Internal Affairs Agent
Internal Affairs
Superiors: Magistrate
Difficulty: Medium to Hard
Guides: Standard Operating Procedure, Guide to Paperwork, Space Law This Page
Access: Internal Affairs Office, Brig, Medbay, Science, Cargo, Engineering
Duties: Interdepartmental Relations, Observing Proper Procedure, Launching Investigations, be creepy
Departmental Head
Magistrate
| Paperwork • | Faxes • | Space Law | Legal SOP • | Standard SOP | Security SOP • | Medical SOP | Science SOP • | Service SOP | Supply SOP • | Command SOP | Engineering SOP |
An Internal Affairs Agent's (Or a Human Resource Agent) task is to remain impartial at all times, conduct investigations, and then summarise your findings in reports and deliver them to the relevant Head of Staff of the affected department. It is your job to make sure that the station's staff is working efficiently and following the Standard Operating Procedure at all times. As well as ensuring Space Law is being applied fairly to convicted station criminals. During a rare trial, you might serve as a neutral legal representative or prosecutor.
Standard Operating Procedure
See Legal Standard Operating Procedure
Duties
- Remain Impartial: You are an arbitrator, first and foremost. This may impact your social life, but you are required by your job to put aside emotional attachment to any particular crewmember to function.
- Follow Procedure: NanoTrasen upholds a Standard Operating Procedure which should be followed at all times, you should have open and know Space Law, Legal Standard Operating Procedure well.
- Trust the Facts: Acting on allegations is an easy way to get you fired. Make sure you have sufficient evidence before you do anything.
Do Nots
- Do Not Threaten: You are not on the station to start conflicts, and argue on the radio with security. While a well written and damning report can lead to someone's demotion or outright contract termination, don't wave it around like some kind of club. Security has clubs, and fill that niche nicely.
- Do Not Be a Film Noir: Criminals and other threats to the station are under the purview of the Security team, and you shouldn't have much of a cause to interfere with them.
- Do Not Be a Vigilante: Have a legitimate suspicion to start an investigation before you attempt to do so. Consulting a head of staff for more information is always a good idea when starting an investigation.
- Do Not Take Sides: Just don't. See line two of the previous paragraph.
- Do Not Fax Your Ass to Central Command: You will get (literally) fired via BSA and possibly fight a death-squad while crippled in a wheelchair after an assectomy. Don't ask.
Procedure
Crewman X would like to register a complaint about Crewman Y's behaviour/conduct.
It is your task to learn the Who, What, Where, When, and Why when launching a new investigation.
- Who was involved in the incident.
- What happened.
- Where it happened.
- When it happened.
- Why it happened.
Interview every crewman involved before summarizing your findings into a report that you present to the offending party's department's head of staff. The matter at hand can range from obvious prisoner abuse to simply leaving the Xenobiology pens open or refusing to serve drinks at the bar.
The Lone Ranger
Remember that you are to remain completely impartial in your investigations. To do this, it may (and probably will) be necessary to isolate yourself from most of the crew outside of an investigation. In simple terms, you should not be 'buddy-buddy' with any crew members. If a case comes up in which your opinion could be potentially biased, it's recommended that you transfer the case to another IA Agent.
Security and You
More often than not, security officers and heads of staff will ignore your complaints. The best course of action in this scenario is to take your complaint to the highest authority, noting that your valid complaints were completely ignored. If nobody on the station is listening to you, it is within your power to inform Central Command about the station crew's (lack of) cooperation. Nanotrasen Command usually takes the side of Internal Affairs Agents because they are Mindshield implanted and trained in procedure and Space Law. A single Internal Affairs Agent has the power to make a crewmember's life miserable once he or she leaves the Cyberiad; it is a bad idea to mess with Internal Affairs!
Internal Affairs and Human Relations
What is Human Relations?
Remember, you're not just IA. You're also HR. Human Relations (if you'll excuse the fact there are aliens aboard). If you're sat in your shuttered office, sipping coffee and staring at security comms, you're only doing a fraction of your job. You were sent here to ensure things go smoothly, just like the NTR, but without any of the benefits or prestige.
You should be out there, cycling from department to department, checking the Common radio channel and trying to sniff out any issues non-Command crewmembers are having or making. If someone seems annoyed or is shouting, ask them what the issue is. Use a voice recorder, give them a form, or jot it down and write it up later. This is the way to not only make sure the station runs smoothly, but also win the hearts and minds of the crew.
Department Audits
Don't be afraid to do departmental audits. These are, in some shifts, absolutely vital. There's a reason you have a high access level, and there's a reason you are outside the chain of command. Oftentimes, people are afraid or too busy to tell someone about their problem, but very willing if you ask directly. Especially with problems caused by their superiors. Other times, people who are breaching SOPs will be doing it in the open, even in their own department, believing nobody will come and check on them.
So, you're the person who is supposed to catch those things, then report them to Command. And, if Command are too busy or incompetent to handle the issue, Central Command.
IAA versus NTR - the differences
Remember, the NTR is only directly responsible for issues on a Command level. YOU, more often than not, may be the only person to spot such things as the crew slowly starving. The NTR is more concerned with where the CMO has gone or telling CC they've found a weird looking bug. YOU are the person responsible for catching and squashing any and all non-Command issues before they become Command issues.
Examples of HR-Specific Scenarios, not NTR Scenarios
- Is there no food? Chase it up, make a report.
- Is cargo still waiting for those research disks? Chase it up, make a report.
- Has the Brig Medic still not got their surgery crate? Chase it up, make a report.
- Are there strange floorpills everywhere? Chase it up, make a report.
- Is the Roboticist unable to complete their goal because nobody has the resources yet? Chase it up, make a report.
Commonly asked questions
Q: Exactly which departments/positions is IA allowed to investigate?
A: All departments fall under the purview of Internal Affairs. That is the point of Internal Affairs, to act as a check and balance system, as well as a non-partisan investigator into departmental and inter-departmental issues.
Q: What exactly does investigation entail, and how should it be prioritised under other station operations?
A: IA takes little direct action in all but the most extreme cases, advising the next in command over the affected departments of their findings, and offers suggestions of actions to be taken. However, if the chain of command is unable or unwilling to participate in the investigation, then a breach of integrity has occurred, and IA has been entrusted by Centcom to take whatever actions necessary to ensure the sanctity of the station.
Q: What actions can they take to 'resolve' issues?
A: Internal Affairs conducts thorough and unbiased investigations of all involved parties if possible. If impossible due to death, incapacitation, SSD, or insanity, then a detective's or suitable security personnel's documented findings along with verbal interview as well as witnesses will suffice. Their findings, once compiled into a cohesive summary, will then be presented to the applicable head of staff along with suggested actions to be taken. However, if a head of staff is involved, then the captain is utilized as the next go-to person for judgement to be passed. If the captain is involved in a potentially negligent, harmful, or otherwise destructive manner, then IA can and should summarily dismiss the captain should confer with the heads of staff for a vote for the Captain's removal. IA cannot, at any time, break the station's chain of command nor make any decisions that would fall under a head of staff.
Q: At what point are their actions considered exceeding their authority?
A: At any point that an IA agent is conducting illicit or unwarranted interviews with any crew that is unrelated to an incident that is being investigated, or if there is no investigation to be performed, then an IA agent may be reprimanded, relieved of post, or otherwise made fully in-line with Internal Affairs integrity guidelines (additional Mindshield implant, checking of current implant for defects). Internal Affairs agents are not exempt from the law, and as such may be arrested by Security in the case that an agent exceeds his or her official power.
Q: Under which circumstances (if any) is the IA allowed to be completely ignored/sidelined?
A: If the IA agent is performing illegal investigations, or otherwise impeding lawful procedures of the security department in apprehending or sentencing a suspected criminal. This is not to say that an arrestee is not able to call for an investigation into their bringing into custody, but the IA agent should not be present in any way if possible for the arrest and detaining of the suspected criminal. Only after the defendant has been placed into custody, searched, and lawfully investigated by the security team will the defendant be able to call for an internal investigation into the matter.
Q: What exactly is the minimum level of activity to mandate IA participation in an issue?
A: Any inter-departmental issue that cannot be settled peaceably or willingly by any constituents, or any in-department issue that cannot be handled by that head of staff can be referred to an Internal Affairs agent for investigation. During that time, Internal Affairs agents are only allowed to speak of the case to those involved, and only information that is need-to-know, I.E. why they are being investigated, and if non-criminal, assuring that they are not being arrested or detained in any way.
Q: What happens if a claim of abuse or malpractice is levied against the IA (including circumstances where there is disagreement with their decision)?
A: All decisions made by IA are finalized by the head of staff or captain, and are considered suggested courses of action rather than set-in-stone judgments. If the IA agent is acting in a malicious or seditious way, then he or she can be handled accordingly by following the previous codes.
Q: How long does it take to send a fax? I just see "realigning" for a long time.
A: It can take around 5-10 minutes to send a fax. And once the fax has been sent and received you will get a notification through your headset, saying so.
Antagging
Internal Affair Agents are ineligible for antag selection at the start of the round due to possessing a Mindshield Implant, except for Blob.
Roleplaying Tips
Be impartial, be detached emotionally, you deal with reports of every idiot ever conceived in the history of ever, and nobody ever listens to your recommendations, your soul is crushed, there is no god, and at the end of it all, people hate you for trying to do your job.
It's generally accepted that Internal Affairs Agents are sent directly from Centcom and are located in a different department altogether. Most IA Agents are usually Mindshield implanted and are, more often than not, extremely loyal to Nanotrasen. Extensive knowledge in Space Law and Standard Operating Procedure are a must.
In essence, be an admin without the benefits, authority, and super-secret admin chat.