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

Started by The dude, 05 March, 2017, 10:04:45 AM

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The dude

What is the rank structure for the Mega City 1 judges. I recall Dredd being referred to as "Senior Judge A+"  Does anyone have a canon answer? It would make sense to have more that Judge and Senior Judge.

Richard

It's never been established really. The reference you mentioned was in Mechanismo: Body Count and it was senior judge grade 1. Each sector house has a sector chief, deputy sector chief, and a couple of watch commanders. Each division (e.g. Psi Div) has a chief and deputy chief. That's about it.

Dash Decent

- By Appointment -
Hero to Michael Carroll

"... rank amateurism and bad jokes." - JohnW.

The dude


Frank


Hi Dude. Dash's diagram is actually pretty accurate, give or take a Council Of Five here, a Head of Division there, and a Sector Chief hiding behind the fridge.

John Wagner's explained how pinning down the specifics of Dredd's world, like hand-held lie detectors, causes more problems than it's worth. I'm going to embark on an elaborate flight of fancy and imagine that also applies to things like rankings and organisational structure.

If Day Of Chaos needs to give an army chief a chair in a Council strategy meeting, that's exactly how it works. If the whole Apocalypse War passes without a single member of the military showing face, then there's no army and Justice Department combines the functions of police, army, navy and air force.

Same goes for Block Judges and auxiliaries. Whatever works for an individual story, just as long as it doesn't close down storytelling potential for other writers. Comics are about stories, not flow charts.



The dude

Great answer, bur coming from a law enforcement background I find it organisationally Confusing. Also  that there is also the example previously stated where Dredd is given some sort of grade or rank. Plus he is constantly referred to as 'sir'. Maybe they have different grades of senior Judge which means there is in fact a rank structure.  Its just one that is not immediately noticeable outside of the Justice Dept.

It is the same with commendations, citations and medals. The judges being a quasi religious zealot monk type order don't go in for visible shows of praise, reward or glory. Come to think of it, that's exactly the parallel I would make. They are quite like a knight Templar or Teutonic Order.

That in itself could be a whole other discussion though.🤔

JOE SOAP


The dude

Thank you. This is an excellent flow chart of the overall areas of command and responsibility, but it still begs the question around supervisory ranks within each area. I do believe there is a further breakdown of responsibility within each.

Frank


So Hershey followed the same path* as Theresa May, from being in charge of locking people up to the top job (without being democratically elected). For the sake of my eyesight, let's hope May is never subjected to the kind of blackmail campaign Hershey suffered:





* According to whoever made up that diagram, probably Mike Butcher

JOE SOAP

Quote from: The dude on 05 March, 2017, 12:39:57 PM
...it still begs the question around supervisory ranks within each area. I do believe there is a further breakdown of responsibility within each.


You've been granted the job of making it up to suit yourself.


Steve Green

You might find something in one of the RPG books, or possibly the e-novels as they expand more on the details, but exactly specifying how rank breaks down hasn't really been that much of a factor in stories.

It can probably be stuck with the space maths of what proportion of the city is industrial/residential/how the economy works.

Richard

The rank structure probably doesn't have to be as elaborate as it is in an army or police force, as street judges are basically autonomous. They generally just ride around shooting and arresting people with little or no supervision, so there isn't much need for orders. There's probably a more detailed rank structure among the civilian auxiliaries, but as they're back room staff we rarely see them in stories.

The anomaly Frank points out is easily explained. In the Apocalypse War, Dredd says "the possibility of invasion was never envisaged." So they didn't need or have an army, because they just relied on their nuclear deterrent. After the war they learned their lesson, so by Day of Chaos there was a standing army.

TordelBack

Dude, if you need to scratch that itch the various pen-and-paper RPGs probably offer a more formal rank scheme, non-canonically of course. 

We've heard characters described as having 'made Senior', so there definitely is a rank system among slab jockeys, even aside from temporarily assigned positions we have seen such as Council of Five member, Task Force Commander, Watch Commander, Sector Chief and Division Head.  My guess would be that a Senior Judge is able to boss other judges around outside of a formal operational structure, take command in a multi-judge situation she encounters - of course we have seen both Dekker and Kraken do just that when they were rookies, but that may be a concession for purposes the assessment.  They are also more likely to be assigned the type of commands referenced above: those positions seem to grant authority over other Senior Judges.  Gradations within the Senior rank may simply reflect time served, or there may be a specific pecking order we've never seen.

I suspect the real issue (aside from the writer's convenience) in having visible or very explicit ranks (Sergeant, Inspector etc), is that in a world of instant justice on the street, a Judge's word must be absolute: having him be a subordinate in a system undermines that individual authority, reduces him to a cop rather than the embodiment of the Law.  A Judge is a Judge. 

Richard

QuoteA Judge is a Judge.
I'm glad about that actually. "Colonel Dredd" just doesn't quite have the same ring to it.

Frank

Quote from: TordelBack on 05 March, 2017, 01:14:39 PM
... a Judge's word must be absolute: having him be a subordinate in a system undermines that individual authority, reduces him to a cop rather than the embodiment of the Law.  A Judge is a Judge.


Good point; it's important to remember Hershey's wee fascists are proper judges, rather than cops with a license to kill. Below is a model of the current US federal court system, from which MC1's system of instant justice emerged.

Not too many different ranks:





... and here's a model of the current US Department of Justice: