Contract Police Zone
From doktorsleepless
The Contract Police Zone is an area where many first-response public safety functions have been contracted to contract police, nongovernmental security firms, instead of being provided by civil law enforcement. This essentially outsources law enforcement functions, cutting law enforcement staffing costs to the city government, and foisting the remaining cost onto the shoulders of those making use of the services provided.
Contents |
Overview
"Central Heavenside is a Contract Police Zone.The C.P.Z. can be thought of as a gated community, minus the physical gate and walls. Heavenside's C.P.Z. encompasses a large chunk of the inner city: upper-class residences, shopping districts and corporate offices. The Zone is likely defined by sensors that detect a person's ID and credit tags as they cross the boundary, and by signs that provide official notification. Once inside the Zone, surveillance equipment tracks a person's tags, and provides law enforcement with a full record of who went where and when. It is likely that the density of surveillance devices within a Contract Police Zone is far greater than outside its borders, purely on the economic basis that it's profitable to surveil the C.P.Z. to such a degree.
Please Wear Your Coverage Tag or Banking Tag
Credit Card / Cash / V$ / EGold Also Accepted"
- --sign seen in Heavenside
How long Heavenside has had a C.P.Z. is unknown, but evidence suggests it to be less than a year old. Heavenside residents seem used to the Zone, so it is likely not brand-new, but Max Cale asks the audience how they like it (DS#04); apparently it has been established since his last annual lecture.
Other cities probably have C.P.Z.s as well.
Inspiration
Contract Police Zones and Contract Police may be an application of the modern-day American health care model to law enforcement. The use of coverage tags suggests a "police insurance" coverage much like modern-day insurance coverages (like health, home, car).
Technology
What technology is required to assemble a C.P.Z.? Certainly not much beyond what can be had off-the-shelf today. Basic wireless telecomm gear: linkages for commercial IM services and cell phones (bonus: these are already in place, as are the legal structures for allowing law enforcement to tap into them). Basic surveillance gear: cameras, microphones, tag readers (bonus: if you can activate the microphone on cell phones remotely, your microphones are already in place). Basic data networking to link the sensors and telecomm routers into a command-and-control center. From there, just add the right mix of contracts, support businesses and personnel.
Psychological Consequences
Contract Police Zones provide a citizen with distinct backgrounds to the conscious moods. The effect is like a subconscious radiation, affecting individuals in different ways depending on the individual's station within society. For those who can afford pay-cop services, the C.P.Z. provides a comforting background mood of safety and security. For those without the dough, the C.P.Z. provides no such comforting, and may even be actively hostile. Some businesses pay the contract police to hassle grinders, to keep the riff-raff of lower classes away from their storefronts. For grinders and others who can't afford pay-cop rates, the C.P.Z. is a place to avoid when possible, and not dally in when crossing the boundary is unavoidable.
Outside the zone, signs warn that all 911 calls are subject to a five-minute delay. Consider what effects it would have on you if you knew that your call for an ambulance, or a policeman, were not important enough to get to right away. What effect would it have on you to know that a pay-cop was just around the corner, and he could stop the mugger accosting you for only $300? What effect would it have on you if you couldn't afford it?
Contrast with the Temporary Autonomous Zone.
Zone Vulnerabilities
The C.P.Z. can be remotely disabled via the apocalypse bunker's systems. Obviously this doesn't remove the signs from Central Heavenside; the precise effect is a matter of speculation. It may include disabling some or all of the surveillance systems. It may also disrupt or disable official communication channels.
The Doktor turns the C.P.Z. off in DS#08, precipitating a rampage of grinders equipped with anonymizing Doktor-masks. The combination of these factors allows the mob to turn the C.P.Z. into a T.A.Z. with no fear of future reprisals: with no tag data identifying them, the police don't know who to arrest.
Obviously, the C.P.Z. should be vulnerable to a wide-area loss of power, unless the Zone infrastructure is protected by backup power systems.
