US Law Enforcement Response, Time, Scale and Coordination (Galveston, TX)

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

Another possibility would be bags full of nails for tire destruction. If you have time to weld steel drums, you probably have time to buy large number of roofing nails to puncture the tires of pursuing vehicles. Even if they have run flat tires, they will experience a blow out if they continue the pursuit, as you are likely running away faster than the 50 mph limitation on such tires.

The earliest Raul appears to be able to get to work on his scheme is 22:00, which inconveniently is the same time most stores carrying such supplies tend to close. They may still have access to some items that can be repurposed into anti-vehicle caltrops, however, which may indeed be worthwhile.

I do love the idea of throwing barrels of ballast at the pursuing vehicles, but I wonder at how much damage they’d really do - such barrels will waste a lot more of the collision’s energy in simply being blown apart than a deer (which tends to hold together a lot better), and additionally the collision is functionally much lower velocity (the barrels are moving rather close to the same speed as the truck).

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

Another possibility would be bags full of nails for tire destruction. If you have time to weld steel drums, you probably have time to buy large number of roofing nails to puncture the tires of pursuing vehicles. Even if they have run flat tires, they will experience a blow out if they continue the pursuit, as you are likely running away faster than the 50 mph limitation on such tires.

Originally Posted by Varyon

The earliest Raul appears to be able to get to work on his scheme is 22:00, which inconveniently is the same time most stores carrying such supplies tend to close. They may still have access to some items that can be repurposed into anti-vehicle caltrops, however, which may indeed be worthwhile.

They really don't have time to weld steel barrels, though they will move around ballast and other stuff that is already in the cargo box in order to make a comfortable shooting position with cover for a sniper lying down with a rifle on a bipod. Cover will include metal-reinforced coffins filled with mud (were already there) and about a dozen 50-lb sandbags, as well as bolts for the coffins and plenty of cargo straps.

Also, Igor already had a carefully constructed 'urban ghillie suit' for himself and a thick mat/tarp for laying on at an OP, which is actually is a professional-quality shooting mat. His M82A1 QC rifle came with a hard carrying case, but Igor would have tried to obtain a combination soft drag bag and shooting mat that fitted such a large rifle when they stopped on the way from Dallas to Galveston. They stopped at an Academy Sports and Outdoors in Huntsville, as well as the Walmart there.

Edit: Igor got a Voodoo Tactical 15-9334 Shooting Mat and Rifle Drag Bag for the LWRCI R.E.P.R. in .308 and a Voodoo Tactical .50 Caliber Rifle Drag Bag, 60" Long for the Light Fifty. Raul also gets two Voodoo Tactical 15-0156 36-inch Enhanced Short Drag Bag w/ Shoulder Harness for the LWRCI IC-SPR rifles and five Drago Gear 36" Double Gun Cases so that rifles for the sicarios don't have to be stored in the trunks in the cases they came in. From Academy and Walmart combined, the OpFor also score an even dozen Howard Leight Impact Sport Sound Amplification Earmuffs, which is all to the good.

After Raul discovered that they'd probably have to seize 'Gwen Delvano' from the hands of the authorities, the OpFor does not have much time. They don't know if or when the PCs might decide to start cooperating with the police, after all, so they can't just wait around doing nothing. They want to control the pace of events and in order to do that, their anonymous tip about Gwen Delvano needs to come as soon as possible, before the PCs might decide to do anything.*

So, aside from absolutely needing to remove or modify the doors of the box truck in order for firing at pursuing vehicles to be possible, because that's something their plan won't work without, there is not much extra stuff they can get. They do have two guys and a car available to send on errands, one of them with English (Accented) and the other with English (Broken) and they can scrounge up a few thousand dollars of cash without using an ATM or selling some of the gold they carry.

And the Seawall Walmart should be open until 00;00, though there is the slight complication of a supply area of that store having been the location where the six bodies were found the night before. I imagine that while that part of the store is still closed off and there might even be technicians still at work, the main part of the store, which was not a crime scene, is still operating. After all, you can't just close an entire Walmart for days, not when there are people needing groceries at marginally cheaper rates.

Travel time to and from the Seawall Walmart ought to be 22-24 minutes, according to Google Maps. That means that zipping there and buying some nails, quickly, is within the realms of possibility.

The Target that is even closer to the OpFor closed at 22:00, so it's out, although between 17:00 and 22:00, while Raul was not certain what he would end up doing, but foresaw a possibility of having to take out a car full of PCs and/or fighting security guards, there was at least one trip to it by some sicarios, mainly to get snacks, but also any items that would be obviously useful to the OpFor if it should come to any kind of firefight. From 21:35, Raul would have been considering his options very carefully, hoping that the PCs would still come to their senses and contact him before the deadline so that the situation could be resolved peacefully, but I think we can declare that exact minute as the one he started to consider a rescue from the authorities as at least a back-up plan. It became his sole option or at least the only option that I have seen that he has under the conditions, at 22:00.

*The PCs were occupied at the time, in a Dream-Quest to Unknown Kadath inside the unconscious of 'Gwen Delvano', but Raul doesn't know that.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Verjigorm

Fair enough. Also, just kinda a goofy idea, but Igor or whoever in the back, could always roll out a barrel or two and let them smash into pursuing vehicles. Filled up with sand, one of those bad-boys should weigh around 600-700 lbs, and while I'm not one to dismiss the effectiveness of bullets, I've seen the damage a 150lb deer can do to a vehicle at speed, so a 500-600lb barrel hitting a police interceptor is sure to wreck it. Hell, it'll probably cause some mayhem on the high way, and that will work in your favor.

