Security Officer
Security Officer
Superiors: Head of Security
Difficulty: Hard
Guides: Space Law, Guide to Security, Guide to Combat, Riot Control, Security Items, Identifying Antagonists, Standard Operating Procedure, Standard Operating Procedure (Security), Brigging Procedure
Access: Security, Brig Timers, Maintenance
Duties: Stop crime, enforce Space Law.
Departmental Head
Head of Security
| Guide to Security • | Combat • | Identifying Antagonists • | Riot Control • | MODsuits • | Security Items • | Space Law • | Standard SOP • | Legal SOP • | Security SOP |
Security Officers are the workhorse position of the Security department. They are the station's first line of defence against outside threats to the station. With their authority to enforce Space Law, it is the Security Officers who are responsible for dealing with security complaints and arresting those who break Space Law. As a whole, they are responsible for maintaining the order and security of the station.
Required Knowledge
Out of Character wise:
- Read the rules carefully before playing as a member of Security.
In Character wise:
- Knowledge of Space Law is mandatory. You're not expected to memorize it entirely, but it should be open and consulted. Inadequate knowledge of it may result in a job ban.
- Knowing Standard Security Procedures is also required. Understand your tools like your stun baton's stun and harm baton functions. Harm batoning is lethal force, don't use lethal force unless it's crucial; failure to do so may be grounds for a job ban.
- For Standard Operating Procedure on this role and other security roles, please see Standard Operating Procedure (Security)
Your Place:
- Superiors From lowest to highest: Head of Security → Captain → Central Command. The Warden has authority over personnel in the brig. Follow orders and Space Law to the best of your ability.
- Heads of Staff have authority over their respective departments. You are expected to assist heads in ejecting unwanted trespassers and demoting unwanted personnel from their departments.
Keeping the Peace
You are the sole guardian between the ideals of justice and the employees that your company has chosen to advance its interests in space. You will be dealing with a wide range of crimes and perpetrators. It is up to you to make the best judgment against the various threats and your own actions. It is up to you to restrain yourself and your baton unless you want a demotion.
Patrols
Oftentimes, you will be informed over your radio that there is a problem in a certain area. If you are nearby on patrol, inform the rest of security over your headset using the private channel that you are on your way. If you are not nearby, head to the security office and change the records to set the suspects to arrest. The securitrons will detain the suspects but someone will still have to fetch them. Then return to your patrol.
Have your baton put away but easily accessed. This will ensure that you are armed if things go sour, but that you are not being threatened and there is no possibility of your weapon being easily stolen (remember that unless the security level is at Code Blue or Code Red, you won't be allowed to have weapons unholstered.) If you notice a crime obviously taking place when you arrive on the scene, subdue the suspects, handcuff them, and hold them so they can't escape. If the area is now safe, begin questioning them. If the area is not safe, question them in Processing. If there is blood or fingerprint evidence, call the Detective to the scene. Once the truth comes out, charge the perpetrators, thank the witnesses, and inform security over your private channel of the situation and charges. If you do not do so, the Warden may release your prisoners thinking they've been unlawfully detained.
If things become violent or you are outmatched, immediately call for backup as efficiently as possible. "<Such and such> the <job title> is <crime committed> at <the location>", is hard to spit out while under attack. Try a shorter format, such as "JANITOR MAIN HALLWAY ATTACKING ME HELP". There will be time for clarification when you are out of harm's way. The key to good security work is keeping the other security forces informed.
Remember, information is key - when arresting someone, make sure to set their status using your Security HUD - simply examine them and click on their status (usually [None]), and make sure to write a detailed description of the reason for the status - other officers are not omniscient and will not be able to magically guess their crime.
Security HQ
- Interact with crewmembers at Security Receptions for complaints or reports of criminal activity. You will have access Security Records, Security Cameras, and Cell Management consoles to carry out this task. If a crewmember asks nicely for your equipment just tell them to ask a Head of Staff instead. Passing out gear to civilians leads to dangerous situations at worst, arrests and misunderstandings at best.
