Imperial law enforcement

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**Fezman**

I'm confused about how Imperial worlds are policed. Do the Adepus Arbites handle all police duties, like the Judges in Judge Dredd, or would a planet have both a "local" police force and an Arbites presence?

As far as I can tell, mainly from BL stuff, a planet will have its own cops organised along lines specific to the world, but the Arbites act as a kind of paramilitary combination of Special Branch, the FBI and a very well-equipped SWAT team for dealing with bigger and more powerful threats...does that sound like a fair summary?

**Eetion**

Part right.
Your description of the Arbites is pretty much spot on. But their duties are solely concerned with Imperial Law and not local jurisdiction.

Insurrections, missing the tithe, cultist and anti imperial sentiments, attacks on Imperial personal etc.

**Grey Templar**

They are kinda like a Paramilitary CIA, concerned only with Imperial law.

They don't do anything that is purely a local matter.

As for who makes up their ranks, it seems that typically you have the higher ranked officials on the planet being from off-world and they recruit from the local population to fill out their ranks. Its not unheard of for them to have their own tanks and other heavy vehicles.

Think of them like the SS crossed with the Gestapo.

**Inquisitor Jex**

Pretty much what was said: all recruited from the Scola Progenium, placed on another world than their own homeworld and work and investigate only matters related to the Adeptus/Sub-Sector/Sector at large.

Murder of person X? Who cares, that's a local matter.
Murder of a Gouverner? Arbites.

Smuggling on a sub-sector/sector scale, cults, heresy, treason, riots, tithe theft that falls under the Arbites.

**Anfauglir**

What the other guys said. They are the policing "pillar" (arm) of the Adeptus Terra, there to enforce Imperial Law (Lex Imperialis) througout all the other major Imperial branches. AdMech and Ministorum don't count, as they're somewhat independent from Adeptus Terra.

Individual worlds are left pretty much to their own devices in regards to laws, customs, cultural traditions, systems of government, etc, etc. All to the discretion of the Planetary Governor. Arbites are more concerned with policing the big boys, the Administratum, the DM, Imperial Guard, etc.

And yes, they are very much the "Judge Dredd in SPPAAAACE!!!" of 40k lore.

**Psienesis**

It should be noted that there are not enough Arbiters to police every world in the Imperium. Some remote, low-population worlds might have only a single Arbiter who acts similar to a US Marshal of 1875.

**Iracundus**

It should also be noted that for hive worlds, with populations in the hundreds of billions, there will not be anywhere near enough Arbites to hold off a full scale insurrection or revolt. In such cases, their purpose is to act as a speed bump and delay the fall of the world long enough to get the word sent out via astropath, and to cause as much critical damage as possible to the world's infrastructure and military before being overwhelmed.

Since they are not recruited from the local general population, they have no local ties and loyalties. On worlds isolated for long periods of time, they may well form their own self-perpetuating community in their fortified districts. For the same reason, they could therefore also easily be seen as foreign colonial oppressors by the local population.

**Melissia**

For hive worlds, they'd probably induct guard to put down insurrection anyway.

**Kid_Kyoto**

I did a long (LONG!) peice on civilian life that covered my thoughts and it sounds like we're all of one mind on this.

One thing to keep in mind is that Imperium is not a stable nation state like the US or UK, it's more a band of warring feifdoms that don't always get along.

So 'the law' might be very different depending if you're in the administrative district, the temple quarter, the factory district or the slums. And no one pretends it's anything different.

For the record:

There is no single system of law in the Imperium, just varying levels of authority which are not always working together.

Imperial law is the highest, trumping any local authority and at times practicality or sanity. Ancient laws, written by long-dead hands, can decide the fate of entire worlds. To make things even more Byzantine, Imperial law includes not only those rules enforced by the Administrum, Inquisition and Arbites, but also church law laid down and enforced by the Ecclesiarchy, their Witch Hunters and the Sisters of Battle. Some of those laws are brutal and inflexible, and are often disregarded in practice but you never know when someone will suddenly decide to enforce some obscure edict and execute an entire army because its soldiers were exposed to Chaos. At least these laws are generally limited to things the Imperium cares about such as taxes, respect for the Emperor and the Imperium, the safety of Imperial facilities, culling psykers, and exterminating xenos, heretics and witches. Petty matters among commoners like drug abuse, robberies or murder are left to local authorities.

