CCCXLII

Well, of course some officers use excessive force some of the time. It all depends on your definition of excessive force.

IMHO, it's not the answers that need changing, but the question: Do the police in the US use excessive force too often? I.E. Are they consistently, repeatedly overreacting to threats, perceived or confirmed, and using force beyond what is necessary to neutralize that threat?

And from my experience, I have to agree, security, even up to the level of Campus Police are not trained and equipped to be anything of use more than direction or expertise in the layout. Nothing in the way of a hero to save the day. 

Your post reminds me of a relevant story: http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2023779642_spuheroxml.html

I dont think so, if there is an active shooter there is no need to set up a perimeter because you know where the suspect is and hes not going anywhere because hes shooting people. After Columbine Law Enforcement changed their training and tactics so they dont wait outside waiting for swat while people are being killed. Every officer should be  trained for this type of scenario now they may wait for a few more units to arrive so they can engage the shooter in groups which makes sense but you cant wait 30 minutes to an hour for the swat team to be called and hope for the best. And most officers carry rifles in their vehicles so im sure they are equipped to handle most situations.

Accurate.

I can't find a good, definitive source for the policy but these will have to do (scroll down to 'what to expect from police officers'):

http://www.northwestern.edu/up/crime/awareness/activeshooter.html

https://protect.iu.edu/police/active-shooter

If you look around the web, you can find active shooter instructional videos that say the same thing. Personally I think it's a change for the better, but sometimes you will get incidents of police responding to a 'shooter' that doesn't exist (try searching SWATTING for an example).

Malls are a great example of a place where someone can do quite a bit of damage prior to response being anything to hamper them.  Unarmed guards sadly don't have the clout to stop an active shooter scenario.

Some cities actually place police substations inside malls.

http://www.wsmv.com/story/22674393/goodlettsville-police-to-open-substation-at-rivergate-mall

I get what you're saying, and this is why I feel like awareness, training and carrying is important for all citizens, no matter the country. In my opinion, the police and other emergency services aren't 'First Responders', but rather you and anyone in the surrounding area are.

I think it'd be good if there was some effort made to educate citizens and students on how to interact with law enforcement. It's really not common sense, I was just reading a comment the other day where a person thought you had a legal right to 'resist' (we're talking running, fighting back, so on. It wasn't a troll btw), and was asking about how much resistance you could legally use. Of course, they were very quickly corrected by the people of reddit, but it's very scary to think that there's that sort of misinformation out there.

One of my earliest memories is back in preschool, when two firefighters came in to our class to teach a lesson. One was in a plain-clothes uniform, he taught us how to respond to a smoke alarm, how to check doors for fire on the other side, and to stay low to the ground in-case of smoke and toxic fumes. The other firefighter was in full suit and SCBA, and he taught us not to be afraid of firefighters in their equipment who might shout commands and grab us as they try to rescue us from a fire or some other danger. I've carried those lessons through my entire life, and I think it would be awesome if the police would do something similar (and if fire departments would do it more often!).

It would be invaluable if they taught things like: How to act appropriately around law enforcement (follow commands, keep your hands out of your pockets, and so on), how to act during a traffic stop (roll down the window, hands on the steering wheel, don't get out), how to call 911 and report a crime (go somewhere safe before calling, give location immediately in-case the call is lost, describe yourself and others, etc.), and basic rights (you must identify yourself and give your ID if asked, you cannot leave unless you're given permission, you can say you don't want to answer questions or a specific question, etc.).

The truth is escalation is used for having all the militarized weapons on the law enforcement's side, but at the same time the fact that the police have higher power weapons is why criminals strive so hard for them as well.  The North Hollywood shootout type of incidents are EXTREMELY rare, and that is the main justification for weapons like the AR-15 being available for law enforcement.  Anyone who's ever dealt with a rifle like that understands that it must be deployed with great care in an urban/populated environment, it really isnt ideal for an urban area because of penetration issues.  Yet in some places it is commonplace in patrol vehicles, not just swat.  imo that is an overreach that will not have a positive ending.

That doesn't sound right to me.

