Legal Network + Kiosks

[Vivalas]

I currently planning  a "legal network" system with associated terminals around the station, mostly security, for the purposes of helping IA track complaints and issues from crew and prisoners. The system I have envisioned is somewhat like the admin ticket system, where you can open tickets, have someone assigned, and resolve it etc, all with feedback to the end user (the complainee).

The way it would work is "legal kiosks" would be around the station in key places. One in each brig cell and perma, and one in lockers, dorms, and bar.

From the kiosk crew are able to submit formal complaints to the network, for a nominal 100cr legal fee (configurable by "network admins", which will be touched on). The idea of this is to deter repeated posts and spamming, as well as to generate a little money for the legal department, as well as just for fluff. (lawyers expensive yo). An additional spam safeguard will be a blacklist that troublesome crew can be added to (e.g. that one assistant in the brig who keeps spamming "HALP SHITCURITY IN THE BRIG") that automatically denies their tickets.

Once submitted, all legal terminals will beep and notify of the new ticket, from where qualified personnel can respond to the ticket. Qualified personnel are able to claim, resolve, and comment on tickets. The complainee will get PDA notifications of their ticket status to stay informed. Note that to not remove the face-to-face interview part of complaints and investigation, comments are only one way and the complainee is not able to comment or reply to comments on their ticket.

Qualified personnel are given a "legal rank" in regards to their access, and this influences the actions they are able to take. Personnel of lower legal rank, for example, wouldn't be able to claim tickets claimed by people of higher rank, or change settings if someone of higher rank locks them to their rank (by default settings would be locked to IA level, so IA can still manage the ticket system in the absense of a magistrate, but the magistrate would be able to lock settings to their level if they wish). Current ranks I have planned are "bystander" (for warden / HoS who would have terminals in their offices but only to spectate, not comment, claim, resolve or any of that or change settings). "legal representative", such as IA, who are able to do standard things. And "administrator" which is given to the captain. Magistrate has a special "magistrate" rank which goes above the captain due to the legal order.

Tickets would have a "category" that influences who can handle them and helps for sorting / distribution of labor. Categories can include things such as, SOP Infraction, General Complaint, Lost Property, Appeal, False Sentencing, Excessive Force, etc. The ticket system is designed to handle general complaints among crew and departments instead of just complaints against security. Appeals, for example, would be locked to magistrate or captain access, and notify both officials, while general complaints would probably be left to IA. Additionally, entire departments could be chosen as a target in the ticket, in which case, even for regular general complaints, the captain would be notified. PDA notifications would be togglable in settings for certain people as to their preferences, such as if the captain doesn't care for complaints or is tired of getting spammed by them.

After tickets are processed they have to be resolved, and their will be multiple close options. "Close" is the general option, but additional options can exist, such as "close and refund", or "close and blacklist", etc.

General feedback, suggestions, or criticism of this proposed system is appreciated, but in general I think it would help the flow of the legal team and help complaints be more obvious and concrete.

Edited June 24, 2017 by Vivalas

[Kyet]

Thoughts:

1. Letting prisoners file legal complaints from inside their cells, while they have nothing better to do, seems guaranteed to result in waste-of-time complaints. If most complaints come from prisoners, and most prisoners write 'SHITCURITY!!!'-style complaints just because its like yelling the same but sticks around longer... then everyone who gets notified of complaints will probably end up dealing with multiple, terrible complaints per shift, and that will just encourage everyone to ignore the system.
2. I assume admins are going to get the ability to lock/delete/etc complaints?
3. How is this going to work if there are no IAAs on duty?
4. How is this going to work if the IAAs on duty have the legal skill level of assistants? IE: they have no idea what they are doing?
5. Why 100cr? Is it possible for someone's start balance to be too low to file a complaint?
6. Will there be a required format for complaints? E.g: requiring the exact SOP number that was violated? It would help cut down on spurious complaints.
7. Will heads have some authority over complaints of SOP violations for members of their own department? At the very least, the ability to view them?
8. Perhaps have a setting where complaints go to the lowest level who can handle them first (IAA) and then only get bounced upwards to, say, Captain if the IAA don't claim/handle/resolve/close them in a reasonable period of time. Otherwise the Captain will be getting random complaints every shift.
9. Consider showing 'approved' tickets on the round-end scoreboard? Could be interesting.
10. What happens if you emag a legal terminal?

Edited June 24, 2017 by tzo

[ZN23X]

I like the idea, but from my experience in sec, it's just going to be another device that players who make it thier goal to mess with sec  (antag or not) to do so. Admins regularly bwoink me asking me why I sentenced someone for a certain amount of time. After the prisoner has already wasted time argueing the legitimate charges I'm sentencing them for (both my time and thiers as they end up spending an extra 5-10 total in the brig since they can't stop running thier mouth), this is the method they then use to extend wasting my (and now an admins) time. Thier complaints are never valid and I'm always cleared after explaining what they've been sentenced for to the admin. I'll even say sometimes the person may have been sentenced incorrectly because I'm not on top of my game for whatever reason  (possibly because someone has been being a piece of shit to me for the past 10 min), but the admin probably gives me the benefit of the doubt on account that I'm being calm and concise with them and chances are the person complaining to them is being as much of a shitter to the admin as they are to me, or the admin is cutting me some slack due to the fact that the accusing party has clearly been being a complete asshole to me. This will be one more avenue for those players to waste someone else's time. Essentially it's going to be flooded with so much garbage that people will just start ignoring it. 

Edited June 24, 2017 by ZN23X

[FPK]

Why not contact an IAA directly? Just reach out over PDA, knock on the office window when there's someone inside, or contact the next best thing, a NTR or Magistrate. I don't see what these booths will bring to the table that flyers advertising the legal office won't. Adding an additional level of complexity to a job that is already complex enough doesn't seem like the right move. 

[Purpose2]

I'm with FPK here, why not contact them directly.

Alternatively, add the functionality to the newscasters... I don't want to see yet another machine littering the station.