What Is the BPD?

The Baltimore Police Department is the city’s primary law enforcement body. In our setting it functions in two layers:

• Public Layer: patrol, 911 response, investigations, community policing, crime scene processing, and court support. This is what most officers know and do.
• Quiet Layer (need-to-know): a small Confidential Liaison Cell (CLC) that flags Veil-risk incidents, routes them to Meridian, and keeps reports tidy without revealing the supernatural to rank and file.

Maxim (internal): “Public safety first. No spectacle. Paperwork clean.”

Structure & Key Units (Playable)

• Patrol Bureaux (Districts): uniformed response by district; scene cordons, first reports, cameras, body-worn video (BWV) management.
• Detective Division: Homicide, Robbery, Missing Persons, Major Crimes (guns, gangs, organised), Special Victims, and a small Digital Forensics squad.
• Crime Scene/Forensics: field techs, evidence intake, latent prints, ballistics; lab turnaround varies with case priority.
• Critical Incident & Support: SWAT, Crisis Negotiation, Aviation (helicopter), Marine (harbour), K-9.
• Public Integrity/Internal Affairs: conducts administrative investigations and audits of BWV, use of force, and evidence handling.
• Confidential Liaison Cell (CLC): a vetted micro-team embedded in the Commissioner’s office; duty phone, red file locker, Meridian contacts. Not a field team.

Facilities (Use in Scenes)

• HQ (Downtown): executive floors, CLC red locker, briefing auditorium, interview rooms.
• District Stations: report desks, holding rooms, small evidence fridges, sergeants who hate surprises.
• Forensic Services Campus: intake bay, trace lab, ballistics range, evidence vault (caged; barcoded).
• Central Booking & Courthouse Annex: arraignments, chain-of-custody hand-offs, lawyers, press.
• Harbour Unit Shed: boats, dive lockers, radio mast; no fog tricks during public hours.

Relationship with Meridian (In-Setting)

BPD treats Meridian Commission as a federal-adjacent partner for special circumstances (never named in public). The CLC alone knows the liaison protocol; line officers hear only “outside agency assistance”.

• Trigger Codes: dispatch flags Code 87 (Veil-risk indicators: “impossible” wounds, camera warping, mass hysteria cues). The CLC is notified.
• Scene Control: first supervisor holds outer cordon; CLC phones Meridian; no technical explanations discussed on radio.
• Custody: odd artefacts sealed in CLC red bags; logged as “hazardous evidence”; Meridian signs a federal receipt off-camera.
• Paper Story: reports use tidy causes (gas leak, electrical fault, contaminated substance); any body-cam anomalies are evidence management issues until redacted.
• Information Wall: detectives are told what they need for charge approval; supernatural details are never entered into public systems.

Standing stance: cooperate to prevent panic; keep officers and public safe; never create spectacle.

Policy & Protocol (Playable Checklists)

At a Strange Scene

• Secure perimeter; turn off sirens/lights if crowds gather; no crowd filming if avoidable.
• BWV remains on, but officers are trained to avoid filming mirrors, ritual circles, or “odd lights” directly.
• Radio: “Advise CLC” not “call Meridian”. Keep channels clean of speculation.
• Evidence with metallic tang/odd chill: gloves, double-bag, red tag, fridge; do not open on site.
• Witness management: split, water, basic statements; no leading questions about the supernatural.

Report Language (Red File)

• “Unusual environmental factor” instead of “fog wall sang”.
• “Optical interference” instead of “cameras died near the mirror”.
• “Subject displayed atypical strength/resilience” instead of “wolf-man shrugged off cuffs”.

Media & Public

• PIO (press office) uses pre-cleared scripts (gas leak, faulty lighting, contraband lab, crowd panic).
• Social scrape: Digital Forensics quietly requests takedowns citing “privacy” or “ongoing investigation”.

Case Seeds & Crossovers

• Body-Cam Bloom: BWV shows a one-second gold flare before corrupting. Digital Forensics wants help cloning the card without triggering alarms.
• Evidence Walks: A red-tagged cooler moves from the district fridge to nowhere. Chain-of-custody shows a perfect signature — of someone on leave.
• Two Stories, One Night: Free Court salon and Harbour feeding window collide with a patrol operation. Can the calendar be fixed before the briefing?
• Officer Safety: A rookie breathed in “cold air” at a scene and now can’t warm up. Clinic, Meridian, or call it flu?
• Witness That Remembers: A bystander’s phone caught clean, unblurred footage. Befriend, buy, or bungle?

Using BPD in Play

• Tone: procedure, pressure, paperwork; competence under bad lighting.
• GM Levers: BWV redactions, evidence bottlenecks, chain-of-custody choices, union rules, public scrutiny.
• Allies: individual officers who value calm and truth; the CLC when trust is earned.
• Friction: jurisdiction spats, overtime fatigue, media heat, and well-meaning superiors who want a press conference.

Red File Rules (Internal, Off-Book)

1. No spectacle. Calm scenes, closed stories.
2. Chain stays clean. If it can’t be explained, it can be accounted for.
3. Need-to-know only. Keep officers safe without breaking their world.
4. Meridian last resort. Call early for exposure, late for arrests.