[Ordo] Enforcement Authority (Discussion)

[Aryte]

>>> The Ordo Imperialis

>>> Resituating the Balance of Enforcement

The purpose of this document is to examine the various level of enforcement authority within the Ordo Imperialis. Enforcement authority (order maintenance authority) shall herein reference the enumerated powers bestowed upon various personnel to maintain order and uphold or create regulatory policy. The intent here is to explain the history of enforcement within the group, underline why a shift is necessary, and thoroughly explain how enforcement will be carried out henceforth. By the end of this reading, any individual should be able to properly identify the various levels of authority and where they fit in.

Traditionally within the Ordo Imperialis, enforcement has been centralized to a control focus: in 2006 and into 2007 that focus was the Imperator directly. By 2008, order maintenance had been nearly entirely delegated out to the administrative department Curia. This approach has largely been effective, providing the Imperator the autonomy to deal with progressive approaches, rather than be mired up in incident reports. However, it must be recognized that times have changed. In 2008, the Ordo was dramatically smaller—at the time of authoring this document, the group is nearly three times larger and far more active then it was in 2008.

The centralized approach has, for the most part, become outdated. Although by no one’s fault, a particular phenomenon has been occurring. Curia officials, as enforcement agents, have continued to increase their intervention and presence. On some occasions, this is entirely appropriate, however on others, it certainly is not. This is occurring for several reasons. First of which: Curia officials with judicial ruling powers are roughly 1% the size of the group. This creates a large bottle neck and perception of grievous wrong doing throughout the group—as a reaction Curia increases its presence and increases the strictness of its rulings. This increase and stranglehold—although well intentioned—has undermined the authority of officers in general. Officers, who are enumerated with enforcement powers, do not exercise them: Curia is thus viewed as the sole proprietor of order maintenance. This becomes a self-fulfilling issue, as the aforementioned only creates a repeating cycle of reluctance and stress.

The Office of the Imperator is enacting a resituating of the balance of authority, focusing on the element of decentralization without adding any additional departments. Instead, through clarifying and expanding officer level provisions, officers will take a more direct approach to enforcement. This is based upon what is referred to as a community based model: officers are imbedded directly in the “community” of the Ordo Imperialis, thus they are assumed to have the strongest rapport and ability to understand what is best for that community.

Community enforcement is a model that modern law agencies are embracing, based upon the very same reasons the Ordo will now be: centralized primary enforcement builds the perception that authority is an “outsider” to the division or the group at whole. It ostracizes individuals and creates reluctance for compliance and barriers for cooperation. To best put this into perspective, consider the following rough comparisons to real world positions of enforcement. As the Ordo is an imperial autocracy, the comparisons are obviously fairly rough. In an ascending order, the equivalencies would be something along the lines of:

I. Non-Commissioned Officers -> Limited Jurisdiction Police / Security Forces

II. Commissioned Officers -> Police

III. Curia -> District Attorney / Judicial Magistrates / Judge

IV. Imperator -> Supreme Court / Legislature / President

I. Non-Commissioned Officers -> Limited Jurisdiction Police / Security Forces

Not to particularly discredit the NCO staff, as I consider an NCO far more important, but one comparison to consider would be to think of an NCO as a mall cop. NCOs have a limited scope of influence, based upon their area of employment (assignment). An NCO is, as provided by mandate, an enforcer of policy: that does not particularly provide the day to day NCO the capability to enact punishments. Think of that security guard perspective: security personnel are responsible for protecting a specific locale—for the Ordo that would be protecting the group’s image and integrity. But in the event of a disturbance, what real action can security personnel take? For example, if someone shoplifts from a CD store: the security guard can temporarily detain, retrieve the stolen object, hold the individual until the police arrive, and/or kick the individual out of the store. But in no way can the security guard be the direct determiner of whether or not that individual is punished. The security guards have no ability to arrest, fine, or create any real physical harm to the individual in question—attempting to could create severe problems for that security guard.