Below it is planetary law laid down by the governor and then local laws. Finally there is the authority who whomever controls a given district, whether it’s a mining company, a factory boss, the local gang or certain well-meaning citizens. Unfortunately for most Imperial subjects this arbitrary and personal system is the one that has the most effect on their lives.

Crimes against the lowest castes, the outcasts and homeless, will get no interest outside of their immediate friends and clan.

Crimes against lower class citizens, street vendors, workers and shop keepers, will be dealt with by their hired guards or possibly the local authorities. Sufficiently spectacular crimes or crimes directed at powerful interests will certainly draw the wrath or local authorities or even the Planetary Defense Force.

Crimes against Imperial interests or Imperial servants will either draw the wrath of local and planetary authorities or, if needed Imperial assets such as the Adeptus Arbites, Imperial Guard, or other more exotic arms of the Imperium. Certain things, such as the use of mutants and psykers or heretical teachings, will draw the interest of the Inquisition or Witch Hunters. If they have the resources available of course, which is not a given in these dark times.

But this orderly hierarchy can be short-circuited at any point if a crime affects the wrong person. A petty thief who mugs the sister of the Baron's favorite serving wench might find his neighborhood flooded with local watchmen or even hired bounty hunters all seeking his head.

But not all legal matters are a simple question of crime and punishment. Property disputes, lawsuits, major divorces, claims of official corruption, differences in religious doctrine and a million other issues require careful debate and research by armies of clerks and judges and sometimes prolonged off-world consultations. Alas the law moves slowly. Even those who manage access to planetary or Imperial justice will need years or decades to get a decision. Courts are surrounded by mobs of petitioners, some living for years in shanty towns so that they may press their cases daily. The Imperium tolerates this state of affairs knowing the justice system, no matter how slow or poor, is a valuable outlet to prevent unrest.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/Civilian_Life_in_Warhammer_40%2C000_AD

And some stories on how it works:

http://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/Civilian_Life_in_40k_Part_2

Spoiler:

Crime and Punishment

Rath screamed. He didn't want to, but it hurt so much.

The ink man offered him a bottle of boracha but he shook his head. He needed his wits about him. The pain made him sharp. The ink man shrugged and jabbed Rath again with a heated prod, burning away his vivid gang tattoos.

He watched another Scarlet Scorpion disappear under the hot iron and muffled another scream.

It wasn't his fault! He wasn't even there!

Three weeks ago some of the guys spotted a girl, a real looker, with the kind of body even a drab farm girl's robe couldn't hide. She was just off the train from some cesspool of a village in the interior, made a wrong turn and ended up in Scarlet Scorpion turf. Well the boys were bored, a bit drunk and she was like a gift from the Emperor himself.

It was her fault really. If she'd been a bit friendlier they wouldn't have had to use the knife at all hardly.

How were they supposed to know?

Apparently, and Rath was still putting the pieces together, but apparently farm girl was in town to see her sister, and her sister was a serving wench up at the High Crowne. And sis had caught the eye and the ear and other body parts of the Baron's nephew.

So the girl goes all boo-hoo-hoo to the sister. And the sister goes all boo-hoo-hoo to the nephew and the nephew goes all righteous rage to the Baron and before you can say 'opps won't happen again' the place is crawling with gunmen. And not just the Baron's buffoons but hard men, bounty hunters pulled in from the bush, Enforcers from the North Hives, even some mercenaries from off-world. And all of them, every last one, looking for Scarlet Scorpions.

Now the Scorps, they didn't take this lying down. They called in their buddies, their juves, their cousins, their allies, anyone they could get, they was gonna show everyone they couldn't just march into Scorp turf without a fight.

That lasted about 3 days. It ended when what was left of the Scrops, their buddies, their juves, their cousins and everyone else gathered in an old PDF bunker to lick their wounds. Five minutes later the place went up like the fireworks on Liberation Day. And it wasn't no local firepot or prometium bomb either, we're talking mil-grade demo charges. Big boom-boom.

Lucky Rath was over at his girlfriend's place getting sewed up from some shrapnel he caught. Soon as he heard he grabbed his stash and spend the rest of the week in a sewer tunnel.

Now he figured it was time to get out of town. It cost him half his stash but an old buddy of his promised to slip him onto a lumber train leaving tonight. He'd spend a few months breathing clean air and chopping trees, then come back and start to rebuild.

