What is the proper rank structure in the MC 1 Justice Dept.

[Dash Decent]

We know there are some levels of ranks - senior Street Judge as opposed to just a Street Judge, for example - but how do the Judges tell each others ranks when they meet?

It's quite easy with the upper hierarchy, given their thing for enormous badge-shaped chest shields and elaborate eagle motifs.  You can also spot rookies and specialists (Psi, Tek, Medical, etc) by their uniforms and badges, but if regular Judge A arrives at a crime scene and sees regular Judge B there, is there anything on their uniform that serves the role of pips and stripes and tells A where he stands with B?  More feathers on the eagle shoulder pad? An extra star on the name badge?

[Dash Decent]

Gulag (1382, March 2004) is the first appearance of the weakly named 'Defence Div', in the person of the better named Votten. It's not a Wagner story, which brings into play the totally unofficial rule that's so incredibly disrespectful we're not even allowed to allude to it, as I just did.

Conscious choice of name?

I'll write them in,
and call their leader Votten.
'Cos after this story,
they'll be forgotten.

[Jim_Campbell]

if regular Judge A arrives at a crime scene and sees regular Judge B there, is there anything on their uniform that serves the role of pips and stripes and tells A where he stands with B?  More feathers on the eagle shoulder pad? An extra star on the name badge?

Chin size.

[13school]

                                THE PROPER RANK STRUCTURE IN THE MC 1 JUSTICE DEPT.:

                                                     Judge Dredd (he is the law)
                                                                       l
                                                              Everybody Else



A cheeky response, but Dredd is top dog and seems to have authority outside of the established hierarchy. Where I am currently reading (just finished CF#20) it appears that whatever actions Dredd takes is the law and everyone else comes second. He constantly tells off Chief Judge Mcgruder (especially over Mechanismo etc.) and she takes it because he is Dredd (with all his authority and experiences). I'm not sure if he has had this relationship with Chief Judges since. He occasionally tells off the SJS and overthrew Judge Cal (justifiably). Regardless of the established structure Dredd is the law...

I always thought this evolved fairly naturally across the first 250 or so progs - Dredd starts out as one of the best street Judges, after he defeats Cal everyone knows he should be the next Chief Judge but he says no, by the time of the Judge Child it's like "anyone else we'd ignore but it's Dredd and what he says goes" and after he wins the Apocalypse War he's built up so much cred that the Chief Judge basically rules by his permission.

That's why it was really interesting around Tour of Duty when you started to get Judges who didn't see why Dredd deserved his special treatment: "sure, you saved the city a bunch of times, but what have you done for us lately?"

[Frank]

... is there anything on their uniform that serves the role of pips and stripes and tells A where he stands with B?  More feathers on the eagle shoulder pad? An extra star on the name badge?

The over worked and under paid art droids of the Nerve Centre welcome this new opportunity for readers to point out minor errors and omissions in their work.

There's no hard and fast rule about who gets two left shoulder pads instead of an eagle, and every artist draws Tek and Med judges completely different. Then there's that shield Anderson was sporting on her eagle, last time out ...

[sheridan]

... is there anything on their uniform that serves the role of pips and stripes and tells A where he stands with B?  More feathers on the eagle shoulder pad? An extra star on the name badge?

The over worked and under paid art droids of the Nerve Centre welcome this new opportunity for readers to point out minor errors and omissions in their work.

One / a few of the art droids drew stars on the non-Eagle shoulder pad in the early days, though I'm not sure there was any consistency or if it meant anything.

The correct answer to rank is number of links on the chain.  Senior Judges have seven, not so sure about others

[Steve Green]

I guessed that the stars on the pad was just carrying on the motif on the badge/buckle.

Also helps that the plain pad has bars, so it's stars and stripes.

On the Stallone film, sure I read somewhere that the three stars on the respirator badge relate to the 3 cities.

[The Legendary Shark]

Maybe their helmets wi-fi their ranks to each other.

[IndigoPrime]

Given that this is the future, you'd imagine their equipment would relay relevant information their way.

[Dash Decent]

I was going to mention chain links and their bikes radioing ID signals to each other.  I wish I had now!  The Lawgiver is another possibility, given it's already doing some kind of ID check on whoever pulls the trigger.

The technological angle makes even more sense when you consider how much of the uniform is obscured by their rain ponchos/rad cloaks, though you'd think they'd want something physically on the uniform in case you lose your helmet/gun/Lawmaster/whatever else it is that signals.

[The Legendary Shark]

Dredd being "faceless" to illustrate impersonal law may be a clue - maybe street judges look the same to the citizenry for the same reason; rank < law.

And if you lose your helmet/gun/lawmaster/whatever - that's an automatic demotion!

[Magnetica]

Hmmm... The Judges just all seem to know each other. That was fine when there were only seven of them ( or there abouts). Not sure how that works now.

But the strip had never been big on explaining much about how stuff in the Mega Cities' world works either. Take technology. No "dilithum crystal powered warp drive" explanation has ever been given for Justice One etc.

But frankly, it's not necessary. When you only have 6 pages you don't have time for this fluff... It just gets on with the story instead.

[The Legendary Shark]

JMS, when asked how fast spaceships go in the B5 Universe replied, "They travel at the speed of plot." I guess a similar answer applies here, judges are ranked according to plot.

[TordelBack]

Hmmm... The Judges just all seem to know each other.

Well they did all go to the same school...

[Magnetica]

Exactly what TLS said. I was thinking exactly that... came up a couple of years ago when someone asked how far out from Earth the ship got in Dark Justice and how fast Dredd had to travel to reach them. Answer = as fast as the plot required.