posted
Well there are plenty of police forces that are paramilitary in nature right now, and before anyone says "only in 3rd world juntas", have a look at the way SWAT operates. Anyway, in the context of the Federation a planet wide, or even system wide police force would have to practically be an army, though not in the old fashioned marching around parade grounds and saluting the evil dictator kind of way.
posted
I always kind of figured there would be a civilian Federation police force. Starfleet security should not have jurisdiction outside of a Starfleet facility. In DS9 when martial law was declared on Earth, we saw Starfleet security on the streets, but nothing local cops.
-------------------- I'm slightly annoyed at Hobbes' rather rude decision to be much more attractive than me though. That's just rude. - PsyLiam, Oct 27, 2005.
Registered: May 1999
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posted
I tend to agree. The way I see it, in peace time the local police come under the direct command of the planetary government. Think of it as sort of like the feudal system, where a lord has his vassals and on a normal day they would be just normal folk, but when the king call for war, he has to supply his share of the army.
Before you read too much into that, what I mean is that since I don't like the idea of the Federation having a standing army, when it has need of one it must draw it's ranks from somewhere and that somewhere is most likely to be the most qualified, experianced and of course disciplined people in the Galaxy, other than Starfleet. Hence local Police. Of course the word police it's in itself totally accurate, since in our frame of reference, the closest thing we know to a global police force (political satire aside) are those chaps with the blue helmets. Which is actually not a bad comparison, when you think about it. The UN troops are made up of elements of many smaller armies under different goverments and are only ever deployed under certain circumstances and are NEVER used against their own people, except in defense and when the war is over, they cease being UN troops and go back to wherever they came from.
So getting back to the Federation, while I don't think Starfleet would have direct control over internal security of individual planets, when the time comes to mobalise and equip an Army, Starfleet are the ones to do it (who else has the technology and infastructure?) and only then do they take command of the personel.
posted
She's gorgeous Hobbes.
Registered: Nov 2001
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Daniel Butler
I'm a Singapore where is my boat
Member # 1689
posted
I sketched a civilian police cruiser once, a long time ago. Like in 8th grade or something. I remember it looked vaguely like an Intrepid-class, but of course much smaller...about the size of a runabout, I think.
Also, not just SWAT in the modern world, but the entire Russian police force. Those cats don't fuck around. Which I think is a bit smarter, really - if there's some guy with a gun threatening unarmed civilians, I think he should be taken out as fast as possible to protect the lives of the innocent, not soothed and talked to for 48 hours until they manage to sneak up and taser him. Just shoot him in the gun arm and billy-club him to the ground!! ;P
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
I've long been a proponent of injecting reality to Trek. Their universe is far too shallow, with huge gaps of civil services never accounted for.
Over the years, Starfleet as a concept has grown more and more bloated, seemingly having authority over everyone and everything - which really turns the UFP into a fascist state.
I'm all for filling in the gaps and wresting some of the beaurocracy out of Starfleet's clutches and putting it in more specialized hands.
Daniel Butler: Years ago I'd drawn up a police cruiser myself. Hehe. It's a bit embarassing to look at now, but I think the overall concept is still sound.
Daniel Butler
I'm a Singapore where is my boat
Member # 1689
posted
I don't like the way the nacelles curve at the end there, but otherwise it's quite nice.
I thought I'd mention something else that's bugged me about Treknology for awhile, using the Class 5 Type X21B as an example Shields, nav deflector, warp drive, phaser arrays, pulse cannon, microtorps, and obviously inertial dampers, SIF, and artificial grav plating too (well, PROBABLY grav plating)...not to mention the ADIS, life support, comms, and sensors...all powered by a pair of eeny-weeny fusion microimpellers (or impulse reactors if you like). That's all very well within Starfleet tech, which is my point - the small ships, such as runabouts and shuttles, all seem to just have infinite power supplies! Shields, warp drive, and transporters in particular must draw a hell of a lot of energy, and you can apparently tack them onto a little shuttlepod that's so small you have to wonder *where the hell it all is.* (I'm thinking of the Shuttlepod...Onizuka? here...the little boxy thing from TNG that looked like it had maybe 72 cubic feet of space that wasn't passenger cabin for the engine and shields). They must have *massively* powerful fusion reactors to get that kind of power out of a reactor that small. I wouldn't know where to start calculating it, though.
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
Good points there. With shuttlecraft they don't seem to have any place on them for where the warp and shuttle power comes from.
As for my X-21 (Class 5 denotes the type of craft, for example Class 1=shuttlepods, Class 2=standard small shuttles like the Type 6 or Voyager's Type 9, Class 5=fighter) it's MSD shows all the main parts you would expect. No gravity plating, the pilot is strapped into his seat. Life support is provided by the pilot's EVA-type suit. As for the rest of the systems, fusion generators and power coming from the matter/antimatter reaction.
-------------------- I'm slightly annoyed at Hobbes' rather rude decision to be much more attractive than me though. That's just rude. - PsyLiam, Oct 27, 2005.
Registered: May 1999
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Daniel Butler
I'm a Singapore where is my boat
Member # 1689
posted
Ah, I didn't see the M/AM generator. *That* I can believe.
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
Back to other races MSD's - I was also sorta referring to the style of the MSD's - as the fed ones have the LCARS colour and style... It'd be interesting to see how other races lay out their ships... actually I think we've seen the Klingon way at one point haven't we?
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
Shields, nav deflector, warp drive, phaser arrays, pulse cannon, microtorps, and obviously inertial dampers, SIF, and artificial grav plating too (well, PROBABLY grav plating)...not to mention the ADIS, life support, comms, and sensors...all powered by a pair of eeny-weeny fusion microimpellers (or impulse reactors if you like). That's all very well within Starfleet tech, which is my point - the small ships, such as runabouts and shuttles, all seem to just have infinite power supplies! Shields, warp drive, and transporters in particular must draw a hell of a lot of energy, and you can apparently tack them onto a little shuttlepod that's so small you have to wonder *where the hell it all is.* (I'm thinking of the Shuttlepod...Onizuka? here...the little boxy thing from TNG that looked like it had maybe 72 cubic feet of space that wasn't passenger cabin for the engine and shields). They must have *massively* powerful fusion reactors to get that kind of power out of a reactor that small. I wouldn't know where to start calculating it, though.
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