Patrols (This Is The Police)

Patrols are the bread and butter of police work during your 180 days. You'll never be short of patrol jobs, and often you can find yourself overwhelmed with them, forcing you to prioritize patrols on worth.

Patrols will occur with a call and a time limit, forcing you to act quickly in some cases. Press the call for details of the event and to send men, which will include numbers, and potentially the option to send in SWAT or the Paddy Wagon for support. Larger events (such as riots) will require more manpower, but also will allow the use of support which will aid the potential arrest.

Successful arrests will help keep City Hall happy and off your back. Failures will lead to cuts, and by extension, more failures. Failures with civilian casualties are the worst results from these encounters.

While most calls are legitimate, some will be fraudulent calls or mistakes. Reading the details will help you better understand the situation and allow to make a judgement call on whether manpower is needed or not.

Be wary that the mafia will also ask to ignore certain events for money. If you send officers to a call the mafia has asked you to ignore, your relationship with them will be lowered.

There are 8 types of possible calls:

Normal: These calls are straightforward. Your first responding team will arrive at the scene and attempt to detain any and all offenders by themselves.

Choice: Sometimes, your first responding team will arrive at the scene, but something will happen or there'll be a type of situation that renders them uncertain on how to proceed. At this point, the game will pause and display a window describing the situation as well as giving you three options on how to tell them to proceed. Some choice calls may only require one choice, while some can require up to three. Pick what feels correct to do, because the wrong choice could cost you the assignment, either by the offender(s) escaping, your first responding officers getting wiped out or some of them killed, or the death of civilians, if any. And there can also be a combination of any or all of these from a terrible choice.

Reinforcements: Sometimes when the first responding team arrives at the scene, they will find the situation to be much more serious (or have developed to be much more serious) than was implied from the initial call. As a result, they will immediately radio back to the police station that they require reinforcements. At this point, the game will pause and open a window to show you which officers (And support if any) are currently present at the scene. You cannot wait before sending reinforcements; you can only send officers that are readily available at the station at the time of the call for reinforcements. You will have three options on how to answer the call for reinforcements:

Send reinforcements: To do this, you must have officers available at the station. The amount you'll be allowed to send can vary, but be as many as five officers as a second response team. When you send them, the first responding officers will continue to remain at the crime scene while the second responding officers will be dispatched en route to help out. After the second responding officers arrive, the assignment will end and you will receive the results as usual. If the assignment is completed successfully (Offenders caught, officers unharmed and any civilians related to the incident unharmed), the first responding team will receive 10 professionalism points as standard, while the second responding team will only receive 5 professionalism points. The Paddy Wagon and the SWAT Team can not be sent as reinforcements.

Refuse reinforcements: If you have no officers available to send, or you feel the first responding team can handle themselves, you can choose to refuse to send backup instead. The first responding team will still attempt to carry out the situation by themselves, but it will be riskier than usual. It is possible for them to still successfully complete the assignment, but there's more possibility of failure, often through officers of the first responding team being killed. Therefore, it is only advised to refuse reinforcements if you're certain your first responding team will be able to complete the assignment alone.

Retreat: Although not a pleasant thing to do, your first responding team will retreat from the crime scene and return to the police station. They will not lose any professionalism, nor will any officers be killed, but the results will be as if the station hadn't responded to the call in the first place; offenders will escape, and any civilians on the scene will be killed. Because this option results in a huge decrease in happiness from City Hall, it should not be chosen irrationally. It should only really be chosen if you have no officers available as backup, and the first responding team does not have a high enough average professionalism that you can trust them to all survive the assignment.

False Alarm: Not every call that reaches the station is genuine. Some may be outright false alarms, which can waste police time and take away from the number of officers you have available. The false alarm can either be a misunderstanding or mistake from the person who reported it, or could be a completely intentional excuse to force police to divert resources for nothing. In either case, the result is always the same. Your first responding officers will return to the police station immediately afterwards. No professionalism will be lost or gained from false alarms, nor will any officers or civilians be killed. In the assignment results, an explanation for the false alarm will typically be given, as to explain why the situation was reported in the first place.

