Obscurify - Player Report: Bernard Burkhammer, Rule 2

Reports Player Reports
1

Obscurify - Player Report: Bernard Burkhammer, Rule 2

What’s your BYOND key?

Obscurify

Round ID:

16792

Your character name:

Rudy ‘Kraut’ Acker

Accused BYOND key:

No idea

Accused character name:

Bernard Burkhammer

What rule(s) were broken?:

Rule 2

Description of the incident:

Normally I wouldn’t even bother to write a player report because I don’t usually care enough to make it an issue for all to see, or let it be handled in-game through an ahelp or IC’ly. but because of this particular player being an issue in the past I’ve decided to write one anyways, as well as on advice from I believe Silencer_pl

So as the Senior Enlisted Advisor this round I was mostly busy training new players in-between checking in on the MP department. At some point I witnessed Burkhammer- an MP, detaining someone (a self-surrender) without disarming them before entering the brig. This can generally be considered FTFP, but I merely reminded them in an IC manner not to do that- and later let the Chief MP know afterwards. However, I later witnessed Burkhammer- after word of Alpha squad mutiny was spreading, essentially goading them with inflammatory comments in alpha squad comms- when both me and the chief MP noticed and I essentially told them to knock it off, I got the response below. The chief MP- although I forget their name, can probably attest to Burkhammer’s behavior as they were already irritated with them by round’s end.

This isn’t the first account of utterly inflammatory behavior I’ve seen from this particular player as an MP, either skirting the line of the already rigid MP rules or outright breaking them.

Evidence:

Sgt Bernard Burkhammer [Alpha (MP)] yells, “YOU CANT MUTINY ME!”
Sgt Bernard Burkhammer [Alpha (MP)] exclaims, “YOU CAN’T DO SHIIIIIIT!”
GySgt Rudy ‘Kraut’ Acker [MP (SEA)] says, “Burkhammer, I swear on my mother’s grave, do not fucking enflame Alpha squad by goading them.”
Sgt Bernard Burkhammer [MP (MP)] says, “I will enflame Alpha Squad, Gunnery Sergeant Acker.”
Sgt Bernard Burkhammer [MP (MP)] says, “It is incredibly funny.”
Sgt Bernard Burkhammer [MP (MP)] says, “Charge these nuts, sir.”

2

Hello, I am replying to this as a witness of the events of the round. I was a fellow MP (Holly Short.)

The DCC was ordered to be arrested by the commander, I believe an XO, for not holding groundside and stated the reason was Desertion. The CMP announced over coms that the DCC should report to the brig to be placed under arrest for his actions. The DCC replied that he was on his way and appeared to do so promptly and with no threat of resistance. I am unaware of the location that Burkhammmer and the DCC met. While this happened there was a back and forth over radio from other marines about if that charge would apply. I believe that charges of Insubordination were considered, with the XO finally stating something to the effect of “I am now no longer sure what the exact charge should be and leave it up to the MPs.” By the time I arrived to the brig the DCC was detained, I am unsure if he was handcuffed or not while this happened, and was being questioned by the CMP. This lasted well under the 10 minutes allowed for an ORA investigation. To my knowledge he was then released, although I am unsure of the exact reason, if it was he was found innocent, a successful appeal to the CMP, hijack underway, etc.

I arrived to the brig during the questioning, where I found a pistol pouch, with one inside, sitting in the brig lobby. I grabbed it and brought it inside with me and asked the DCC if it was his, which he then stated it was. I placed it in an open prisoner locker nearby, I believe but can’t confirm it was in line of sight where the questioning was happening, and I again believe I informed the DCC of me doing so so it wouldn’t get lost. I am not aware if the DCC was handcuffed during this time, but considering he turned himself in and the overall peaceful nature of the questioning did not feel like securing it in the evidence room or likewise was necessary. Arrest procedures step 2 states “Take down the Suspect if he resists and securely restrain him” which I personally am unsure if it means that you should only restrain if the suspect resists or if it’s entirely separate and implies that you should always restrain. It doesn’t mention disarming a suspect before bringing them into the brig at all. The only SOP voilation I can think of is Equipment Handling Procedure for leaving the pistol unattended in the brig lobby.

As for the further mutiny talk involving Alpha I was only keeping track of that over the radio and the logs will provide a much clearer picture of the entire conversation then my half remembered statements.

3

The aforementioned unsecured weapon was an HPR from a self-surrender that was not disarmed until they were in brig, unrestrained.

4

Due to the reply from Obscurify I am no longer sure the DCC was the self-surrender in question and instead may have been a separate instance of a self-surrender who made it to the brig area with a weapon and then disarmed in the same round. As such I want to keep this information in case it IS relevant, but have edited my post with it in a quote to distinguish it. I am sorry for any trouble.

