It is my understanding that the inquisition is like the FBI, and Arbitrators more like CIA, but who are the day to day law watchers of the imperial worlds and cities? Who are the empires Police?

Enforcers (or mercenaries / private forces depending on the planet) basically fill in for that roll, with the PDF rounding that all out as local army.

Croma said:

There is essentially no unified police force below the Adeptus Arbites, because there is no unified law below the Lex Imperialis (the laws of the Imperium that the Arbites enforce). Individual worlds will have their own laws and consequently their own law enforcement.

Croma said:

Wrong way round. The Inquisition is more like the CIA (ensuring the protection of the state from enemies within and without), and the Arbitrators are like the FBI (enforcing Imperium-wide laws - the Lex Imperialis).

Each planet has it's own independent police forces, as each planet has different laws, as the Imperium doesn't care how Governors run their planets as long as they remain loyal and pay their tithes.

And it's just a good idea to assume the Mechanicus has an NSA equivalent that they don't want anyone to know about.

Like everything 40k it varies from planet to planet, but if you like to play up the high gothic (read latin) feel of a place have them refer to the Vigiles Urbani ("watchmen of the City") or Cohortes Vigilum ("cohorts of the watchmen"). Alternatively you could call them Garda, Gendarmerie, Militsiya, Constabulary, or Hermandades. The term Police is also acceptable. I believe Iconothus has its own scourges detailed in PtUC. Litter your game with slang both familar and utterly nonsensical, and make sure that the local boys usually hate the Arbites, and you will probably be doing just fine.

MILLANDSON said:

I'd say the Inquisition is more like the old KGB. After all, they're a political police of sort.

Kyorou said:

and have a heavy russian influence

ItsUncertainWho said:

I'm pretty sure that the Mechanicus have their own version of the arbites although the group they probably wouldn't want others to know about would be the Lords Dragon.

Thhe I is more like the FBIA and missi with unchequed powers.

The Arbites are more like State Police, Carabinieri, Gendarmerie, Bundesgrenzschutz, and Interpol.

In Ravenor the planetary Arbites are called Magistratum

Kyorou said:

That would be The Commisariat. Saying anything bad about the Imperium, it's forces, its mission, or displaying cowardice will earn you a bullet to the brain-pan. It doesn't matter if you're in the IG or not (although most Commisars are assigned to the IG). On a related note, those Commisars are a<BLAM!>

from france

no gendarmerie is a millitary branche who deals first whith rural probleme. police deals with urban probleme. surete deals with nationals probleme that doesn't requires secret services.

so gendarmerie is not police

the 8 spider said:

To be fair, you are talking about 3M gendarmerie, not 41M gendarmerie, I think by that point little or even big distinctions can be ignored by whim.

from france

no because you have to distinguished "civilian" law force and "military" law force. gendarmerie can act whith civilian and the army to which they belong. Both in term of games doesn't have the same requierements benefice and flaws. same goes for the background and the equipements. so you want to blur the line in the 41m and say it s the same? i don't. a gendarme is a pdf or a guardsmen with investigation skill. a police man can be perfectly represented by the arbitrator.

Illithidelderbrain said:

The area of competence of the I, the Arbites and the Commissars seem to overlap on some (most) matters. I guess the I has priority in its investigations.

Actually, I wonder if the commissars of the old Red Army did belong to the NKVD. Might be worth to check.

warpdancer said:

It's mentioned several times in the descriptions and adventures that local law Enforcement is reffered to Magistratum. This is true on Scinilla, as well as many other worlds and probably most Hive worlds

It's likely that Magistratum is catch all term for any local law enforcement regardless of what they call themselves. But it seems to be at least a fair default.

Croma said:

Yes as probably said before, Inquisition is nothing like the FBI and much more like an evil version of Gestapo, KGB, NSA, CIA, Secret Service all rolled into one.

Adeptus Arbites is more like the FBI, although they do not deal with everyday lawbreakers (which FBI does as long as it is interstate). Also they sometimes work as the overt version of the inquisition, rounding up and arresting heretics. They do alot of the purging work for the inquistion. The Inquisitor and their acoytes themselves involve themselves more with information gathering, undercover work, finding out about the darkest hersies that the rest of the imperium can't know about.

Normal policing are left to the police forces. They can be called Magistratum (Scintilla), Overseers (Sepheris Secundus) etc. On some planets they may be nothing more than the local gangers and thugs, or there might not be any lawmen at all, thus the law being goverened by soldiers when necessary or vendetta.

Isnt the Arbites more part Homeland Security part texas ranger, there to deal with domestic and internal terrorism, the Inquisition would be the KGB/CIA with a bit of well... Inqusition rolled into them, they deal with moral threats to the population both in and external. So if your a your a democratic revolutionary blowing up administratum buildings then the Arbites will deal with you hard and fast saying stilly things like "I am the law". If you deal in herticial politics and is trying to start an uprising based on the original imperial truth from the pre heresy days then big =I= will show up and set you on fire.

