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The Long Arm of the Law

Like most states left in the Union, there are several layers of police enforcement in effect throughout the state. Oregon police are like their brethren the country over, not accounting for the peculiarities of various jourisdictions. As a whole, they tend to be a little better equipped, but attitudes will vary by location. They are broken down into State Police who run the Highways for the most part, County Police for each County, and City Police for metropolitan jourisdictions.

Cooperation between jourisdictions is not always the friendliest, but State Police have universal jourisdiction, meaning they can enforce the law anywhere within state borders. At the City and County level, the jourisdictions are separate but cooperative; if a County officer wishes to make an arrest in City jourisdiction, there must be a City officer present. The same holds true in reverse.

State Police
Oregon State Troopers are fairly typical for their breed, but they take their job very seriously. Each county has it's own regional office, usually located as close to the nearest highway as possible. Troopers don't joke around much, and take pride in their arrest and conviction record.

State Police will usually be found in in pairs in 4x4 vehicles (excepting the Highway Division) carrying medium to heavy handguns and backup shotguns. They typically wear light armor, if any. Individual Troopers are free to purchase any armor they desire, for which the State will reimburse half the cost, excepting implants such as Skinweave and Subdermal Plate.

Considering how easy it is to grow nearly anything in Oregon, the State Police spend a good deal of their time tracking down and destroying illegal crops on state- controlled lands. Offenders are dealt with swiftly, and the conviction rate is 95%. Be very careful what you plant.

--Highway Division--
The State Police Highway Division is a little different. With a brand-new fleet of Max Interceptors, they are becoming a more visible presence along I-5 and the larger highways. The Lone Wolves of the force, these guys travel alone and well-armed. The typical Highway Trooper carries a Heavy handgun and an autoshot in the car while wearing at least light armor. If any City or County cop chases a perp onto the highway, Highway Troopers are called in to chase them to ground. Several cruiser ram griles have been tested for strength already.

County Police
County cops resemble their State Police brethren in equipment and vehicles, but do not patrol the highways inside their jourisdiction. Led by the elected County Sheriff, these Deputies perform the same duties as City cops, only outside the cities. Unlike the City and state Police, the County Police do not have an Internal Affairs Bureau, so the Sheriff can enforce the Law as he sees fit. Most County Sheriffs and deputies are moderately unfond of "big city boys" and lawyers and prefer things to remain as quiet as possible. If a local Sheriff or his deputies take a dislike to you, move.

City Police
Charged with maintaning the peace in their City, Metro cops will normally be found in pairs carrying moderate hardware and armor, depending on the city they live in. They use a variety of vehicles, but will be found in ordinary police cruisers for the most part. Most precincts will have a response time of 1D10+1 minutes, and may or may not use video surveillance to monitor the city. As a general rule, most Oregon City cops feel there is no legal reason for the general populace to be carrying heavy armor or weapons, and will stop and question those who dare.

Portland Police
Portland cops are alot like their counterparts in other cities for the most part. They travel in pairs, they carry guns, and they will harrass you if you give them reason. The only difference may be in the level of equipment they carry. Portland's finest have access to the finest, and they like big guns. Most cops will carry a Heavy Autopistol as a standard sidearm, and each cruiser has at least one shotgun standard.

Armor varies by shift and precinct, with the more dangerous precincts issuing the most armor. For the most part, patrol officers will be issued a uniform with an SP10 shirt and SP10 trousers. During the cold and rainy months, the uniform jacket incorporates an extra 10 points of SP. An SP10 vest is optional. Armor stacking and encumberance values apply as normal. Detectives and undercover cops supply their own armor. In the areas surrounding the combat zone and other nasty neighborhoods, you can expect the cops to be wearing nearly full riot gear at night, and possibly carying autoshots instead of just pump action.

During daylight hours, the police will hassle you if you are obviously suited for battle, but will leave you alone for the most part. Things change at night, with the police being a little more watchful and more willing to hassle someone for less reason. After midnight, chances are they'll just shoot you and forget the paperwork, espescially in the high-risk precincts.

The Law and You

Weapons
Purchase - All legal weapon types may be purchased at any number of specialty shops and sporting goods stores. There is a 5-day waiting period for handguns, along with a background check. This check is through police records for outstanding arrest warrants and criminal history. Hunting rifles and shotguns do not have a waiting period, but a rudimentary check is run through the police database at time of purchase. Note that the citizen must acquire the proper hunting licenses before a purchase can be made, excepting home-defense shotguns.

Rifles - Broken down into Hunting Purpose and Assault Purpose, and include shotguns. Hunting Purpose rifles and shotguns are legal to own, but illegal to carry in your vehicle unless you are going on a hunting trip, accompanied by the proper permits. *Note-you must buy the permit before the gun gets in the car. Magazine capacity limited to six rounds. (This means a plug must be instaled for those weapons that normally have a larger magazine).

Assault Purpose rifles, shotguns and all autoshots are illegal to own unless you are properly licensed Corporate Security. This includes the Crusher SSG.

