As I'm thinking through the new features on the police HUD and the overall DE criminal/legal landscape, one of my goals is to simplify the structure of the DEPD to promote stories rather than issuing tickets or attempting to climb ranks. Here is what I'm proposing:

Here's the way I see it - the path between rookie and officer is for the most part automated based on activity and reports. Once you become an officer, it'll be on sergeants to recruit active people into either the corporal or detective roles. If you head down the detective path, you'll have responsibilities and features built into the systems to follow up on cases. If you go down the corporal path, you're technically a "senior" officer who will help train/partner out rookies and regular officers to work beats. Both corporal and detective roles will be actively monitored for presence on the sim and reports; if they aren't active in a month or two, they are automatically demoted to an officer like the rest, leaving room for more to be recruited on.

The sergeant and lieutenant roles are responsible for making sure people are promoted, hosting IC training/raids, and on-boarding of rookies are running smooth.

The captain role is a lead role for the group.

With a flatter rank structure, I want people to worry less about promotions and more on the role of their character in this fucked up home we called Dead End City. Each rank will also have specific responsibilities and function for the overall city, too.

Anyways, please share your thoughts on this. It's not set in stone yet, but I've been planning systems around it... definitely wanted to get feedback.