North American Border Security, shadow travel and border running Options

[OneTrikPony]

Is there any recent cannon material on the border security setup between the SSC and surrounding nations--including the Seattle border-- I have sprawlsg and i can't find it in there.


my specific questions revolve around the comlink and ratings of ID verifiers but i'd also like to know what kind of scanners particular borders have at particular ratings.


Case in point:
I have one character concept, a paranormal bounty hunter, kind of like the guy in "Striper Assasin" who often travels between Seattle and SSC to go hunting. Say he wants to hop the border to bag an Elk for a special menu item at the Big Rhino resteraunt.
He's sinless,
he has a couple of cyberlimbs with ability mods up to the max for CarGen,
he's driving a Gaz-Willis Nomad*,
He'll carry a smartlinked pistol, a hunting rifle, regular ammo both ways and he's got to sneak a significant portion of an elk carcass back.

Con and negotiate are probably plan B. His Charisma is 2 with social group 1.

At this point he's not looking to get into the Tir' but eventually...


If there's no cannon material with #'s what do you think border security looks like in 2070?

Thanx

*for SR4 purposes i'm extrapolating the Nomad from Rigger3.

[OneTrikPony]

No takers?

Ok let me ask; given that scanners and verifyers are realativly cheep and 6 seems to be the max rating for electronic devices why would any legal border crossing have less than rtg 6 verifyers and scanners. Also, wouldn't that make all borders as electronicly secure as the Tir border?

[Mistwalker]

Unless the border is outlined with a wall, it is hard to completely secure. Even with high tech and magic.

As for ratings, I would probably have rating 6 at the border crossing, but something like rating 3-4 in vehicles.

[OneTrikPony]

That's a good point. In a station high rating equipment is cheep cuz it doesn't have to be replaced all the time, in a vehickle it turns over every couple years so they don't spend the nuyen on it.

doesn't the vehicle just radio back to the station though? Essentialy if your busted by border cops and your fake ID is checked don't they just slot it into the reader then uplink to the station for verification?

Of course if my character is stoped by border cops he's allready screwed because he's a poacher.

What does the Salish border look like in 2070, are all vehicles stoped? Are all vehicles searched. If Seattle is a major port then there has to be alot of truck trafic at the borders. Like on the I-5 up to Vancouver, and the 405 East to Billings(?).

What are RL borders like in North America, I've never been to Mexico or Canada but my perception is that you can drive or walk back and forthe between Canada and the States without even being stoped, but they stop you and check your pasport at the Mexican border.

Can some one who has done this tell me what it's like?

Also, I've allways thought that there is a wall/fence between Seattle and SSC, is this true? What is physical security like at the Tir and Souix borders?

[Mistwalker]

Borders have check points at the legal border crossings. They try to surveil the rest of the border, but cannot guarrantee that no one will get thru illicitly.

You need ID to cross a border, and they can deny you access if you do meet their standards. Of course, they have no choice but to re-admit citizens, but may arrest them, depending on the circumstances.

To surround Seattle with a solid wall, would take hundreds of kilometers of wall. A wee bit expensive.

There are always tunnels that can be dug under the border. There was one recently found between the US and Canada, near Vancouver. Going from a farm building and a warehouse, IIRC.

[Fortune]

[OneTrikPony]

Ok, learn something every day. no passport but there is a check point. Meaning you can't just drive strait through.

Im guessing that there are no cannon stats on border security checks.

Any opinions on what I would need to get my guy past a leagal SSC checkpoint?

[Mistwalker]

Find a trail that doesn't use the normal road
grin
talk to a smuggler.

Either that, or get a fake SIN, or find out which guard is can be bribed and go across when he is on duty.

[fool]

parts of the orc underground leave seatttle into the ssc (according to RH)
you can also find ratings of border security in SONA iirc.

[Kyoto Kid]

[OneTrikPony]

SONA! Shadows of North America, I was looking all over in Target UCAS.

[OneTrikPony]

ARRRRGH!

I just paid 23$ for that damned book and it has border verification ratings for every North American nation...except the SSC.

Im sure it's just an ommision in the table but I can't find any fking errata for SONA. I'm going to assume that the rating is the same as for most countries; 3

[blakkie]

[Fortune]

[OneTrikPony]

It had always been my impression that the canadian border was completely open. Doesn't Niagra stradel the border?

Anyhow, the book says;

The SSC does not require visas for access,

The Seattle, Tir and Tsimshian borders are far more
restrictive. Outgoing traffic will only get a cursory visual scan
and license check. Incoming traffic from the Tir and Seattle is
always inspected, and one out of four vehicles can expect to
be pulled over for a comprehensive examination by chem
sniffers and on-duty shamans.

The Seattle border is more closely monitored, with all travelers
getting a thorough check and search in order to discourage
smuggling and talislegging

looks like I'll have to set this character up to run the border in stead of crossing with forged papers.

[Fortune]

[kzt]

[The Jopp]

Illegal border crossing might be a little bit harder in 2070 but not that much. I would believe that the higher security borders like paranoid Tir would probably have done the following.

1.Seeded the border with Sensor tags and receivers along the borders and as soon as the appropriate sensor finds something it reports to a receiver.

2.The receiver then filters out certain patterns and sends it to a border station (with a bored technician and some Tir border guards.

3.They probably also have a few spirits and watchers but they would be rarer.

Solution, stealth and timing and Area jammers at a high rating should help a little, and planning.

[Draconis]

[The Jopp]

[kzt]

[Draconis]

[Conskill]

For crossing the border away from the major roadways and checkpoints, keep in mind there's angry paracritters, rugged terrain, and the occasional malevolent spirit out there to help national security.

In the nastiest parts of the planet, I imagine guard posts don't send out for patrols when they detect a tresspassers; they send out for popcorn.

[kigmatzomat]

I'll point out that the smuggling issue isn't a terribly important one for the region. The region generally has the same standards on good vs bad (i.e. drugs are bad, food is good). As long as there's no immediate threat, the border will be "pro-trade," meaning relaxed.

The crossings will probably be similar to today's crossing where you stop, let your Comm be queried & a facial recognition scan against your ID, declare you are not bringing any illegal contraband (specifying the illegal things that most people wouldn't think are illegal, like fresh fruit or produce) and be on your way.

Due to the need to keep a smooth traffic flow, they will only scan a small number of vehicles in detail, probably with a drive-through sensor. The vehicles will be "randomly" selected (meaning either when the guard is grabbing whatever's handy to meet quota or full of whatever racial/ethnic mix they personally dislike) possibly with a computer assist to ensure some true randomness.

Satellite sensors will be good but is it worth it? The cost of a geosyncronous satellite is pretty high and if you have sub-meter resolution you are talking about an absolutely huge data set requiring an extensive ground-based processing system.

I'd expect more of a drone network. A satellite will cost several hundred million at the very least. Get a mix of sensor laden crawler, flyspy, and blimp drones at about 5000Y each complete with enhancements and ClearSight autosofts that give them ~9 dice of perception. Add another 35,000Y for a portable drone "nest" (generators/fuel supply, long-range radio uplink, hardened Comm with a rigger Agent and a security Agent) with one interdict drone (probably an armed Dalmation).

You can move the "nests" around as needed to keep the smugglers on guard and they work as well for military perimeter control.

[imperialus]