Hawking Gendarmerie
The police force of New Cambridge, the Hawking Gendarmerie is responsible for both internal security of the city of New Cambridge and the defense of the city against external threats such as Grawla Warlords.
History
The Hawking Gendarmerie is older than the human colony itself, and has its roots in the security force that was originally assigned to the original colony ship that transited from Earth to Hawking. This security force originally consisted mainly of engineers and people-managers as internals security was originally expected to be mostly a matter of 'building good fences' and managing smaller interpersonal conflicts.
By the 2200s it became clear that the security requirements of New Cambridge were far greater than originally expected. The American Union would retrain the Hawking Security Forces as a paramilitary organization geared towards defending the city against the Grawla while also handling internal issues between citizens. This would lead to an increasingly militarized police force that was closer in form to a military organization. In 2202 the first Hawking Gendarmerie unit was formed to patrol the exterior of the city and by 2211 the Hawking Security forces were exclusively formed into these paramilitary gendarmerie units.
Under the American Union, the policing functions of the Hawking Gendarmerie started to be ignored. This would lead to steadily increasing crime rates throughout the 2200s
Going into the 2300s The Magnetic Assembly would start to take a greater interest in Hawking. Its proactive social programs would greatly reduce the crime rate in Hawking, and help reform the Gendarmerie to include more robots and automated security which would free up personnel for more internal social duties. When the New Years Revolution happened in 2320 the Hawking Gendarmerie would find itself effectively under the authority of the Assembly instead of the American Union. Loyalists to the Union would find themselves singled out and arrested Jan 1st within minutes of the election results being verified thanks to the insights coming from big data processes carried out by the Magnetic Assembly.
This would leave the police force with a questionable future, and an extremely limited mandate to operate only within New Cambridge.
By the 2200s it became clear that the security requirements of New Cambridge were far greater than originally expected. The American Union would retrain the Hawking Security Forces as a paramilitary organization geared towards defending the city against the Grawla while also handling internal issues between citizens. This would lead to an increasingly militarized police force that was closer in form to a military organization. In 2202 the first Hawking Gendarmerie unit was formed to patrol the exterior of the city and by 2211 the Hawking Security forces were exclusively formed into these paramilitary gendarmerie units.
Under the American Union, the policing functions of the Hawking Gendarmerie started to be ignored. This would lead to steadily increasing crime rates throughout the 2200s
Going into the 2300s The Magnetic Assembly would start to take a greater interest in Hawking. Its proactive social programs would greatly reduce the crime rate in Hawking, and help reform the Gendarmerie to include more robots and automated security which would free up personnel for more internal social duties. When the New Years Revolution happened in 2320 the Hawking Gendarmerie would find itself effectively under the authority of the Assembly instead of the American Union. Loyalists to the Union would find themselves singled out and arrested Jan 1st within minutes of the election results being verified thanks to the insights coming from big data processes carried out by the Magnetic Assembly.
This would leave the police force with a questionable future, and an extremely limited mandate to operate only within New Cambridge.