Police record flaw Options

[Edward]

Police record flaw.

The police record includes the assumption that you are on parole. Based on many crimes this s not the case for very long. What would the flaw be worth if you described it as a crime with a short parole period or one that had already expired.

Edward

[Bigity]

Maybe half a point or a full point less?

I think the point of the flaw is not so much that the character is/was on parole, but that he is known to the law enforcement community. His hideouts/hangouts/known associates may be exposed, and his DNA and such are definately on record.

[BitBasher]

There's no suchthing as a half point for flaws...

I would say only a point less. Fact is they have his DNA, they have his prints, he's automatically on the short list checked when a John Doe crime is comitted with any kind of evidence left behind. That alone makes life a LOT more difficult.

[Backgammon]

[BitBasher]

Using fake SINs is relatively unrelated to this. They'll still have your legitimate picture, profile, DNA and all your habits and known associates should they need to track you down. And you automatically have a legitimate criminal SIN.

If you go do any transaction that requires a thumbprint, retina or DNA, your real criminal sin will be trturned on a search, limiting dramatically the usefulness of fake SINs.

[Kagetenshi]

Once you've been nailed, you have a real SIN regardless.

~J, too slow since 1044

[Smiley]

Assuming you make it to the precinct after the arresting officers find out you're SINless.

[Siege]

And the patrol car didn't transmit your picture and prints to the station after you were scanned.

In the information age, any kind of criminal record is bad - especially if the police or interested parties have a means of checking the data.

That being said, I'm still not sure why a "real" SIN is somehow magically immune to mistaken identity.

-Siege

[Edward]

There are other implications of having been off parole for some time. Mostly the data the cops have is out of date.

Once your no longer on parole they don’t keep track of your new associates so you could have a couple of new contacts that the cops don’t know. your safe houses are more likely to be secure. Any cyber wear you get fitted will not be known to the cops. You are less likely to be recognised and hassled by the beat cops and most significant to my mind is that you can take runs with a time scale longer than a weak without making time to go see your parole officer and if you do get cort for something it isn’t immediate back to jail for breaking the conditions of your parole. 1 photo of your character on a security camera during a run and you are right back in the clink. No trial, no appeal. That is if the squad sent to arrest you doesn’t kill you outright.

Edward

[FrostyNSO]

I'm fighting a criminal record flaw right now. It's not bad once your on the run but real life is a pain. The cops recognize your face, you have a PO that can come shake you down anytime they want. And you can't live in hidden safehouses without keeping a "legit" home somewhere also unless you want to appear suspicious to said PO. On top of that, you have to hold down a day job at least good enough to justify your lifestyle. You have difficulty getting into high-class establishments. Geting pulled over for a routine traffic stop turns into a nightmare, especially if you have "friends" in the car, so you can't really drive anywhere, at least not with any team members. You can only maintain street-level contacts, so info becomes a little hard to come by, especially info that is not in the realm of the streets. That is only the tip of the iceberg. If you want to look like your living legit, you can't be buying a bunch of stuff and doing things with fake SIN's all the time. The PO will want to see pay stubs and the like, to make sure you can afford those ammenities your buying, and they're not above checking in with your employer from time to time. And lets not forget that you gotta go checki in with the PO every week, a real pain on long-term runs.

Don't do it...it's not worth the 6 points.

[Siege]

The critical issue is DNA - arguably, this extends to your fingerprints as well, unless you routinely have them altered as they can and will grow back.

1. Face - plastic surgery does wonders
2. Contacts - your known contacts are compromised and they may give you up for a favor from the local cops. And if you change your face, you may have a hard time reconnecting.
3. Cyberware - this can change, but it's more of a "yes, no, lots" category
4. Magic - oh yeah, they'll make sure this red-flags first
5. Local haunts - professional runners can disappear. The "professional" criminals of today tend to stick to areas they know well or locations with family.

Having a police record still sucks, but the impact can be minimized. But you still run the risk of getting screwed in a major way without benefit of lube.

And SINless or not, Lone Star and similar agencies cannot issue "kill on sight" orders. Corp cops on corp turf, however, play by their own set of rules.

-Siege

[FrostyNSO]

Plastic surgury won't help you unless you decide never to see that PO again.

[RangerJoe]

Having a PC starting off with a criminal record is a great plot hook for a decker PC or decking group. Just clearing up/out a decker's police record can be an entire campaign in and of itself. Then again, I suppose a decker good enough to beat the Star's systems to erase his criminal record is probably good enough not to get caught in the first place.....

[Jason Farlander]

Eh, no one is good enough to control every possible variable. Even the best deckers might overestimate the loyalty of a "friend" or make some other slight but important error in judgement.

[Kagetenshi]

[Edward]

The character I am looking at taking it for was an ex cop. For some time he had been working in the international/corpore investigations-environmental crime section (extraterritorial sites can be charged with environmental crimes if contamination leaks off site). After a couple of years he gets enough evidence to go to trial and is promptly charged with corruption after discovery of correspondences from a competing corp that payed him to plant the evidence. All lies of cause but enough to get a conviction. The sentence isn’t long but his career is in the toilet. Time off for good behaviour (some time on parole) but from arrest to you are a totally free man is only a couple of years. I was going to set the dates such that at start of campaign I was 3 months off parole and wanted to know what the flaw was worth. I am not taking it for points o I don’t care how much it is reduced.

Edward

[Siege]

Given the life of shadowrunners, I'd say the 6 point flaw is still valid. Couple that with added heat because he's a bad cop and a creative GM will still make your life Hell-ish.

-Siege

Edit: Typo

[BitBasher]

Just to not make it a stereotypical "framed cop" have it so he actually did it. Make him regret it, make him wish it never would have happened, but make it so he actually did take the bribes. It's far more believable.

[Edward]

BitBasher. I hear you on the stereotype bit. I am still playing around with the character concept. The GM is out of town for a few weeks so I have time to decide. If he was actually crooked it probably wouldn’t be environmental.

Mabry I could go with corp was storing hazardous stuff but it wasn’t getting out (for a few years yet) so I was open to the possibility of framing them when a rival corp proposed it.

The GM has a thing for “heroic” characters actually having been a bad cop would be a big problem ex recreational drug user nearly got a previous character concept disallowed (a lack of professionalism caused him to talk me out of it. Always listen when the GM tries to talk you out of playing a character).

Edward

[Backgammon]

But if you never use your real SIN, it may as well not exist. The authorities can use SINs to track you down based on where you pay rent, buy groceries or buy anything for that matter. But if you ditch your real SIN, and live off a fake one, the authorities will not be able to find you. Yes, they still have DNA and such on record, so on the scene of a crime they can say: "we know this guy". But they still can't find you using the SIN record they have.

[Kagetenshi]

Bull. That SIN has all that data on you. It means you have a single file, that they can actually identify you rather than having to create a new file to assign your information to.

~J

[BitBasher]

[snowRaven]

I made a lesser severity flaw for my games, worth 4 points.

It removes the parole officer and the hassle-on-sight of the 6 point flaw, but retains the records of your MO, cyber, frequently visited associates, and of course the criminal SIN. You will be recognized easier by cops - especially those in your home area, but far from every cop on the streets will know your face.

[Backgammon]

[Kagetenshi]

Certainly, but it's still a disadvantage greater than one can reasonably say "might as well not exist".

~J