Take a look at this video to see the difference between the wall penetration of different firearms and rounds: http://outdoorchannel.com/video.aspx?g=shooting&f=KVKomFAWRC3s&guid=9Eps2Ha3Mz3VEcmFvjdQaOSuMtvNWIIh

As you'll see, an AR-15 firing a .223 round has much less penetration than a 9mm or .45 Handgun.

America is an interesting place. Here, a citizen can legally own a tank, WW2-era cannons, powerful firearms and explosives, and strong body armor that deflect bullets (see North Hollywood shootout on wikipedia). And even if a particular item is illegal in your state, you can probably either pick it up in the next state or find a black market for it. And even if you seriously can't find it, then you can probably make it (see Marvin Heemeyer on wikipedia). It sounds crazy, but it's how the whole freedom thing works. Take freedom of religion for example: all religions must be allowed under any circumstances, because if even one is held above another or banned, then any religion is 'free-game' (anything could be banned, a state church could rise, etc.). Same with freedom of speech, either it's all allowed or none of it is allowed. Liberty and justice for all, that sort of thing.

It follows then, that if any criminal or potential criminal could get their hands on these sorts of equipment, that the police should already have military equipment available for use (see Hans Hansen at The Oregonian news). This is where we have a problem, because the average person isn't packing a weapon, but the police are always going to assume they are, and that means that if a civilian or criminal makes a bad move that alarms an officer, they could find themselves pinned to the ground or worse, shot and killed (see Officer Mark Rine and Rumain Brisbon at Fox News). The police aren't wrong to respond this way though, because police officers are often killed by criminals just on the virtue of them being police officers (see Officer Jeremy Henwood at NBC San Diego news). In-fact one thing you'll never see here in the US is police officers patrolling on foot, just because it would make them too easy of a target. Bike cops are also rare/non-existent, but that depends on where you live (though I certainly haven't spotted any in Seattle or the rest of Washington state in my two years of living here).

Something else that's interesting: Eric Garner isn't the first person to die because of a chokehold applied by law enforcement. In-fact, in most states, chokeholds are banned or restricted for use by law enforcement. This is because police would apply them, someone would die, and there would be protests against the use of chokeholds. But for some reason, in this case, instead of protesting the use of chokeholds for compliance, it's a race issue. It's confusing and suspicious, and there are even some rumors that there are 'agitators' among these protesters that, for their own gain, are actively trying to turn these sort of things into a race issue. Then again, maybe it's just a race issue because it happened so close to the whole Ferguson thing. Who can really say for sure?

tl;dr IMHO the police here are rightfully militarized and rightfully violent. There would still be protests if it was a "white guy".

I was going to wait until the 15th to post a mirror, but...

MIRROR: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bzn7rRc8SbEOQTBKUWpWZms3SUE/view?usp=sharing

EDIT:

Added two youtube videos to the OP

Yeah, the file still hasn't been approved. I don't know why it's taking so long. I would appreciate it if a mod or admin could contact me about this.

I'll try uploading it somewhere else if a whole month passes by.

(LINK BECAUSE OF SIZE)

http://www.emergencyrigs.net/viewphoto.asp?PhotoID=5164&Size=L

(PHOTO NOT MINE)

From my hometown, Gilbert AZ. Probably the most famous person to come from the town is Lindsey Sterling.

It's not odd to get temperatures up to 120°F in Arizona, so most people there drive white cars that reflect the sun and heat. This includes the emergency services and especially the fire departments, who don't want to die from the heat before they get to the fire.

I always thought the GFD was beautiful (try searching for pics of the fire station, for starters). Something you can't see in the picture is that all the wording on their apparatus are reflective, which you can see below. There's just something magical about walking past an engine and watching it twinkle out of the corner of your eye.

According to the Youtube description, some of the riders were arrested.

I feel like what the police were really trying to accomplish here, was to get some lights and sirens near the head of the pack (which they did). That way the riders are encouraged to disperse (which they did), and other vehicles on the road are given advanced warning to slow down or stop (which they did), so they don't slam into or get slammed by one of the motorcycles. All in all, I think the police had an intelligent, effective strategy that worked well in this situation. 

Lets pray some of these riders are thinking to themselves, 'That was incredibly scary, dangerous, and stupid. I'll never do anything like that again!'.