The same idea applies to NCO staff when it comes to enforcing rules within the Ordo Imperialis. An NCO is expected to uphold the group’s integrity, foremost by providing an embodiment of proper behavior. Secondly, an NCO has the all important tool of experience: many problems can be solved with a simple polite talking to from a peer. An NCO can regularly provide feedback to subordinates, acting as an aide without exercising obtrusive authority. Otherwise, an NCO may refer the incident to a commissioned officer (police) and detail the occurrence for follow-up.

The exception to the aforementioned would be the “limited jurisdiction police” concept—this most readily applies to specific divisions, where NCOs may be empowered to take on special tasks. One example would be the XO of an elite unit, which may be an NCO at times. In that case, the NCO is enumerated with extraordinary abilities that specifically affect the personnel within heir given century. The XO, as an extension of the CO, typically has the capability to reassign personnel out of an elite unit as punishment, require additional training, or even temporary punishments such as laps or exclusion from special deployments.

Empowered NCOs can be found in several places—century leads, flight leaders, Schola instructors, et cetera. Before assuming, it is best that said NCOs speak with their respective officers to determine the degree of their authority. For example, a Schola NCO instructor can certainly rebuke rowdy cadets (and possibly even eject if the approval is there), but that authority does not extend any further.

II. Commissioned Officers -> Police

Arguably, commissioned officers have one of the most extensive degrees of power due to their position: they are, in effect, the primary gatekeepers to order maintenance. COs have direct involvement throughout the Ordo administratively, which permits the officer a crucial ability to intervene and influence in nearly every scenario. In this rebalance, an officer should be viewed as the primary enforcer: they are police. It is at the discretion of an officer whether or not a situation is resolved informally, cited, or processed for judicial proceedings.

Although, yes, a degree of arbitrariness is created by placing more investment in the officer level enforcement, a degree of humanity is also invested into it. Line officers are here, day to day, on permanent beats within the culture of the group: a Terra officer knows what is best for Terra. An Astra officer knows what is best for Astra. They are able to exercise discretion in a situation based upon innate knowledge of the fabric of that division and the group. It is not expected that every scenario to be handled the same: if an officer is present for a group of Numerii making jokes and being rowdy, but determines it to be safe and within parameters-- fine, the officer is accepting responsibility for that. He or she is determining that the gathering is positive and improving the atmosphere of the group and is willing to suffer the heat if he or she is incorrect. By reality, every regulation will never be followed directly to the T in every scenario. It is simply inhuman to expect. In reality-- police are not going to ticket you every time you speed. Nor are you going to be arrested every time you create a public disturbance: because police have discretion to determine if an act, although illegal, warrants an arrest or citation. Discretion is what makes policing human. It is what allows an enforcing agent to determine whether or not a scenario is necessary to stamp out.

In the Ordo, officer policing actions can be viewed exactly as a real police officer’s capabilities: full authority in every situation, light or temporary punishments, or direct introduction to potentially severe punishments. Revisiting the gesture spam scenario, an officer could potentially decide a host of choices: a. to allow the individual to go off free, b. to verbally rebuke the individual, c. to order the individual to run a series of laps, d. restrict the individual temporarily from combat, e. send the individual on a ‘cool down’ period. With coordination with other officers and if the reasons existed (repetitive problems with the individual), an officer could even enact more complex punishments, such as reassignments to less prestigious roles, removal from elite units, temporary suspensions from deployments, assignment to addition training. Even further, an officer can act as the link between the offender and Curia, introducing the individual into a potentially severely punitive proceeding. An officer may do so in a variety of manners: direct referral to Curia, or filing of a CIR.

III. Curia -> District Attorney / Judicial Magistrates / Judge

As most Curia officials are typically senior NCOs or COs, the aforementioned police powers typically apply—Curia are able to exercise a degree of direct intervention, but the majority of their focus is on the judicial and investigative roles in support of the officer cadre.

Curia is essentially the DA’s office and the courts all rolled up into one department: Curia may investigate situations, prosecute, and bring individuals to court for offenses. As Curia is varied in levels due to the nature of staff—Lictors, Consuls, et cetera—it is somewhat difficult to provide a simple explanation as to their capability. For ease, it is best to consider the role of Consul: the individuals with the highest level of authority. Consuls are part prosecutor, part judge. Either through direct intervention or petition (referral from an officer or a CIR), Curia may enact the full weight of the Ordo’s regulatory law. This includes demotion, suspensions from the Ordo, or ejection from the group.