Penalties on the former include confiscation of the weapon until you pay your fine and procure proper licenses. Penalties on the latter include confiscation (you don't get it back ever), a 2000EB fine and/or 2 months in jail per weapon.

Submachine guns are completely illegal to own unless you are a registered corporate security officer, and most corps buy their own guns and assign them to their security on a leasing basis. Penalties are the same as per Assault Rifles.

Handguns - Citizens must register their weapons. Each citizen may register up to five handguns for personal use, unless they obtain a Gun Dealer's license, in which case the number is 200. Each citizen may carry one registered weapon openly except where posted or where the proprietor of a business requests that you check your weapons at the door. Citizens may obtain a Concealed Carry permit for their handguns. Licensed Coporate Security may carry more than one weapon if desired, but only when on duty.

Penalties for unregistered weapons are confiscation, a 2000EB fine and/or 2 months in jail per weapon. Concealing that weapon adds 1000EB to the fine and the jail is then mandatory. Concealing a registered weapon without permit is punishable by a 1000EB fine. Failure to comply with an establishment's weapon policy is punishable by a 300EB fine and/or two weeks in jail.

Ammunition - Your legal choices include standard ball, target loads, metal-jacketed slugs, and shotgun slugs. All non-lethal loads are permitted. Armor-piercing and other such more-than-lethal loads are illegal.

Personal Weapons - It is legal to carry almost all bladed weapons, including swords, provided you are not actively concealing them; belt scabbards under a long coat or cloak is ok, but bootknives and other such concealed scabbards are not allowed. Types that would not be allowed include axes, naginatas and other polearms, and throwing weapons.

Martial Arts weapons such as nuchaku, tonfas, kubatons and the like are legal to carry, provided the bearer is not actively threatening people with them.

Penalties for illegal personal weapons range from 100 to 1000EB per offense and/or 1 week to 1 month in jail.

Cyberweapons - Implanted Cyberweapons are treated the same as the same type non-implanted weapons with two exceptions: popup gun owners must obtain a concealed carry permit, and this counts as their one handgun. Wolvers and Scratchers by their nature are concealed, but allowable nonetheless.

Explosives - Explosives of all types are illegal to own unless you are a properly licensed Demolitions Agent or Corporate Security Officer. This includes even non-lethal devices such as EMP and Flashbang grenades.

Weapon accessories such as silencers are largely illegal. This also includes certain gun modifications such as Electrothermal enhancement, slasher rounds, triplex rounds and other such more-than-lethal modifications.

Licenses and Registrations -

-Handgun Registration - 200EB per weapon at time of purchase or within three days of bringing a firearm into the city.
-Concealed Carry permit - 1000EB
-Hunting Licenses - 100EB per season, per type. (i.e., deer, bear, elk, etc.)

Area Peculiarities

Portland in specific and Oregon in general does not believe in long or recurring prison sentences. Portland has established the idea of Exile From the Territory. Repeat offenders are simply thrown out of the city, county or state, depending on the severity of the crime. This usually occurs on the fourth offense of a type. (i.e. weapons charges, assault, rape, etc.) Returning to a Territory you have been exiled from is punishable by fines and/or jail time, and will step you up to the next level of exile. (i.e. city to county)

For those who simply refuse to abide by their Exile, they developed Enforced Exile. A behavioral modification chip is installed in the offender's neural processor (a processor will be fitted if not already equiped) and bonded so it cannot be removed. From then on, attempted entry into an Exiled Territory will cause the offender physical pain. This pain is the rough equivalent of a migraine headache, including all the usual symptoms thereof, and pain editors and drugs will not compensate. This pain is not a gradual onset, either; it happens the instant the border is crossed. (This fact is demonstrated to the offender to prevent them from trying to drive across the border and thus cause an accident)

The implant contains a GPS receiver attuned to the borders of Oregon. For humanitarian reasons, the northern border is defined by the north bank of the columbia, to prevent drownings. In the same fashion, the western border is defined as 50 feet inland from the ocean at estimated high tide.

The implant itself is a rather nasty device. Once installed, nanomachines run additional wiring into the cerebral cortex of the recipient, binding the device so thoroughly that it would take hours of surgery to remove the traces; the patient would likely die in the attempt. Since Enforced Exile is a permanent punishment, the designers did not make it possible to remove.

We were cruising down I-5, doing a steady 75mph when this grey streak flew past us like we were standing still. The general impression we got was of a new model import, doing something around 120mph. A couple miles farther down the road, a black, red and blue streak goes by doing around Warp 5, scares the hell out of us. We saw him five miles later, turns out it was a Trooper in a new Max Interceptor, he had that import pulled over on the side of the Interstate writing him a ticket.

We pulled off for lunch at the next town, and wouldn't you know it, that Trooper stopped in for some cofee. We asked him about it, and he said he saw the import go by, then waited a few minutes to give him a head start. He wanted to see how fast that Interceptor would go...

--Jack Killian, excerpted from The Northwest Traveller--