There's a thread here on the game:

http://forum.emergency-planet.com/topic/19621-enforcer-police-crime-action/

According to Steam, there are going to be some big updates in the near future.

Try turning off shadows in the options menu.

DOWNLOAD LINK: http://forum.emergency-planet.com/files/file/598-standard-quality-911fr-em4-new-soundtrack-mod-la-mixrar/

MIRROR: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bzn7rRc8SbEOQTBKUWpWZms3SUE/view?usp=sharing

NOTE: Download is pending administrator approval and is not yet available to the public. Check back often.

EDIT: Alternatively, you can download from the mirror link.

-SAMPLES-

- ABOUT -

While playing LA Mod, I found myself getting tired of the Base Game's music playing in the background. It was just so tense all the time, and the constant feeling of ramping tension would set my heart racing for the entire time I played.

I searched the Emergency Planet forums and downloads (and even EM4 mods in-general) to see if anyone had made some sort of 'soundtrack replacer' mod, but I didn't have any luck. After some digging though, I discovered that at one point in the past, LA Mod did have its own unique soundtrack, but it was removed from the mod due to copyright issues.

So, I compiled my own soundtrack, but with an important twist. Every song in this list is distributed under a creative commons (cc) liscense. Meaning you're free to download this, share it, and even make non-Monetized YouTube videos of it.

- DESCRIPTION -

This mod changes the background music in Freeplay to a new soundtrack. It does not replace any game files except the soundtracks.xml file. The background music in the Tutorial, Campaign, and Missions should remain the same.

This mod was designed for use with LA Mod, but could potentially be used with any the mod based on LA Mod.

Every song in this mod is distributed under the CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 liscense. You can learn more about this liscense at the following website: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/

The normal background music in this mix is generally Jazz and Old Skool Hip Hop. When an emergency happens on the map, the background music will be suddenly interrupted by one of the action_short songs, which are usually either Modern Hiphop or Electronic music. THERE IS NO RAPPING IN THIS MIX.

- INSTALLATION -

To install, extract the contents of the "Standard Quality 911FR-EM4 New Soundtrack Mod LA Mix" and place them in the "YourModName/Audio/Soundtracks" file.

If installation is successful, you should hear a tune with some saxophones when you start up a Freeplay game.

- CREDITS -

background_01f.ogg

Midnight Streetlight (Extended) by Zooloo75

Easy Listening - Jazz

4:12

background_02f.ogg

Swayhop by ranter

Hip Hop, Rap, R&B - Hip Hop - Olskool

3:33

background_03f.ogg

SH - Lovely by shaggyhaired

Hip Hop, Rap, R&B - Hip Hop - Olskool

3:48

background_04f.ogg

Kami | The way you look tonigh by Kamikazi1

Hip Hop, Rap, R&B - Hip Hop - Olskool

4:09

background_05f.ogg

Canthink by Jassummisko

Easy Listening - Jazz

3:38

background_06f.ogg

Sax Practice #2 {s20}

Easy Listening - Jazz

4:12

action_short_01f.ogg

Police Dog by Demeanor-Ice-Creamer

Hip Hop, Rap, R&B - Hip Hop - Olskool

1:14

action_short_02f.ogg

The Chase Begins by PhatBoiJ

Electronic - Dance

2:19

action_short_03f.ogg

Fall In Love Again [7000] by Sirhc7000

Hip Hop, Rap, R&B - Hip Hop - Modern

2:31

action_short_04f.ogg

Bitter chips (loop) by Xtrullor

Electronic - House

1:45

action_short_05f.ogg

Mellow House Loop by Masterpeace

Electronic - House

1:15

action_short_06f.ogg

Escos by TicTackLock

Electronic - Drum N Bass

1:41

action_short_07f.ogg

Aggressor of the street by Noisysundae

Electronic - Drum N Bass

2:34

action_short_08f.ogg

Oracle by Omnivore

Electronic - Industrial

1:36

For future reference, this is the corona fix you need for WHITE BOXES (link is from the Mayberry Emergency Services Facebook page). From now on, everyone can just copypaste a link to this post.

https://mega.co.nz/#!e5AHTCBC!co4BZLLGwHb_BokJCH9GYthpJQMw2mYnGjh-sg_u0mc

Hi StevenEhlert2 (or any other Inception Clan Staff),

I'm interested in joining Inception. However, the link to the rules provided in the Inception Member Application redirects to a login screen. In other words, the site requires me to be a member before I can read the rules. Because I can't reasonably apply for membership without reading the rules, I would appreciate it if you (or another member of Inception Clan) could either add the current rules to a new or existing guest-friendly page on the website or post the current rules on this topic.

