Detective
Detective
Superiors: Head of Security
Difficulty: Medium
Guides: Guide to Security, Space Law, Identifying Antagonists, Autopsies, Standard Operating Procedure, Standard Operating Procedure (Security)
Access: Security, Detective's Office, Morgue, Maintenance
Duties: Investigate crime scenes, talk to witnesses, record evidence, prosecute criminals.
Departmental Head
Head of Security
| Guide to Security • | Combat • | Identifying Antagonists • | Riot Control • | MODsuits • | Security Items • | Space Law • | Standard SOP • | Legal SOP • | Security SOP |
The Detective's (Also known as a Forensic Technician) job is to investigate the remains of any crime, identify the perpetrator, and if you have time arrest them with security.
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 vital.
Robustness is useful but not mandatory.
Some medical knowledge is useful, to ascertain where damage came from.
All knowledge about the space station and how it operates will be useful in the process of solving crime. You never know which information will be useful. Having a broad base of knowledge will help immensly.
For Standard Operating Procedure for this role and other security roles, please see Standard Operating Procedure (Security).
Solving Crimes
YOU ARE A FORENSICS EXPERT BUT YOU ARE ALSO SECURITY.
See standard security procedures for more about evidence collecting.
As a detective, your primary duty is to go to crime scenes and find out who committed them. You do this with your Forensic Scanner, witness accounts and with the help of Medical Autopsies. Taking down notes and accounts will help later when the officers have arrested the suspect.
In order of priority, your sources of information are the following:
Witness Accounts This is the most important information. A witness seeing Pete entering the teleporter will mean way more than a fingerprint of Pete's on the teleporter door. Asking on comms for witnesses, asking people who work nearby a crimescene. Even if they can't identify the suspect with a name, a general description or race will give you a lot to work with. People know way more than they think, you just have to ask. Use a tape recorder to record relevant information. Witness accounts can also give contexts to action that your forensics cannot.
Forensic Scanner Your forensic scanner is a unique tool that can scan objects to get fingerprints or leftover DNA. Once you have a print or DNA you can use your Forensic scanner to know who it belongs to, as long as they exist in the station records. Beginner tip; Many times, a mass of blood without DNA matched to station logs is the blood of an animal. The Forensic scanner has a long range so as long as you can see something, you can scan it. You can scan peoples ungloved hands to get their fingerprints to figure out their identity. If you have the forensic scanner equipped you can print the scans you've performed. You can also clear the scanner, if you wish to print certain information, but you have to re-scan that information. Beginners tip: After you've scanned a crimescene, print the record and store it in a folder.
Medical Autopsies A dead body should end up in the morgue. With a good coroner who's willing to help you out you can get quite far. They can find the cause of death, the time and the means. This means they can figure out if it's a murder or just an accident. You can also get a deceased persons equipment and the Coroner might be able to tell you who left the body.
Proper Proceedings
No Crime to investigate
- Spend this time wisely and set yourself up for success later when solving dangerous crimes!
- Introduce yourself to important people in a friendly manner and let them know you're here to help. This will make it more likely they will provide you useful information later when a crime has been committed. Some good people to talk to is the Janitor, they may find some bloody messes , the Coroner, you'll be working with them and hopefully be a good team, and different department heads. But in general, talking to as many people as possible will set you up for success later when a crime is committed. People should WANT to help you solve the crime, not stand in your way.
- Patrol the station for crimes. Call security to the scene if you witness something they should handle, like a clear cut crime of assault or battery. Be careful about going into maintenance tunnels.
- Use the camera feed in your office to watch over the station. It looks like an old TV. If you suspect someone doing a crime, you can follow them without them knowing this way.
- Update criminal logs if the sec forces are busy. If someone calls out "Set Charlize to Arrest for murdering the HoP", use the security console in your office to do it. Others might be busy.
- Patrol with an officer and help them. If there's a new officer on the force, you can show them around and maybe teach them that solving crime isn't about the size of your baton, but the girth of your paper folder.
- Stay social on the Sec Channel. Make sure people know they can rely on you and be helpful.
Crime to investigate
- Remember to ALWAYS, wear your special forensic gloves, or you will record your own prints when you are handling fingerprint cards.
- When you're called upon to investigate something, hurry over there. Different detectives vary in their approach to investigating a crime scene but it's always good to take a photograph of the scene, scan everything and put all evidence in evidence bags. If there is a body, send it to the morgue after you're done with it. Depending on how much information you've got, your work ahead varies.
