Hi guys, the name’s Steve, and I’d like to give my thoughts on some points of ML that I feel could do with improvement, without this post becoming an essay.
As the greatest legal mind CM has ever known, I am going to separate this post into three distinct sections, for ease of reading, and ease of writing. Each of these topics are aspects of ML that, while good in theory, often find themselves the becoming devils in the details during a Provost appeal.
Loosen Requirements for Deputizing
While this is a side of CM that almost nobody gives a shit about, enforcing ML can get seriously difficult on the twice nightly occurrence when pop dips below 80, and we have no CO, and not a single MP for an hour and a half.
Are you the XO? Did someone M2C the req line? Would you like to arrest them?
Well that sucks, doesnt it??
According to this section of ML, there is quite literally nothing anyone besides staff can do to enforce the law until/if a CO wakes up.
On top of that, OOC situations can quickly develop in such an unnecessarily lawless environment, where street rules are often used to deal with troublemakers, exposing well meaning players to a possible player report for acting on behalf of an absent MP department, and illegally arresting obvious violent criminals.
This is an unbelievably pointless restriction on lowpop CM, that serves only to make everyones round a whole lot worse on the extremely common occasion where MPs cant be bothered to wake.
I am fully convinced that lowering the requirements of deputizing to a Commanders provision, with the Duty Officer being EXCLUDED from this ability, will just serve to avoid several million headaches for staff and players combined
Standardizing Announced Changes to ML
As a WL’d Commander, and the highest legal authority onboard the Almayer at any given time, it is of the upmost importance that I am able to excercise and understand Marine Law in its entirety, with even the smallest legal mistake often resulting in a player report for an unlucky CO.
That being said, Im sure I am not the only one to hold the opinion that, for a document as important as Marine Law, updates to its contents should be treated a lot more seriously than they are currently.
To draw a parallel between updates to server rules, and ML rules, I think it is pretty clear which sets the gold standard in terms of ease of access to people whose job it is to understand both.
I dont think I need to spell out how stressful it can be to play as CO and be expected to manually compare changes over multiple iterations of the ML wiki (because ML changes are not applied all at once, instead being over 2-3 versions), and how much room there is for error in such an environment.
To draw an example to the most recent ML changes, regarding the addition of Duty Officers, which is arguably the most significant ship side legal change in recent memory. We received this notification in a channel that a significant majority of the server likely has unlisted.
One to two lines about an almost complete restructuring of how the upper chain of command works, is quite simply not acceptable, especially compared to how thoroughly LTNTS documents changes to server rules on the forums.
We MUST start changing our approaches to ML updates, opening a thread similar to the rule changelog in Announcements, and putting in more effort to keep everyone on the same page when moving forward with ML changes.
Clarify MP Field Arrest Procedure
This example stems specifically from a ridiculous field arrest I witnessed two weeks ago, where a squad of MPs ran across Hybrisa, into the caves, and arrested Delta SL for DTGP during first drop.
They then carried the immobilized body of Delta SL across the AO, all the way back to FOB, claiming that their arrest was valid because it was performed in a forward base, classified as a “secure area”.
Marine Law specifically states the following
Arrests are restricted to the FOB, dropships, and secure areas unless in “hot pursuit”
- I ask for clarification on what precisely classifies as a secure area during a field deployment, since this is not defined anywhere I have found within ML, SOP, or the rules.
MP’s may travel between secure areas, but may not make arrests during these travels and must make sure the transport back with the arrested person happens safely.
This line directly implies that MPs are only allowed to move between secure areas when NOT conducting an arrest, since transporting a prisoner that has not yet been incarcerated still classifies as an ongoing arrest.
- Also, how exactly is an MP meant to ensure an arrest is conducted safely, and what is the punishment if they fail to do so? Does taking someone from a secure area, through an unsafe area, then back to the FOB count as safe?
Should there be hostiles in the vicinity, the MP is required to abort the arrest and move to a secure area.
Since it can be assumed that hostiles will likely be present across the AO when moving between secure areas, this line appears to directly contradict the first, and implies that a arrested Marine cannot be moved in between secure areas while in custody.
So I ask, which is it?
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Are MPs allowed to conduct arrests if they must transport a prisoner through unsafe areas to get back to the FOB?
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If not? Why allow the secure area arrest at all? Since any secure area that is NOT the FOB must, by nature, have an unsafe area at some point in between it and the LZ.
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If an MP transports a prisoner through an unsafe area at any point, is this a violation of their right to protection?
Feel free to point out any areas in which you feel I have possibly misinterpreted ML in any sections.
Thanks for taking the time to read.