Also in my experience the gendarme are more like PDF security forces, having live in france for a few years

Now on to a true story: Right after I moved there I went to the eifel tower for new years with a few friends because it was the only place with fireworks that we knew of (fireworks are not allowed except on bastille day), here a local bunch of chaves (that would be ****** for you americans, but wearing track suits and burberry) thinks that its cool to throw some firecrackers at some CRS secutirty troops (do not **** with these guys they will do nasty things to you and walk away) who proceed to put them all in a ring faces towards the middle and open a compressed can of cs gas, not the whimpy civy stuff that normal cops use, but the real deal while holding their faces towards the canister, then chuck them in the back of a van. Very nasty.

For more information on French cops and how they operate: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_enforcement_in_France

Its a good read and has some good inspiration.

Try not to let the exact juristicions worry you so long as you know approximately where each organisation stands. The Imperium is a set up with indistinct boundaries and overlapping forces.

UncleArkie said:

Well, the relationship between the French (especially the youth) and the police is plagued by fear and hostility. It goes both ways actually (distress calls to the police in some neighborhoods sometimes turn out to be ambushes). I remember meeting some French folks in a demonstration in Brussels. They were amazed that we just had a chat with people from the riot police (without getting maced or clubbed in the process, that is).

Its hard to pinpoint an exact "police" or law enforcement agency that is the same on all planets. The Arbites are much more like.....and sorry for this....Judges from the movie Judge Dread. Only they play a little more detached role not actually patrolling the streets unless called upon. Even in most of the fluff that has been written the Arbites usually hold up in there fortified precincts.....only making a show of force when needed. They are also the ones that are suposed to handle rounding up and holding psykers for when the Black ships arrive.

The =][= is more like a KGB/CIA/Gestapo mix.

The local law enforcement is run by private security....mercs...or even PDF depending on the planet. Also keep in mind that most hives are lawless other than upper hive area. Nobles pay top dollar for protection and quick results. Gangs are the ones that rule and set the laws for lower hive area. I'd say that most middle hive area is more of a "wild west" type area. Fluff gives other examples of how some planets law enforcement structure.

RedSkull said:

NOT LIKE THE MOVIE.

It's pretty much been covered already, but here's the breakdown.

The Adeptus Arbites are the premiere and sovereign Law Enforcement agency in the Imperium, there is no higher power when it comes to Imperial Law, as it is defined in the Lex Imperialis, the Book of Judgement. However, Imperial Law only covers the laws and criminal penalties that all Imperial worlds must obey (of which there are suprisingly few), and leave "lesser" law enforcement to local institutions. The Arbites have the power to set legal precedents, as Judges are members of the Arbites and almost exclusively promoted from the ranks of Arbitrators. The Arbites themselves do not codify new Laws, but the Grand Provost Marshal of the Adeptus Arbites is one of the twelve High Lords of Terra, who do write and amend Imperial Law. (So in short, the Arbites are a lot more like Judge Dredd than any modern Federal Law Enforcement Agency like the FBI, CBI, AFP, or groups like Interpol.)

Below them are local Police forces, whos authority is limited to a single planet, space station, vessel or solar system. They perform the vast bulk of Law Enforcement within their sphere of authority. The Arbites have complete authority and seniority over local Police, but they don't usually get involved in local Law Enforcement unless there is suspicion that the Lex Imperialis has or will be violated. On some worlds, especially more advanced Imperial societies such as Civilized worlds (not to be confused with Hive worlds!), the Arbites are the only Law Enforcement agency on-planet, in which case they perform all the duties one would expect of a Police force.

Commissars do not enforce the law and have little to no authority over civilians (unless Martial Law is in effect, which on many worlds it often or even permenantly is), though they have a great deal of legal authority within the Imperial Guard, Navy and other military institutions such as PDF units. Their authority and power structure is very similar to that of the Adeptus Arbites.

While they have no lawmaking powers of their own, Inquisitors are above Imperial Law and cannot be legally sentenced or arrested.

Azraiel pretty much said it. Adeptus Arbites is actually a sort of organization which does not exist in modern world. Yes, it is "kinda FBI", but its also a religious police like Mutaween, because Imperium is, at its foundation, a theocracy... and it is much, much more.

Lets take a deep look into what Adeptus Arbites really does:

- Enforcing Imperial Law but not local law (FBI equivalency)

- Suppressing small scale rebellions against Imperial rule (Russian MVD Interior Troops equivalency)

- Killing of "undesirable" elements, like mutants (Latin American non-governmental "Death Squad" equivalency)

- Interpreting law and judging legal cases (High court equivalency)

- Guarding Imperial institutions and prisons (US Marshal equivalency)

And these are *all* rolled into one, huge organization. So yes, there is no single organization in any modern earth state that does exactly (or even nearly) what Adeptus Arbites does. Same holds true for Inquisition, really. The Big I holds unlimited power because he has "God-Emperors-permission-for-everything". There is simply no equivalent anywhere in modern earth. KGB/NKVD highest officials in the days of Stalinism comes nearest, but even they were at least formally bound by laws. Inquisitor is not.

from france

happy birth day polgaria.