Thank you, and sorry for the inconvenience.

- CCCXLII

Sounds neat! I'll be watching.

New update tomorrow. Sorry for the double post, just want to make sure this is bumped and people stay updated. If it's a problem, I'll merge this into my earlier post.

This will be my last post on this game, unless something really major comes up. The game looks cool and the devs seem awesome, but unfortunately my computer doesn't meet the minimum specs, and that means I can't justify buying the game myself. Because I don't own the game, and because I don't plan on buying it in the near future, I don't see much point in following its development.

Hope everyone enjoys the game!

 

NEXT UPDATE and NEWS

Hey everyone,

======== FIRST NEWS ========

We prepared an update build for today, but we had an unexpected crash while compiling the game (Unity issue), so we will have to wait until Monday.

Fixed

- General: fixed email width and height

- Player: can only use police vehicle while on duty

- Vehicles: really no more flying vehicles (their mothership is gone)

- Kitten on tree: we managed to decrease the volume voice of the kitten XD (it is a woman who insist in screaming in the game)

- Vehicle: sometimes when buy a new vehicle (civilian) it spawns in wrong place, in map Center

 

New

- Mod: vehicle 2 and vehicle 3 (sport car and SUV) can now be modified (textures)

This will be UP at the Monday's update =)

 

======== FIXING BUGs and TROUBLE SHOOTING ========

We know the last update fixed the problem for many players. We know also that did not fix for some people. Please, for each of you who is still having troubles about crashs after starting career, or menu is not showing up, or any other problem with starting game, please, check the following:

- Make sure you are in the latest updated game (v1.0.2.2), you can see this when you open the game, at the bottom right of your screen

- If you already did the update, make sure you have the following folders INSIDE your game folder: DATA_Config, DATA_CUSTOMDATA, DATA_hof, DATA_Saves. We know that sometimes, these files were not created, but it was because the user (most of the times) did not update really the game

- Make sure you system can really handle the game, if not, there is not much we can do about this. We are receiving a lot of emails with old processors and / or not really enough memory, or even the graphic card. Even so, we try to help those users.

- If somehow you selected an invalid resolution for your and clicked "Confirm" in game, you can go back accessing the folder, INSIDE your game folder, in DATA_Config, open the file called pcconfig.xml and change the field called "resolution" between 0 to 4 (I recommend 4, where 0 is the lowest resolution).

- Try reinstalling the game if any of this works.

- Even reinstalling the game did not really help you, please, get in touch: suporte@odingamestudio.com.br

 

If you send us an email requesting support, we usually answer pretty quick, but we ask at least 24h to check all emails and answer yours, sometimes it is too much to see and we cannot answer your email in 1h.

 

Last, but not least, SADLY we are also receiving emails from people that is running pirated versions of the game, where they can only have the first game update and many things starts to happen with their game. So, please, do not be mad if we ask you, by email support, some of your info regarding SteamID, PC specs, etc. We just want to focus in players that really bought the game and are having problems playing it. Thank you for understanding us.

 

 

======== MORE NEWS ========

 

And we have more news about next version (after Monday's update) \o/

 

- More bug fixes (always fixing)

- Cutscene for ambulance and Tow vehicles (you will be able to see then coming in and out scenes, just a little bit more interacting than today is)

- General: go on and off duty from home or police station

- General: more police stations in other maps

- Player: flashlight option, with new animations and turning on and off

- Player: medal system, where your character will receive medals based on their actions

- Vehicles: one more type of siren for all 4 vehicles

 

We will have more content coming soon and we will announce as soon as we decide which ones will include.