City Assignment: From time to time, people may call Jack Boyd personally and ask for a few officers to handle a personal matter. These can be ignored safely if you want, but each city assignment will reward you personally with a fair amount of money for the trouble, should you choose to help. There can still be an outcome for each city assignment, although unlike regular crimes in progress, the outcome is always consistent across playthroughs. While some city assignments can be beneficial for your responding officers, such as increased professionalism, extra perks for the station itself (Like more job slots or a Paddy Wagon), or even a stripe, others can cause officers to quit their job, come back to the station drunk, take the rest of the day off, lower their professionalism, or even in some cases, end up with one or more of the responding officers killed. Pick your officers carefully, and try to send ones you consider expendable for more risky-looking assignments if you choose to respond to them in the first place. No matter the outcome of city assignments however, you will still receive money for responding to the assignment. Just remember that if you're trying to be a good cop, not all of the city assignments will be morally right.

Faction Assignment: "Faction" can refer to certain factions who can be accessed through "Affairs" during the day, such as the Church. These calls function identically to city assignments; you can ignore them if you wish, or you can send responding officers. Unlike city assignments however, they do not have a set outcome. Once your officers have responded, they'll return to the station. You will also receive money for responding to the assignment, just like with city assignments. Just remember that if you're trying to be a good cop, not all of the faction assignments will be morally right.

Help the Sands: Only available between day 13 and day 27, these calls appear on the map with a special request. They function similarly to faction assignments, in that you can send responding officers who will immediately return once the situation has been dealt with. The calls are generally the same; Christopher Sand's men are in a firefight or situation with Vicus Varga's men that requires police intervention, to help the Sands get the advantage. Responding to the call will award 1 point to the Sands. Failing to respond to the call will award 1 point to the Vargas, if Jack Boyd has chosen to side with the Sands on day 12. If Jack has chosen to side with the Vargas however, failing to respond will not affect the score between the Sands and Vargas in any way.

Help the Vargas: Only available between day 13 and day 27 and if Jack Boyd has chosen to side with the Vargas on day 12, these calls appear on the map with a special request. They function similarly to faction assignments, in that you can send responding officers who will immediately return once the situation has been dealt with. The calls are generally the same; Vicus Varga's men are in a firefight or situation with Christopher Sand's men that requires police intervention, to help the Vargas get the advantage. Responding to the call will award 1 point to the Vargas. Failing to respond to the call will not affect the score between the Sands and Vargas in any way.

There are also certain types of calls that can happen immediately during the day with no warning. You cannot wait for officers to become available for these calls, as they pause the game immediately and give you the option to either send officers if you have them available, or refuse. You cannot put the request on hold and wait for officers to return to the police station, so it's a good idea to have some on standby for such assignments. No matter what the assignment is, there will be no risks to your officers who respond to them. Therefore, you don't have to worry about losing officers on these things.

Municipal Assignment: City Hall will call Jack Boyd up and request urgent help in some way. Officers sent to Municipal Assignments will almost always end up being used up for the day. Because of this, it's a good idea to send low professionalism officers if they're available, so you can keep the ones with high professionalism to respond to the calls throughout the day. Responding to these assignments will increase your relationship with City Hall. Refusing them will lower your relationship. Not all of the requests from City Hall are morally right however, so good cops may want to read through them first.

Mafia Assignment: Christopher Sand or Vicus Varga (Depending on who won the mafia war) will call Jack Boyd and request urgent help in some way. Officers sent to Mafia Assignments will return to the police station, after they have tended to the situation. Send officers with low professionalism if possible, although if you don't have any (or enough), you can send some high professionalism ones as well, if you need. They'll come back once they're done with the assignment. Responding to these assignments will increase your relationship with the Sands or Vargas. Refusing them will lower your relationship. Although helping the Sands or Vargas sounds like a morally bad thing, some of the assignments are genuinely crimes, such as someone raiding one of their shops. It may be worth reading through the assignment first before you make your decision.

