One of my players created a police character. I decided, as a mustering out benefit, that he could keep his badge. As the character hails from a TL13 world, I came up with the following (fanciful) description of his badge. Feel free to add comments, suggestions, criticisms, etc.
Law Enforcement E-badge:
The standard police e-badge is a small lanthanum lace set in an ellipse or square of smart fibre. The lanthanum forms the appearance of the character's homeworld/system/star/nation, and is both decorative and functional. The stylized chromed script outlines the character's rank, various awards and commendations. If the character has participated in joint interstellar operations or task forces, the badge may also have a small Imperial/Regency/RC symbol.
The metallic part of the badge is encased in a stiff "leather-like" smart fibre, that, with the super-conducting properties of the lanthanum, acts as a PDA/Personal Comp-13. The badge has an inbuilt holo-camera; normally, while on duty, an officer would have the holo-camera record his arrests, witness statements, surveillance, etc, with optional real-time transmission to police HQ if the necessary commo set is available. The latter function has been disabled, and the character will have to manually activate the record ability. (Note that play-back is available with the holoscreen function.) The e-badge is capable of taking fingerprint and iris scans through lanthanum impressions and its holocamera, respectively.
The e-badge has a dataport for holocrystal "flecks" should it become necessary to manually record, retrieve or access various data. The PDA can be accessed either physically, by opening a small pad/holo-screen on the back and typing as needed, by sync'ing it to communication equipment for verbal control, or by sync'ing it to a data display headset for eye-activation. Note: the e-badge has a built in wireless "modum", but this is limited to short range - the badge must be within 3m to allow it to synchronize with other items (data display headset, commdot, earpiece, larger computer system, etc).
The badge is registered to the character (contains the character's police file, ID number, iris scan, holovid picture, although no DNA scan), but, as the characeter is retired, grants no formal legal authority to the bearer. (The character may attempt to fool people, although this would be illegal and ethically dubious.) Normally, the e-badge is electronically locked to allow use only by the character through fingerprint and iris identification, although this feature can be modified or removed.
The PDA contains an extensive library, maps, encyclopedia, departmental reports/information and an updated offender registry databank. The e-badge has small pockets for spare holocrystal dataflecks, electronic key-cards, an e-chit or two or small units of hard currency.
Law Enforcement E-badge:
The standard police e-badge is a small lanthanum lace set in an ellipse or square of smart fibre. The lanthanum forms the appearance of the character's homeworld/system/star/nation, and is both decorative and functional. The stylized chromed script outlines the character's rank, various awards and commendations. If the character has participated in joint interstellar operations or task forces, the badge may also have a small Imperial/Regency/RC symbol.
The metallic part of the badge is encased in a stiff "leather-like" smart fibre, that, with the super-conducting properties of the lanthanum, acts as a PDA/Personal Comp-13. The badge has an inbuilt holo-camera; normally, while on duty, an officer would have the holo-camera record his arrests, witness statements, surveillance, etc, with optional real-time transmission to police HQ if the necessary commo set is available. The latter function has been disabled, and the character will have to manually activate the record ability. (Note that play-back is available with the holoscreen function.) The e-badge is capable of taking fingerprint and iris scans through lanthanum impressions and its holocamera, respectively.
The e-badge has a dataport for holocrystal "flecks" should it become necessary to manually record, retrieve or access various data. The PDA can be accessed either physically, by opening a small pad/holo-screen on the back and typing as needed, by sync'ing it to communication equipment for verbal control, or by sync'ing it to a data display headset for eye-activation. Note: the e-badge has a built in wireless "modum", but this is limited to short range - the badge must be within 3m to allow it to synchronize with other items (data display headset, commdot, earpiece, larger computer system, etc).
The badge is registered to the character (contains the character's police file, ID number, iris scan, holovid picture, although no DNA scan), but, as the characeter is retired, grants no formal legal authority to the bearer. (The character may attempt to fool people, although this would be illegal and ethically dubious.) Normally, the e-badge is electronically locked to allow use only by the character through fingerprint and iris identification, although this feature can be modified or removed.
The PDA contains an extensive library, maps, encyclopedia, departmental reports/information and an updated offender registry databank. The e-badge has small pockets for spare holocrystal dataflecks, electronic key-cards, an e-chit or two or small units of hard currency.