5

The arrested individual, Piotr, was a Delta Marine who was brought in at the Chief’s request for the disrespect of a superior officer. When I entered the dropship to bring them in, they were very polite and understanding in the matter. They cordially followed me to the Brig, and - to help extradite the process of, well, processing him - stripped their equipment off for me to stow away. At no point during this affair did they show any sign of aggressiveness. Because of this, I didn’t believe it was necessary to forcefully disarm or handcuff them.

All necessary steps in conducting an arrest were done: notifying them of their charges, securing their equipment, outfitting them with inmate-appropriate garbs, notifying them of their ability to appeal, and so-on.

The goading occurred right after (or potentially right before) the round concluded. Alpha Squad was joking about mutinous affairs, and - since the round was going to end in about two minutes - I joined in on the customary post-round radio chatter. Given the observed context of this situation, I believed that there was no tangible threat of a genuine mutiny breaking out (both because of the marines’ tones and because of the impending restart), which is why my character spoke in a rather hammy and jestful manner.

I have handled multiple situations like these before, and I can tell the difference between jokes and threats. If I had any inkling-of-a-thought that they were, in fact, planning a honest-to-god mutiny, then I would’ve reacted far more appropriately to the matter.

There was a bit of sassing between your character and my character over the matter. I believed that you shared a similar lack-of-seriousness over the post-round comm-chatter, which is why I spoke about continuing to inflame them. For the sake of clarity, I should note that the “charge these nuts” line was only spoken after you threatened to detain my character on a ‘neglect of duty’ charge. As mentioned earlier: if this happened before the round ended, there would’ve likely been a far more cordial response on my end.

I will admit that I probably fucked up by getting a bit too relaxed with my character’s verbal actions following the round’s conclusion, and I’d be willing to self-moderate myself from making similiarly jestful comments like that (even after the round’s end) in the future.

I will not apologize for my handling of the arrest, however. I believe it was perfectly fine, reasonable, and within the bounds of both Military Law and the Standard Operation Procedure to conduct. If they were violent at all, it would’ve been much different.

It is true that I do toe the line of the MP’s ruleset. When I do so, however, I never - and let me stress this - never do it in order to potentially ruin the rounds of others, or to take away from the server’s carefully-cultivated atmosphere. I always strive to help make the USS Almayer feel a bit more lively and realistic, by playing a character that (despite his occupation) isn’t an arrest-heavy robot. Like the marines, he is a human as well: one that offers additional chances for interpersonal roleplay and character development to those that seek it.

It is partly why I managed to obtain the Hunter whitelist: and I believe if you asked around, you’d be able to acquire (relatively favorable) vouches regarding my roleplaying capacity: especially when it comes to roles that don the red beret.

Considering all of these factors, I don’t believe any rules were really broken during this incident. If you’d like to have a more-indepth (and timely) discussion about this, feel free to ping me in the #cm_discussion channel on Discord about it. My tag is XenocidalEnragement.

1 Like
6

I don’t hold any reservations or grudges over the incident, or expect an apology… Either way, I don’t have the time 'nor energy to write out a massive response and argue like some people are apt to do on other player reports. You’ve said your piece, the relevant information minus a couple other things I wasn’t able to pull are there in the initial report. One thing I will rebut though is the goofy claim that I was threatening to detain you, all I had said was ‘enjoy your NoD’ charge. I cannot arrest anyone as SEA under Marine Law, and that was not the intention.

I don’t really feel like continuing this PR. I’ve had a lot of issues with MP’s in the past and are kind of jaded as a result and probably got more irritated than I should have, I will apologize for wasting anybody’s time and hope there’s no hard feelings in the matter.

1 Like
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Of course.

The massive response was done to ensure that I could cover every part of the report in one-go, mostly so that we didn’t have to worry about exchanging crumbs-of-information over the next couple days.

I’d like to apologize for misinterpreting your ‘neglect of duty’ comment as well. That was entirely my bad, and I believe I did jump the gun a little bit by getting snarky over it. I’ve been in multiple situations before where officers would threaten those kinds-of-charges during verbal disputes, so I (initially) assumed that was your intention.

I completely understand your jadedness, too. Lord knows the MP department’s got a very bad rap around these parts, even without counting all of the recent dropship flashbangings and instances of bending Military Law to rack up a laundry list of charges on marines for asinine reasons. I can’t blame you for getting more irritated than usual, there.

I don’t believe I’ve personally see your character before until now: and I believe this might just be a case of us getting off on the wrong foot. That particular round’s ending was likely the silliest I’ve been in a fair while, which… in hindsight, probably didn’t leave an ideal impression for you. I’ll strive to make our next interactions a bit more pleasant.

No need to apologize, my friend: and there’s absolutely no hard feelings here. We’re both fellas that’re playing a decade-old spaceman game, at the end of the day.

If you have any lingering comments, questions, or concerns, don’t be afraid to hit me up on Discord about it. Otherwise, I hope you have a good night.

8

I’ve since asked TheSoldier if he can close this thread but as he’s a busy man I don’t see it happening until later. Thank you for the replies and your side of it.

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No worries. Thank you for the cordial discussion.

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Withdrawn at request