Sheriff Protocol Think Tank

So this is both a server ideas thread and a discussion thread, so I'll just post this here. Basically it's purpose is to help fill in the holes with the current Sheriff protocol. There are some hypothetical situations that could benefit from some discussion. Please comment your opinion on how these situations should be handled as well as inform us of any other situations that the protocol doesn't cover. Here are two that I have thought about...

1. Can a sheriff arrest a known criminal? Say they didn't see them do something illegal, but another sheriff did and the guy escaped. What if the sheriff sees a guy doing illegal stuff, but then the sheriff is killed by the player? Can the sheriff seek them out and arrest them after he dies?

2. A sheriff catches a player stealing another player's horse. Now normally, "[The sheriff] may kill the horse of a player [he or she] found performing an illegal action." (This is to be done in the case that someone runs from you as a sheriff. Currently, you can't just shoot them.) However, this horse belongs to an innocent and is being stolen. If you kill the horse to catch the robber, you are effectively depriving an innocent of a horse. Not an ideal situation. However, if you don't kill the horse, the player might escape with it. You could be granted permission to shoot for the kill if this occurs, but that kinda conflicts with the current protocol which seems to lean more towards only shooting if shot at. Personally, I prefer shooting for the kill in this situation as it effectively punishes the criminal and saves the innocent a horse.

3. A ticketed player logs on the sheriff, leaving his pvp logger in front of the sheriff. What should the sheriff do? Should the logger be killed?

4. The sheriff sees a player commit a crime, but the player escapes the sheriff for some time. At what point does the player become innocent again, if ever? What if the player is arrested by another sheriff while the sheriff who saw the player commit a crime is offline. The sheriff who originally saw the player commit a crime logs back on and finds the player. The player already paid for their crimes, but the sheriff doesn't know that. How can this be prevented?

5. If the sheriff is being camped (found in a building by potentially hostile players for example) by possibly hostile players who have not yet attempted to kill the sheriff, what is the protocol for this situation? Should the sheriff first ask the players' intentions? Should the sheriff ask them to leave? What if the players threaten the sheriff who is stuck in a building? What if they don't say anything, and refuse to leave?

How do you think sheriffs should handle these situations? Are there any more situations you can think of that currently isn't covered in the handbook? Comment below cowbois. :V

 

Hopefully these questions will be answered eventually. Feel free to bring this thread up in the staffchat on slack where they can see it Feather. The reason why I didn't post this in the questions section is because I wanted some feedback on what the community thinks to help inform the staff's decisions made about the protocol. I wouldn't want the staff to have to call all the shots without any community feedback. Also, I get can get more situations that aren't listed currently this way. :3

Yes, but then again, you die afterwards. :/

Excellent question. Added.

I'm assuming if they try to kill you, you get to kill them. However, if they are camping you and aren't actively trying to kill you (yet), I'm not certain. I would warn them to leave or feel the heavy hand of justice first, and if they didn't I would fight my way out, but that's just me. Added.

 

Thanks for unintentionally pointing out the ambiguity of my statement. Edited. :V

Yeah, logic is good for now. I'm hoping that this will be officially resolved at some point though.

True enough. Note that this is coming from a modern mindset however. I wonder what the "protocol" (if you could even call it that) would have been in the actual wild west? Also, if someone is a known criminal and have not paid for their crimes yet, they would be arrested after their luck at evading law enforcement was up. :V I guess if the sheriff didn't know about the crimes, that would be one thing. However, this is assuming he or she does know about them. Still, interesting perspective. Thanks for the response.

I like the idea of the horse automatically returning if the criminal was caught. Perhaps there can be a system for stealing horses instead of just riding away on them?

Excellent idea. I'm not certain if this is possible at the moment. Can pvp loggers be arrested? If not, what do you think should be done in the meantime? Not sure I like the player report system for sheriffs if it's a /report command. If anything, they should have to be caught on camera and reported via our current report system. This would be less liable to abuse.

Wow, you are just full of brilliant ideas aren't you? I like the idea of sheriff evasion raising your bounty. Until something like this system is implemented however, what do you think sheriffs should do if a player evades them, but they catch up with them later?

It does seem to be a case by case ordeal. Perhaps there doesn't need to be a protocol for a situation such as this due to the sheer amount of possibilities in it. Sometimes protocols can actually be harmful. I personally enjoyed what freedom I had as a mod on Brawl, and I'm certain that the same will be so for sheriffs. Once again, thank you for your input.

 

Keep us posted on the time. Will this be added to the protocol eventually?

Regardless of whether they are allowed to or not, what should their priority be? Killing the robber, or killing the horse and cuffing the robber? Or should that be left to the discretion of the sheriff?

Didn't know that. Thanks for the clarification.

Seems fair enough. Could there be special rules for the players with the highest bounties? Like sheriffs could take them down or arrest them on sight? This would only be for players whose bounties were something absurdly high, or maybe the top three on a sort of leaderboards? (In banks if that still works?) I no longer think that a bounty leaderboards will be an issue. People seem to want to avoid it now due to longer jail times.

Tough luck for the Sheriff. I hope this never happens to me if I apply. :L

To clarify, is this the official staff statement Roke, or is it just your two cents?