- Process convicted personnel and send them either to the Prison Wing, Brig, or the Labor Camp shuttle. The Prison Wing will carry permanent imprisonment sentences while the Brig carries out timed sentences. The Labor Camp will require prison personnel to mine ore until they acquire enough mining points to return to normal station life.
- You will carry out authorized executions here as well.
Equipment
Located in security lockers or SecTech Vendor, begin arming yourself for what's ahead.
General Security Items
HUDSunglasses - Provides basic flash protection and allows officers to set security records on-the-go. Has the added benefit of listing a person's profession, arrest status/criminal status, and mindshield implant status when they are worn, in the form of icons above said person.
Disabler - An officer's main weapon, shoots disabler bolts which will slow a criminal after 2 hits, and stun them in 4. More can be acquired from the armory
Corporate Judo Belt - Exchanges the ability to use a stun baton with the ability to do various martial arts moves.
Security Belt - Allows the storage of up to 6 security items.
Stun Baton - Used to stun targets for a few seconds in melee, allowing for an arrest to be made. Has a surprisingly large (but still finite) power cell that can be replaced with a screwdriver. Will do damage if used on harm intent. Dont be cocky, the baton has a delay between stuns and the opponent will still be able to move and attack if not fully immobilized. Time your stuns.
Flash - Disarms and disorients anyone without eye protection. Disables Cyborgs temporarily when used on them. Is likely to burn out if used repeatedly.
Handcuffs - Restrains targets and prevents movement when they are bucklecuffed or pulled. Click on someone to start handcuffing them. You'll both need to stay next to each other without moving for them to work.
Zipties - Same as the handcuffs, however, the time to cuff someone and break out of them is reduced. One time use.
Pepperspray - Disorients when used on someone without mask protection and will stun after 4 hits. Will breifly stun if the recipient lacks eye protection. Can be refilled at a pepper spray dispenser.
Flashbang - An area-of-effect version of flash, with a timer of 5 seconds. Everyone in sight of it without flash or hearing protection will be blinded, confused, knocked down, and deafened for some time. Standing directly on top of it will stun no matter what.
Energy Bola - A thrown weapon which legcuffs (slowing) anyone it hits even if the target is immune to projectiles. Invaluable when dealing with Sleeping Carp and narcotics users.
Seclite - Security Flashlight, or Seclite for short. Can be attached to most firearms (removable with screwdriver).
Security gas mask - Can be used to shout at criminal scum with an intimidating voice, serve as an internals mask, and protect against pepper spray.
Standard Armour Vest - Good for absorbing a bit of every damage.
Helmet - Good for absorbing a bit of every damage, prevents headsets and sunglasses from being removed while equipped.
More advanced equipment is stored in the Armory and is only handed out with Warden and/or Head of Security approval. Remember to put it back if the threat is over. (See below)
Armory and other Restricted Equipment
Energy Gun - Usually only handed out by the Warden when things have really hit the fan. Has two modes, click the weapon in your hand to switch between disable and kill.
Laser Gun - While more efficient than an energy gun, (it has a capacity of 12 shots instead of the energy gun's 10), it only has a kill mode.
Riot Shield - Protects from melee attack in the direction you are facing and has a 50% chance of negating incoming damage or projectiles. Can't fit in backpacks.
Riot Shotgun - Can fire a wide variety of shells, from rubber and beanbag shells that deal stamina damage, to all kinds of Technological Shells created by Science.
Ion Rifle - Useful against targets that can be [[EMP effects|EMP'd. Does serious damage to Cyborgs, AIs, and IPCs. Can also disable any technology targets are wearing and disable implants/cybernetics. Useless against biological threats.
Various body armour and helmets - See this for more information.
Important: When you are done with your locker, close it and lock it to prevent unruly thieves from taking the remaining items inside. If they somehow enter there.
Always have your tools recharged after an arrest. If your flash is burnt out, get a new one from the lockers or security vending machine and hand your old one to a Roboticist. Then take your baton or disabler, pop them in the recharger, and wait for the light to flash yellow. Having a charged stunbaton is sometimes the difference between life and death.