- Talk to witnesses! Anyone nearby may provide you crucial information. Just a random passer-by may be able to crack the case for you. Consider the location where the crime happened. Who would be likely to pass there? Is it in arrivals, maybe a newly arrived assistant can help you? In science, a scientist or the RD may be your best bet. Ask around. This can take some time, but this is usually how you solve the crime.
- If you have the suspects race you can check the security records for all people of that race. This can narrow it down. If you have the time or the list is short, you can PDA them for an interview about their previous movements.
- In some cases, you can track their movements based on prints on doors. They may have entered through a certain airlock and you can follow their path back to a location with more witnesses.
- If there is a corpse, their personal items may hold a clue as to what happened or where they have visited. Tracking the movements of the victim could be useful if you have nothing else to go on.
- Keep an organized folder. When the suspect is in cuffs, you don't want to spend 5 minutes going over the details of the case with the arresting officer. Just give them your well organized evidence on the case. You have a photocopier in your office so you can keep your original. On this page you can find some examples of paperwork to use: Example Paperwork
- Keep talking over the sec channel. Don't hoard information and try to solve the case yourself. Announce everything you know to maximize the chance of other officers finding the culprit.
- Use the security consoles. If you have many suspects, set them to monitor and write down your suspicious. If they are caught red handed later, the officers will have an easier time piecing together the whole puzzle. If you know who the criminal is, set them to arrest. Don't forget to announce it in the sec channel.
CRIMES to investigate
- Keep a cool head. When the pressure is on the sec channel can sometimes turn into a screaming match. Make sure you're the voice of reason and do not escalate conflicts. If anything, learn to smooth them over and offer to help with any problems.
- Sometimes, the station is filled with criminals and you can't keep up. You're being called left right and centre to solve all of the stations problems. In this case, you'll have to prioritize. If there is an HoS, tell them you're going to focus on a certain case which you can actually make progress on.
- Prioritize the important cases. This is where a long term detective shows their experience. It would be better for the station as a whole if you focus on cases where you make the most impact. Learn which cases could most benefit from your help and which could not. For instance, murders of multiple people with an unknown murderer is very important compared to the missing chef's knife. However, if you have no idea how you could contribute to the catching of the unknown murderer, but can easily find the thief who stole the chefs knife, you would contribute more by helping the chef.
Important Equipment
Forensics Gloves - The Black Gloves you start with are NOT Forensics Gloves. Forensic gloves are found in your Locker, and should be put on ASAP. As stated above, NEVER take these off if you are planning on being an actual detective and doing your damn job, or you will get your own prints on everything you touch and mess up the evidence.
Your forensics scanner - Found in your backpack. Use this to scan for fingerprints, fibers and blood. Will give you the details after a short scan, and can print out a report on a paper sheet. You can also use it in your hand to identify Fingerprints/DNA without having to access the Security/Medical Records Consoles, which is convenient if you need to identify a perp quickly.
Roleplaying ideas
Remember that you should be an asset to the team, not someone annoying. Most detective stereotypes usually feature a detective with a lot of problems that make them hard to work with. That might be great for a show or movie, not so much when working with other people. Make sure your character is a team player that the rest of the station will enjoy interacting with.
- The murder maven. A sweet old lady who loves a good ol' murder mystery. She'll invite the criminals for tea and cookies but the only thing they will get served is some cold, hard justice.
- The shut-in detective based on L from death note. Sits in their office, has shutters closed, usually hides their appearance somehow. Investigates by using PDA messages and camera feeds. May have an assistant on the ground scanning things. This will be detecting on hard mode. If you try this, make sure not to annoy the security team.
- The hard boiled Noir. The tough guy who's seen it all and who is too old for this shit. Probably lost their partner and significant other to some horrible criminal. Dislikes paperwork and is only allowed around because they get the results GODDAMMIT! Again, this could also be someone who could annoy the security team if played in a very hostile way. Make sure you have a soft spot for the line officers or the common man.
- The bumbling detective. Someone who is mostly comedic and a bit stupid, but due to this is not seen as a threat and manages to capture the most dangerous criminals. Make sure not to overplay the incompetence angle when in company of the security forces. They should still be able to rely on you.
Disposing of evidence 
Round-Start antagonists are ineligible to be be matched to the job of Detective.
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 available non-mindshielded job, you will be instead be returned to the lobby, and the antag role will be assigned to another player.
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.