 

Thank you again for all of you that is playing the game and also the ones who is helping us by sending all information for bug fixing and testing the game with us.

 

Have a nice weekend.

You could change the base game's soundtrack, but you can also go into each individual mod folder and change the soundtracks for that particular mod. For example, you could have totally different music depending on whether you were playing LA Mod or London Mod. You should be able do this without replacing any of the game's or mod's original files.

Go through Data/Audio/Soundtracks or Mods/YourModNameHere/Audio/Soundtracks. If your mod doesn't have a Soundtracks folder, you can create one. You should see a soundtracks.xml document (if not, you can grab this from the base game's Soundtracks folder), which can be opened and edited in Notepad. The soundtracks.xml document dictates what music is played for each section of the game and in what order.

EXAMPLE:

<soundtrack name="freeplay">		<music id="0" file="mod:Audio/Soundtracks/background_06.ogg" level="0.0" next="0" />		<music id="1" file="mod:Audio/Soundtracks/action_short_01.ogg" level="0.1" next="0" />		<music id="2" file="mod:Audio/Soundtracks/action_short_02.ogg" level="0.2" next="0" />		<music id="3" file="mod:Audio/Soundtracks/action_short_03.ogg" level="0.3" next="0" />		<music id="4" file="mod:Audio/Soundtracks/action_short_04.ogg" level="0.4" next="0" />		<music id="5" file="mod:Audio/Soundtracks/action_short_05.ogg" level="0.5" next="0" />		<music id="6" file="mod:Audio/Soundtracks/action_short_06.ogg" level="0.6" next="0" />		<music id="7" file="mod:Audio/Soundtracks/action_short_07.ogg" level="0.7" next="0" />		<music id="8" file="mod:Audio/Soundtracks/action_short_08.ogg" level="0.8" next="0" />	</soundtrack>

The above is a section in the soundtracks.xml document that controls the music when playing Freeplay mode.

music id="x"

Each music file is identified by the game through a number that you assign. The number can be anywhere from single or double (maybe triple and so on) digits. Because each file is differentiated by an id number, you could list the same file twice (but with different id numbers).

file="mod:Audio/Soundtracks/yourmusicname.ogg"

The file associated with that particular music id. "mod:" means that the game looks for the Audio folder in the current modification. If there isn't a particular music file in your mod's Soundtracks folder, it will instead look for the music file in the base game's Soundtrack folder (i.e. Data/Audio/Soundtracks).

level="x.x"

This value determines when the music is played. "0.0" designates normal background music, which is played when there isn't any emergencies. Anything higher than 0.0 will play when an emergency happens, interrupting the current background music and playing to completion.

next="x"

This determines which music id is played next (the "x" being a particular music id) after the current music is played to completion.

New update:

 

Hi everyone,

 

Update 1.0.2.2 is now live, if you’ve enabled automatic downloading Steam should update your game. If you come across any issues, please get in touch with us at support@excalibur-publishing.com

 

Below are a list of fixes and additions to the game.

 

FIXES

- General: Made mouse buttons activate indicator lights

- General: Center map TOTALLY redone. We hope this will fix the first start game crash (out of memory)

- General: traffic spawn is improved (we will keep improving), I’m afraid there are no more radically futuristic advancements to automobile technology (no more crazy flying cars, but if you spot any, let us know!) (We know there are still some flying cars, we are on top of the issue again!)

- General: balanced stats without players changing XML custom file (although, we cannot please everyone, so, for you that want a different stats, you can change at the custom XML file)

- General: game is less heavy for shaders and overall textures

- Vehicle: better driving experience (better handling) - we will keep improving with the community feedback.

- Vehicle: vehicle icon fixed (will not appear together with player icon)

- Mission: report does not fit on screen sometimes (Police Station) also can use Enter as key to confirm

- Mission: drunks will no longer be reported as an innocent person

- Mission: red markers now will appear more time, but the player will have to check some false players also, giving more challenge, but always a chance to complete

- Player: fixed where shot can hit markers, so sometimes players cannot hit criminals.