But first a little stop to take care of these tats. Never know who'll see them and remember something. Nice thing about a bunch of nasty burn scars, no one's ever too eager to look too long at them.

Yep, just another tree-cutter with some nasty scars, that's all anyone will see.

The ink man finished and left the room to get some ointment and bandages. Rath let out a sigh and slumped back on the chair. The worst thing is it wasn't even his fault. He wasn't even there. But the dumb girl could only remember the Scrop tats, so the Baron wanted Scorp tats. Word on the street was they were paying ten gold eagles a tat. A few hours ago Rath's hide was worth over a hundred eagles.

The ink man was an old buddy of Rath's and stone deaf too, he figured he could trust him. If he couldn't... well he was gone in a few hours anyway.

Rath looked at the dial on the wall, another six hours till his train ride. He was almost a free man.

Then he heard the thud.

He tried to jump to his feet but the burns on his back and arms slowed him down. Gingerly he got up off the chair and limped towards his satchel. All he could think about was the old autopistol he had in there. Just a few more feet and-

Stars exploded in Rath's eyes, a comet slammed into the side of his head and a black hole slammed him to the floor.

From Rath's new perspective on the floor the guy was about 12 feet tall and had a shotgun the size of a battle cannon. He has the dark leathery skin of someone who spends too much time in the bush and a badge with a stylized wolf-head around his neck. A bounty hunter then.

Crap.

"You got the wrong guy man, I ain't never heard of the Scarlet-"

Another comet slammed into Rath's skull. OK so that wouldn't work, but Rath hadn't survived twenty years on the street without learning some tricks.

He gingerly made his way to his knees and let out a pitiful wail.

"Please don't kill me! Please!"

The hunter stood there, still as one of the Astres statues outside the Cathedral.

"I know where they're hiding! I can take you to Big Cense, Red Tomer, all those guys! Just please, please don't kill me!"

Rath had no idea where Cense or Tomer were, or even if they were still alive, but if they were he figured he knew 2 or 3 places where they might be.

The man nodded. Rath got up and made his way to the door. The hunter walking behind him. It was a shame, Rath liked those guys, but hey that was life on the streets.

As he walked out he saw the ink man counting his coins. They nodded at each other. No hard feelings huh? Just life on the streets.

**Kid_Kyoto**

Not to spam but I just added some examples of how the law might work.

Spoiler:

**Iracundus**

Melissia wrote:
For hive worlds, they'd probably induct guard to put down insurrection anyway.

Unless the Guard and the PDF are the ones revolting, and they often are. PDF have local ties so would be likely among those revolting in any general large scale uprising. Guard inducted from the local PDF would also be susceptible. Guard regiments from offworld are likely also the minority in any standing garrison. Most of the force lists we have from GW are of the Imperial response force rather than the original standing garrison. Again, like the Arbites, they would probably do damage but still fall to sheer numbers and logistical complications in the end before any Imperial response could reach them. Any revolt where the Arbites and Guard would be concerned would be large scale and either be a massive populist uprising or a rebellion with significant following among the nobility or other major power holders. Anything smaller might just be written off as local internal trouble to be dealt with by PDF or local police.

**purplefood**

A lot of the time (From the material available) Arbites are the last part of Imperial presence to be wiped out unless they are specifically targeted. They build their precincts like fortresses are equip them to match.
Guard are usually trained to forget their old alliances (Unless the Imperium is making use of them, such as clans for companies etc) The PDF is susceptible to rebellion but usually only if the governor is rebelling, if not then most of the time they are putting it down instead.

**Spetulhu**

Far as I could understand from the Enforcer books the Arbites seldom investigate or interrogate people if the crime isn't serious enough. There's 10,000 years of Imperial Law but it's seldom worth the effort to actually arrange a trial for anyone but the most prominent people.

A robber will just be shot down in the street if an Arbitor happens to see the crime. Smugglers will be summarily sent to work camps. Kind of like the speaker says in the SW "Cops" spoof video "Troops" - all suspects are guilty, period. Otherwise they wouldn't be suspects would they?

**IGdude354**

One thing noteworthy is that law enforcement is commonly referred to as the 'arbites' but in most cases, are not. IIRC, there are only a limited number of true members of the Adeptus Arbites, and the rest of law enforcement is given to paramilitary units the Arbites train and lead, as well as the PDF forces on world.