Penal codeNew
The Penal code module: one shared code or one per police department, written by the justice department, with its levels, sentencing degrees, rows with quantity and file types.
The penal code is your server’s list of offenses, with their level, fine and sentence. It is the only source of amounts: an officer opening an offense file picks rows of the code and never types an amount.
The code has its own module, Penal code (Records group). It applies to police departments and is written by those allowed to: the justice department by default, police command if your organization has no justice department.
penal-codeThe tabs
Section titled “The tabs”| Tab | What you set up there | Visible with |
|---|---|---|
| Code | the rows: offenses, level, fine, sentence, quantity | Penal code › Read the code |
| Levels | offense levels, from least to most severe | Penal code › Read the code |
| Sentences | the sentence unit (minutes or months), sentencing degrees and their multiplier, complicity and attempt | Penal code › Read the code |
| Case types | which file for which level, its review, statuses and fields | Offense file types › See types |
| Settings | one shared code or one code per police department | Penal code › Choose the mode |
| Prosecution and record | the lifetime of prosecutor or lawyer requests, automatic record expungement | Record › Set prosecution and record rules |
A tab you can’t read doesn’t show. Without any writing right, everything shows as Read only; otherwise, an action you aren’t allowed stays visible but locked, with a padlock and the help “Restricted: …” naming the permission to ask for (see Permissions). The header recalls which departments the code applies to and how many rows it has.
Creating the code
Section titled “Creating the code”As long as no code exists, the module shows No penal code yet, and no offense can be recorded. With Penal code › Structure the code, two buttons:
- Start from the starter pack: about thirty common offenses (traffic, property, persons, drugs, weapons, public order, justice), to adapt to your server;
- Start with an empty code: no rows.
Either way, the code starts with three levels (Infraction, Misdemeanor, Felony) and the four starter degrees: everything can be renamed, edited or deleted. If your organization picked the base setup when it was created, the code already exists.
The code’s rows
Section titled “The code’s rows”The Code tab shows the rows in a table, sorted by code, with a search box (Search rows) and page-by-page loading. With Penal code › Write offenses: Add a row, click a row to edit it, Import and Export to CSV.
| Column | Role |
|---|---|
| Code | the article number (optional) |
| Offense | the label (required) |
| Category | to group rows (traffic, drugs…) |
| Level | one of the code’s levels (required): it decides the file type |
| Fine | the fixed amount, in your organization’s currency |
| Sentence | in months |
| With quantity | Yes: the officer enters a quantity |
| Unit | the unit’s name (“bag”, “gram”…) |
| Amount per unit | added to the fine for each unit |
| Notes | details for officers |
For a row with quantity, the fine is the fixed amount plus the amount per unit times the quantity; at least one of the two amounts is needed. A code holds at most 2,000 rows.
Deleting a row (hold the Delete button) doesn’t touch the files that use it: they kept their copy.
Importing from a spreadsheet
Section titled “Importing from a spreadsheet”Import works as for reference lists: paste cells or pick a CSV file, check the column mapping and the preview, then import. In the Level column, write the name of one of the code’s levels (case and accents don’t matter): a row whose level doesn’t exist is rejected. With quantity accepts “Yes” or “No”.
penal-code-importLevels
Section titled “Levels”penal-code-levelsEvery row of the code has a level (for example Infraction, Misdemeanor, Felony). Order matters: a file’s most serious offense picks its type. Drag a level by its handle (or use the arrows) to make it more or less severe.
Creating, ordering, editing or deleting a level requires Penal code › Manage levels. New level asks for a Name, a Color and a Report setting (Optional or Required). A code has at most 20 levels.
Deleting a level (press-and-hold button) breaks nothing: rows and files keep its name. It joins the Deleted levels list, where Restore puts it back last (most severe).
Sentence unit
Section titled “Sentence unit”penal-code-degreesThe Sentences tab starts with the code’s Sentence unit:
| Unit | For whom | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Minutes (default) | most servers: the sentence is real cell time | each file counts down the cell time left |
| Months | servers that count in fictional months | the sentence shows in months, without a countdown |
Every sentence of the code reads in this unit: the code’s Sentence column, file totals, criminal record, statistics. The starter code counts in minutes, with sentences from 5 to 60 min. Changing the unit needs Penal code › Structure the code and converts nothing: 10 stays 10, in the new unit. Adjust the rows at the same time. Files already saved keep the unit they were computed in; a line edited afterwards is recomputed in the new one.
Sentencing degrees
Section titled “Sentencing degrees”A degree adjusts the penalty to the circumstances: for each offense of a file, the officer picks a degree, and its multiplier applies to the code’s amounts. Degrees are set up with Penal code › Manage penalty degrees. Create the starter degrees adds:
| Degree | Multiplier |
|---|---|
| Min 1 | ×0.5 |
| Nominal (default) | ×1 |
| Max 1 | ×1.5 |
| Max 2 | ×2 |
New degree asks for a Name and a Multiplier from 0.01 to 10 (to the hundredth). Tick Default degree to have it picked for every new offense; there is always exactly one default degree. A code has at most 12 degrees, sorted from lightest to heaviest.
The degree applies to sets what the multiplier changes, for the whole code: Fine and sentence, Fine only or Sentence only. Files already recorded keep their amounts.
Without any degree, the code’s amounts apply as they are and the officer has nothing to pick. A deleted degree is restored like a level.
Complicity and attempt
Section titled “Complicity and attempt”penal-modifiersAt the bottom of the Sentences tab, the Complicity and attempt card enables each of these two notions, with its Multiplier (0.5 at first, from 0.01 to 10). An enabled notion becomes a box on each offense of a file: ticked, it multiplies the line’s fine and sentence, after the degree. Both stack (complicity in an attempt: ×0.5 × 0.5 = ×0.25).