- Player: while on mellee combat, will not break animations anymore

- Player: kicking a door in a house with 2 doors no longer crash

- Criminals: make criminals run less than player

- Criminals: will run for more time when running from police

- Camera: fixed orbit cam handle

 

NEW FEATURES

 

- General: made 2 sensitivity sliders (on foot and vehicle)

- General: map select before going out of home

- Camera orbit mode works with V key

- Vehicle: new sirens for the unmarked vehicle

- Mission: new markers will follow criminals and update from time to time, but it is per zone, not really per criminal

- Mod: external textures for vehicle modding (players can change and it will be replaced in game). For now, only for the first police vehicle

Thank you for your support, we are still working on the game. Today one of the team is going to be using some player’s custom data and we may add these suggestions into a later update if they work well.

 

All the best,

Chris

Edit: We are aware of the flying cars issue that still persists! We're on top of this again!

I had this problem with LA Mod. I would just get the same few events every time I played, just in different order.

Strangely enough though, after I modded in my own choice of music and turned music back on in the settings (up until now I played with music off), the game threw new events at me that I hadn't ever seen before.

When I have played I always get 2 more battalion cheifs and place one at the substation and the other on the east side of the map. I also pair them with a firefighter/paramedic for medical calls.

That's an awesome idea, but I would replace or supplement the Battalion Chiefs with EMS Paramedic Captains. Here's why:

1) The EMS Paramedic Captain not only has all the same abilities as the Battalion Chief, but he can also use an EMT Bag and heal people.

2) The EMS Supervisor's Car is much cheaper than the LAFD Battalion Chief Vehicle.

3) The EMS Supervisor's Car can hold more personnel, and can thus hold way more FF/Paramedics.

Glad to hear everyone's enjoying the list! I'm actually working on another one called "10 More Things Every LA Mod Player Should Know"!

Here's something new I discovered about the Vintage Ambulance: if you take out the FF/Paramedic that comes with it, leaving only the Stretcher Team/Paramedic when you deploy, it's 70~ credits cheaper than a BLS Ambulance. So really, the Vintage Ambulance is awesome for everything xD

PROS:

- Paramedics.

- Same stats as an ALS Ambulance, including the same equipment.

- Cheaper than a BLS Ambulance (with the removal of one paramedic).

- You start out with a couple.

CONS

- It doesn't have floodlights.

- It makes the roleplayer inside of me cringe when I use it.

Devs say they're releasing a patch later this evening.

EDIT: Update 1.0.2.1 Is Live

Hi everyone,

 

We have a new update which will address some issues. Another update is planned for tomorrow too which will address some further optimisation issues but will also add in some additional support to the modding community.

 

Fixes for version 1.0.2.1

 

- Image effects changed to support more PC configurations

- Added mouse sensitivity adjustment (Currently the slider controls on foot and in car sensitivity. another slider is being added soon so you can adjust these individually)

- Added volume sliders for sound effects and music

- Player will no longer keep dying when restarting the game (After dying from hunger)

- Player will now longer have energy below 20 after restarting the game

- New system for graphics options (all image effects will be disabled as standard, Players will need to activate effects)

- Reduced Blur

- Shower bug where camera is lost

- Player can replenish stress control after going out with relatives or friends

- Changed the way we have handled the aiming system.(For example, hitting roof instead of the centre of the screen)

Possible fixes:

We are having some issues replicating the issue below. We may have fixed this issue, if you are struggling with this. Please let us know if this has been fixed.

- Players no longer steer to the left when they are not pressing the A key.

We are planning another update tomorrow.

Thanks for your support!

All the best,

Chris

https://www.emergency-planet.com/enforcerthegame

 

Canada bombing people in the Middle East (Iraq, Libya, Syria etc.), no one cares...a crazy canadian commits a murder and everyone is raging. Canada and rest of NATO has no business in foreign countries.

You do realize that Iraq, Libya, and Syria have all formally asked for US and NATO help, right?

According to the developers, they sent out some 300 codes to different youtubers, so we should see lots of LPs cropping up in the next few days. Also, the devs say they plan to update the game as they receive support and reception.

You can unlock new cars by visiting the game's website (undercover car and jeep).

From what I've heard, there's a few bugs right now, but most of those will probably be patched in the coming days.