Police misconduct 
Round-Start antagonists are ineligible to be be matched to the job of Security Officer.
Note that if you are selected as antag, but your character's job preferences are set such that the round is unable to match you to any of your preffered roles, you will be instead be given a random non-mindshielded role.
As a mindshielded crew member, you cannot be converted into an antagonist through thralling, unless you have lost your mindshield implant, either to cloning or surgical removal. If, however, you are somehow unshielded, thralled, and then re-implanted with a mindshield, you will remain thralled.
Of note, however, is the topic of hiring from manifest: A crew member without a mindshield can change their job to Security Officer if the Head Of Personnel (and presumably the Head of Security) allows it. Anatgonists hired in this manner will not only have access to Security-specific areas, but the equipment and (admittedly sometimes dubious) trust that an officer normally comes with; Unless caught red-handed, one can get away with a lot while wearing Security's colors and showing up as mindshielded.
Tips and Tricks
- There are a few different types of armour and helmets that security is in possession of, all with their own pros and cons.
- Riot Gear is great for absorbing melee damage but won't do much of anything to protect you against bullets or lasers. It also has much greater coverage, though it slows you down as a cost. Great for claymore toting cultists.
- Bullet Proof Vests and Bullet Proof Helmets - as the name implies, absorbs damage caused by bullets at the cost of melee and laser protection as well as having lesser coverage. Very useful when Nuclear Operatives go in guns blazing.
- The Ablative Vest is great at absorbing energy based damage such as the Laser gun and even has a chance to deflect energy based projectiles. Though you shouldn't be using it as much in most situations, except when you're at risk of friendly fire or very rare circumstances.
- Finally, your standard-issued Armour Vest and Helmet you start with is a jack of all trades type, absorbing every damage by a minimal amount, except bullets, which it absorbs lower than the rest.
- Mindshield implants prevent someone from being brainwashed into a Cult member or Revolutionary
- Keep in mind that mindshields can be removed via cloning or surgery so security officer are not completely protected from brainwashing.
- Exosuits such as the Gygax and Durand are powerful, but far from invincible. If the opportunity presents itself to use a mech, make sure you select the right tools for the job. The Gygax is extremely fast but fragile, making it perfect for running down fleeing criminals, while the Durand is slow and tanky, a natural choice for dealing with biohazards like Terror Spiders. Above all, remember not to to let the power go to your head, and remember the primary rule of Combined Arms Warfare: A tank which is alone is a tank that is soon to be dead.
- Xenomorphs and Terror Spiders take double burn damage, laser gun them or set them on fire with the immolator gun that science can research.
- Riot shields have a good chance to block melee attacks in the direction you are facing and can also block xenomorph pounces along with their disarms. Take one, it's underrated. Couple it with riot armour to be very hard to kill in melee.
- If you need a patrolling partner just pick up your PDA and call Officer Beepsky (Or any securitron) to you. Disable his patrol mode and take him with you. If someone fucks with you just shift+click - set to arrest and he'll ensure you never get robusted again. Just make sure that the person robusting you is not Unknown, it won't work unless if you find a way (Such as making that unknown attack Beepsky).
- As a Security Officer asking a criminal to kindly come with you to the brig instead of stunning them outright doesn't hurt - in fact, you should not be doing so outside code red. You'd be surprised at how some criminals can be responsive to this. It'll save you the hassle of "HELP SHITCURITY ARRESTING ME FOR NO REASON" and you can always just tase them if they refuse. Be aware that suspicious people will get the upper hand on you, once you're off-guard.
- Getting EMP'd (Or Ion'd) means your energy based weapons will most likely be utterly dry and will have to be recharged to be used again. But keep in mind that your stun baton is the exception and loses only 10% of its charge when it is hit by an EMP so pull it out when you see a traitor or changeling run at you after they have EMP'd you.
- Bolas are your best defence against enemies immune to projectiles, because slowing them down gives you the most valuable resource - time. Once they are slowed, you can quickly go over your options, such as flashbangs, pepper spray, or your trusty stunbaton.