The multiplier is frozen on each file when it is computed: changing it doesn’t touch files already recorded. Disabling a notion removes nothing from existing files; it is simply no longer offered. The setting requires Penal code › Manage penalty degrees.
Prosecution and record
Section titled “Prosecution and record”justice-settingsThe Prosecution and record tab sets two things for the whole organization:
- Request lifetime (minutes): without an answer, a prosecutor or public defender request expires after this delay (30 minutes at first, from 5 to 4,320 minutes). See Prosecutor and lawyer.
- Automatic record expungement: off by default. When on, each conviction is expunged once the After (days) delay has passed since it was closed (from 1 to 3,650 days). Expungement stays a masking: justice sees and restores expunged convictions.
The tab shows with Record › Set prosecution and record rules (justice command, by default); administrators always have it.
File types
Section titled “File types”penal-code-typesA file type gives the offense file its shape: which levels it covers, whether it goes through review, which statuses it can take and which fields the officer fills in. Types linked to levels show under Linked to the penal code; the others under Types without a level, which are never picked.
With the base setup, three types already exist:
| Type | Level covered | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Citation | Infraction | straight to the record |
| Arrest report | Misdemeanor | straight to the record |
| Arrest file | Felony | reviewed by the justice department |
Creating or setting up a type
Section titled “Creating or setting up a type”- Click New case type (or the settings button of an existing type); this needs Offense file types › Create and edit types.
- Give it a Name and, if you like, a Description (when to use it).
- Pick Reserved for: one police department, or All police departments.
- Tick the Covered levels: the type is picked when a file’s most serious offense has one of these levels.
- Pick the Rule:
- Suggest: the officer sees the suggested type and may keep another one;
- Block: a file of this type refuses an offense more serious than its levels.
- In Review, tick the ranks that review this type, in any department (Prosecutor, Judge…). With no rank ticked, the file goes on the record as soon as it is saved. This part of the panel has its own permission, Offense file types › Choose reviewers: without it, it stays locked.
- Pick where the Cell time of this type’s files starts: From the placement in cell (default) or From the reading of rights (the time spent before the cell counts too). See Procedure times and cell time.
- Set the Legal statuses (see below), then create or save.
penal-code-type-releaseWhen several types cover the same level, the first one in order wins. Deleting a type (press-and-hold button, Offense file types › Delete a type) doesn’t touch files already saved, but new ones of this type can no longer be created.
Legal statuses
Section titled “Legal statuses”Each type has its list of statuses, in order: a Label (40 characters at most), a color and a Category that sets the effect.
| Category | Effect |
|---|---|
| Pending | nothing is on the record yet |
| Closed | the offenses go on the record, fines are created |
| Rejected | nothing on the record, reason required; the author can fix and resend |
The first “pending” status is the one of a file sent for review; the first “closed” one, that of a file going on the record. The Status rules show under the list: at least one “closed” status, at most 12 statuses and, with a review, at least one “pending” and one “rejected”. A new type starts from the starter statuses: Awaiting review, Awaiting the prosecutor, Postponed, Closed, Rejected, Dismissed.
The type’s fields
Section titled “The type’s fields”penal-code-typeClicking a type opens it: its settings at the top, then the field editor, with the live preview, as in Forms. The type must cover at least one level before its fields can be edited. The base fields (Person, Date and time of the incident, Offenses) are always there; add for example a Location, an MDT member for the officers present or the prosecutor, and a Linked report to link the file to an operation.
One code or one per department
Section titled “One code or one per department”penal-code-settingsThe Settings tab (with Penal code › Choose the mode) chooses between:
- Single penal code: one code (rows, levels, degrees) for every police department;
- One code per police department: each police department has its own code and levels. Switch to one code per department copies the current code for each department: nothing to retype. A Police department picker then chooses the code shown.
Back to a single code asks you to pick the Code to keep, then to hold the button: that code becomes the code of every police department, the others are archived and an administrator can restore them (see Archives).
With separate codes, a file is entered in the code of the department entering it: a department that isn’t police has no code, so it can’t open files. A shared file type can cover levels from several codes.
Who can do what
Section titled “Who can do what”Two modules of the Ranks and permissions matrix concern this page, with one permission per action. Administrators always have all these rights.
| Permission | What it allows | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Penal code › Read the code | open the module, read rows, levels and degrees (other departments’ codes included) | every rank |
| Penal code › Write offenses | add, edit, import or remove code rows | members and up |
| Penal code › Manage levels | create, order, edit and archive levels | supervisors and up |
| Penal code › Manage penalty degrees | degrees and what they apply to; complicity and attempt | supervisors and up |
| Penal code › Structure the code | create, rename or remove a code and its columns; the sentence unit | command |
| Penal code › Choose the mode | one shared code or one code per police department | command |
| Offense file types › See types | see the Case types tab | every rank |
| Offense file types › Create and edit types | create and set up types: fields, covered levels, rule, cell time start, statuses | command |
| Offense file types › Choose reviewers | a type’s Review part: the ranks that review its files | command |
| Offense file types › Delete a type | archive a file type (restorable) | command |
| Record › Set prosecution and record rules | the Prosecution and record tab | command, justice only |
File types have their own permissions: you can hand them to the police without giving them the code’s writing, or keep the choice of reviewers with the justice department. A rank that sees types without the code sees the Offense file types module, reduced to that tab.
Every change (row, level, degree, sentence unit, type, statuses, mode) is written to the audit log, with before and after.