Policing in Faneria

Sherriffs >>> Gendarmes >>> Guard (Local, Civil, National Police)

Law enforcement in Faneria is handled primarily by the Office of State Security through the National Police Bureau, Bureau of Domestic Intelligence, and the Bureau of Prison Management (need Fhasen vers.). The Office of the Courts manages trials and provides its own bailiffs except when additional security is requested from the National Police. Provincial governments locally command detachments of the National Police for dedicated emergency response, with municipalities having their own local police departments to handle day-to-day affairs and county jails.

Sheriffs
Counties employ their own police forces called Sheriffs; however, these are employed, not elected, and do not have deputization powers. Most counties have a contracted Head Sheriff and an elected Commissioner responsible for enforcing civilian oversight of the police. Sheriffs are allowed to supply their own long guns, but otherwise are limited to the same arms available to most civilians, and are responsible for day-to-day activity and first response as well as soaking up domestic disturbances and other low-profile calls. County police respond to the Municipal Council of multi-county cities or the County Taeseac in single-county cities or rural counties. Previously, they responded to the Mayor of their counties, but the swap to Taeseac control was made in 2004 in response for civilian lobbying for police oversight and constant police complaints about jurisdiction within major metropolitan areas.

National Police
The National Police are organized into detachments by province, and take over roles usually reserved for SWAT squads in other countries, but generally pursue serial cases, major crimes or crimes that have become sensationalized, and major cases of fraud or other while-collar crime, as well as investigations into local police. They are more fitting of the paramilitarized standard of Occidental policing, and are rarely responsible for ticketing or other rote work. They respond to the Governor of their respective Province and the Provincial Taeseac in his absence.

Bureau of Domestic Intelligence
The Biùro na Fiosrachaidh Dachaigh, or Bureau of Domestic Intelligence, is the internal monitoring service of the government and one of the three intelligence services of Faneria. It is responsible for assisting the Treasury with tracking tax evasion, assisting the police in tracking ex-cons and wanted persons, and coordinating antismuggling operations in-country.

Criminal Law
Crime in Faneria is categorized as an Infraction (equivalent to a misdemeanor), a Nonviolent Charge, or a Violent Charge. Violent Charges are equivalent to felonies, with Nonviolent Charges equating to a range of white-collar or nonviolent felonies such as drug trafficking, fraud, and so on. Violent Charges are not eligible for parole or sentencing reduction under most circumstances save exoneration.

Incarceration and Prisons
Incarceration of one month or less in Faneria is handled by county jails, as they are only meant as temporary detention centers. Arrestees must have charges brought against them within 48 hours of jailing, and misdemeanors rarely carry significant jail time, with Disregard of the Court being the longest misdemeanor sentence at up to thirty days.

If found guilty of a Charge, a prisoner will be detained in one of seventeen prisons managed at the national level. Of these, two are maximum security, four are high security, and the remainder are low-security. Most nonviolent crimes bear a 6 month to ten-year sentence, but sentences cannot be served concurrently, meaning someone who accumulates numerous counts of a repeat crime is likely to have a much harsher sentence. Infractions, however, may be served concurrently, as the aim for nonviolent offenses, particularly minor ones, is corrective rather than punitive.

After the former Judge for the municipality of Harpsdùn Maechel Dontaen was sentenced to over four thousand years in prison in 2014 for accepting bribes from human traffickers, a maximum of eighty consecutive years after adding charges together was put in place as a largely ceremonial cap. In 2023, this limit was reduced to forty years maximum for some lesser repeat crimes, along with alterations to the criminal code to reclassify accessory to violent charges being included as violent charges themselves and to curb overcharging of defendants for the same crime.