There can also be incidents or requests that require response in a different fashion.

Investigation: Investigations are a crime that has happened at some point, but nobody was able to call it in at the time. Alternatively, the offender(s) may have already escaped after it's reported. Unlike regular calls, Investigations require the use of your detectives, rather than your actual officers (More info: Investigations).

Case Arrest: Case Arrests appear after you have successfully completed an investigation sequence. This is where you apprehend the suspect(s) responsible for the crime committed. The lead detective from the investigation will be dispatched alongside the first responding team. You must send two officers to these case arrests. It is not possible to send more or less. You can also send the SWAT Team to support your officers and detective, if necessary. Though do remember that the SWAT Team has limited uses a day, so only do so if the person you're pursuing is important, such as the head of a gang. There is no risk to your officers, lead detective or any civilians in case arrest. As such, the only factor that matters was whether the offender was caught or not. Sometimes, multiple case arrests may appear on the map, related to the same investigation. Going to the wrong place will report this when your officers, detective and SWAT Team (If sent) arrive at the scene. This is basically the same as a false alarm. It won't impact professionalism in any way and is a waste of time and police resources. Sending them to the right place however, will process a result on whether the offender was caught or escaped. Catching the offender completes the case successfully. The responding officers will be awarded 20 professionalism, and any detectives that were appointed to the case at any time will be awarded 50 professionalism. The lead detective will be awarded 100 professionalism, plus the 20 from catching the offender. Additionally if they were part of a gang, you can begin investigating the next member up the food chain. If the offender escapes, the case is failed and your responding officers will lose professionalism, as well as any detectives appointed to the case at any time. Additionally, this will end investigations against the gang, if the offender was part of one. You can send 2 officers to a case arrest, even if the lead detective isn't available (Such as being at home, for example). However, there is a significantly lower chance of catching the offender. Either send the SWAT Team as well to help balance it out, or wait for when the lead detective is at the station. Case arrests don't have to be done on the day that they appear. They can be performed a couple of days after, so there's no immediate rush. But don't take a chance if you're not confident, and don't wait too many days to make an arrest. Suspects will immediately try to flee the city if they find out the police is onto them.

Protests: Protests function differently from regular calls. City Hall will call you to inform of a protest outside City Hall. The purpose of the protest varies, but City Hall will request that you always use force to suppress the protesters. Each protest will require you to always send at least 4 officers and the SWAT Team, no matter what. Later into the game, you will also be forced to send a Paddy Wagon, as well. You can choose not to respond to the protest whatsoever and not send any resources, but doing so will severely cripple your relationship with City Hall. If you send officers, the SWAT Team, and the Paddy Wagon if required, once they arrive, you will be given the choice of whether you want to use force to suppress the protesters, or not. If you choose not to, your relationship will be lowered with City Hall, since they asked you to use force. If you do use force however, it will result in a prosecution hearing a couple days afterwards. After you send your officers, SWAT Team and Paddy Wagon (If needed) out, Martin Stett will tell you that the protesters are doing nothing wrong and that City Hall is using you as a display of power, knowing full well that repercussions will fall heavily on Jack Boyd's head. Because of this, Martin Stett comes up with a couple methods to forge evidence to take the heat off Jack. Both can be costly, but worth avoiding later troubles. One method is to either forge evidence that one of the responding officers gave the order to use force because of extremist views. The other method is to forge evidence that another faction (Such as the Church or the Mafia) blackmailed Jack into using force at the protest. Alternatively, you can choose to refuse Martin Stett's help, but will later be forced to either place the blame on Jack's head and cost the station as a whole, or blame City Hall and cripple your relationship with them. Martin Stett simply gives you additional options to avoid having to pick one of these two options.