Where police (officers) have discretion, Curia is typically more by the letter, interpreting the written law of the Ordo Imperialis as it applies to each individual case. In addition to which, Curia is the oversight to the enforcement of regulations by the COs. If an officer is seen as abusing power or allowing for disorder to permeate, charges can be levied against said officer by Curia, resulting in punitive action.

Although any individual may directly report to Curia through a CIR, not every CIR will be processed by Curia—trivial or otherwise unsuitable complaints will be flagged and sent to an officer responsible for the accused. Petitioning Curia directly is encouraged when an issue is seen to be either difficult, ethically sensitive, or involving an officer.

IV. Imperator -> Supreme Court / Legislature / President

Rarely does the Imperator directly involve himself in direct enforcement or processing of CIRs. On some occasions, assistance will be provided by the Imperator to overcome work loads or to deal with complex issues—but most of the time, the Imperator’s powers are reserved for the origination, revising, and vetoing of policy/rulings.

There is no one particular equivalency. The Imperator’s office encompasses the Supreme Court in the sense he may overturn decisions or affirm them as being within the parameters of group law. The Imperator’s office is legislative in the sense that policy is created and destroyed when necessary. And, as the head executive, the Imperator may carry out enforcement through written orders—superseding existing policy or grant pardons when the situation is relevant.

Petitioning issues to the Imperator directly would only be expectant when challenging policy or levying complaints against officer and Curia personnel.

[Trinity Heckroth]

*Rated Useful* I approve.

[Trevor Russell]

Wow. A very long overdue post. I can't count how many times this document would com in handy. Sticky this :o

[Agares Tretiak]

The problem becomes enforcing Officer's responsibility to maintain proper order and decorum and proper utilization in this community effort, but that is hardly insurmountable and I whole-heartedly applaud this approach.

As long as officers are held accountable for notable lapses in policy enforcement and discipline on their watch, this will work much more effectively, and ease some pressure on the Curia staff. :D

[Nrom Normandy]

This topic came up for me a few days ago, and as a Lictor I was confused about my role and hearing that people were cautious around members of Curia when it comes to their behavior on base. The power to directly enforce policy has always been in the hands of officers, and in a limited capacity, NCOs. Perhaps they were unaware of this, I'm not sure. I think this document is extremely helpful in clarifying that the role of Curia isn't as direct enforcement.

While in the Alliance Navy the concept of the chain of command is drilled into us, but unfortunately still rarely followed. This chain is the path that communication, orders, and punishment will come from for every member of the group. It is important to understand one's position as a link in the chain and how we are connected to the other members of the group. Moving outside the chain undermined authority, and broke down the hierarchy which was created to bring order to the group and keep the military running smoothly and consistently. I am wondering if the topic of authority in Schola training could be explained a bit differently to avoid the misconceptions which lead to the creation of this document. The handbook stands in harmony with this document. Perhaps this should be included as supplementary material while cadets are going through Schola?

I really hope that this helps put things into perspective in regards to the role of Curia in the group, as there seems to be misconceptions about what the branch can or can't do for each individual member of Ordo. A real emphasis should be on the branch's ability to resolve conflicts. Just as a reminder from the handbook:

[The Officium Curia]: This organization houses the problem solvers of the Ordo -- their interests are to resolve conflicts diplomatically, and, if necessary, administer punishment in the events of injustice. In addition, Curia officials are responsible for over viewing all matters of policy and induction of applicants that require stringent review.

[Tiridates Mikadze]

I would suggest perhaps a set of seminars for the Officers to help them understand and more effectively use their positions in this area.

[Dempster Duncker]

Not to particularly discredit the NCO staff, as I consider an NCO far more important, but one comparison to consider would be to think of an NCO as a mall cop.

I approve of this.

:love:

[Kishoshima Dragonash]

bump