has happened. We can't get any cases heard right now. That in of itself is a little powergamey so to speak. There is still plenty of chances that they can get caught with items, especially during transport.
I am not saying that Crims should get off on everything, Just saying that raids should be put on hold till COSA is available to all and that courts are back in session.
-Limiting what warrants allow you to confiscate, such as having to specify whether you're raiding the property to find drugs or drugs (or any items relating to those such as contacts and keys) and having to ignore any items found of the other type
Typically this was how warrants in the US would work - they needed to be specific as outlined in our 4th Amendment. Otherwise it's what is called a "blanket warrant" which were limited to situations like a group involved in so much various criminal activity that it's not necessary or even possible to list everything specifically. For our purposes, a gang stash house would fit this category provided the court is convinced by supporting evidence.
Likewise, "sneak & peek" warrants used to be much harder to get approved, but less so in modern times. These are typically used when looking for a specific key piece of evidence where there is a flight risk or ongoing larger investigation - a solid reason to not alert the suspect they have been raided. Police have executed these and then tossed the location to make it look like a burglary or even scattered broken window glass to make a forensic search of a vehicle look like random theft. Again, something we should probably avoid unless a judge is convinced it's necessary.
tl:dr - I think you make a bunch of good suggestions as to how we can avoid both of these scenarios & make raids fair for everyone involved.
Warrants have placed limits on what can be confiscated and are reviewed with high scrutiny against the 4th amendment. There has also been an announcement about COSA, Court, and representation in cells. We're working on things.
Warrants have placed limits on what can be confiscated and are reviewed with high scrutiny against the 4th amendment. There has also been an announcement about COSA, Court, and representation in cells. We're working on things.