Also... I can't help but have a delicious and wicked joy in an Igor rolling barrels out the back of a fleeing vehicle. That's just too much nefarious fun for me to turn down.

Originally Posted by Varyon

I do love the idea of throwing barrels of ballast at the pursuing vehicles, but I wonder at how much damage they’d really do - such barrels will waste a lot more of the collision’s energy in simply being blown apart than a deer (which tends to hold together a lot better), and additionally the collision is functionally much lower velocity (the barrels are moving rather close to the same speed as the truck).

Assuming that Igor and his 2-4 assistants can get the box truck ready within a reasonably short period of time (far from assured), there is theoretically the possibility of acquiring, through theft or purchase, some steel barrels. There are, in fact, several located at the docks which members of the OpFor can clearly see, although, obviously, these do not belong to them and there is a very small, but technically non-zero chance, that taking them and loading them into the box truck might lead someone who knows the owner of the storage shack they are located at to calling the police. Very unlikely, but could happen.

More important, perhaps, is the fact that steel barrels full of sand are probably not better for the purpose of constructing a cover / shooting position in the back of the truck. A dozen sandbags weighing 50-lb each can be placed exactly where needed, to make for a comfortable lying position between some reinforced coffins bolted down, but the barrels are less adaptable. Also, they only have the ca 600 lbs. of sand in the bags, they'd have to get more if they want to fill several barrels.

Finally, when weighing the action economy of Igor the Spetsnaz sniper, is rolling out a barrel really better than using the same time to fire .50 BMG rounds at the target vehicle?

Igor has Guns (Longarm) at DX+4, four levels of Talent related to killing people and breaking things and consequently a skill score of 18 with a rifle. He's familiar with M82A1 rifles, though he's taking a -1 penalty for not having had the opportunity to sight this specific one in, get used to it and the optics and zero-ing it properly (he has a laser bore sight, but it's not the same as getting to know the specific quirks of the rifle, ammo and optics together). So his effective skill is 17.

Granted, Igor has Throwing-16 and therefore defaults Dropping to skill 12, but I somehow suspect that the .50 BMG is still his best option for destroying pursuing vehicles. We're talking an Acc 7+(1-4) rifle here, with Dmg 11d+2 pi++, RoF 3 and Shots 10(3). Every other second, Igor can double-tap a pursuing vehicle at effective skill (23 - Range penalty). AT 20 yards out, that's effective skill 17 or 90% of hitting a man-sized target with both shots, by RAW,

Two house rules in my campaign actually help Igor here (All-Out Attack (Sighted) gives +2 instead of +1 if the character doesn't move even a Step and Rcl is reduced by 1 for having Trained ST twice the MinST). One house rule based on Hans Christian-Vortisch and Pulver's suggestions for vehicle rules reduces his odds, as a -6 penalty for shooting from the truck is worse than an Acc cap of Hnd/SR -1/4. So, at my table, Igor has effective skill (28 - 6 - range penalty) and the Rcl is just 2, meaning that at 20 yards, his odds actually match up with the RAW.

[AlexanderHowl]

Another thing to consider is that a BMG can also take out a police helicopter without that much difficulty.

[Icelander]

Quite a lot depends on the physical capabilities of one 'Igor', who is not actually named 'Igor', but has "one of those Russian names, Boris, Ivan or something, so I just called him 'Igor'".

Igor was an exceptional Spetsnaz commando and seems to have spent a lot of his military career assigned to mobility units, such as mountain and arctic trucking units. Igor's known military specializations include sharpshooting, sniper training, urban warfare, arctic warfare and mechanic. In the early 1990s, Igor seems to have competed in Combat Sambo and Judo in both internal service competitions and for the Russian championship, with some success.

Igor fought in Afghanistan from 1984-1989 and in Chechnya 1994-1996. He also seems to have been assigned to Chechnya for long periods between 1999 and 2009. Igor is known to have been assigned to Arctic and/or Antarctic research missions at some point during his Spetsnaz days, as well as spending several years in Siberia on various assignments. After Igor left the GRU in 2010, at age 44, he spent four years in Antarctica, working as a civilian mechanic at Vostok Station.

At the peak of his powers, as a healthy young athlete and one of the most elite commandos and arctic operations experts of his country in his early thirties, Igor would have been ST 14, DX 13, IQ 12, HT 14 with Very Fit. He's slowed with age, but steroids and HGH Igor took to slow down age-related deterioration actually increased his ST, as Igor kept up a ferocious weight-lifting regime as a hobby, but once no longer assigned to an active Spetsnaz billet, Igor didn't run as much and added a lot of upper body weight. At age 45, Igor would have been ST 15, DX 12, IQ 13, HT 13 with Fit. He also has Lifting HT+5 -18 and is an expert in moving cargo under extreme conditions, maintaining trucks, driving on ice, etc.

An undisclosed event took place which has reduced Igor's DX and IQ by -2 and added a laundry list of Disadvantages to his character sheet. As partial compensation, Igor has received Extra ST +3 (Magical), Extra Lifting ST +4 (Magical, Unsupported), High Pain Threshold (Magical) and some Advantages related to no longer having much of a personality, beyond extraordinary obedience, access to all skills he possessed in his previous life and a cold hatred of all living things.

As he is now, then, Igor has ST 18, DX 10, IQ 11, HT 13 and no Fit or Unfit, but can continue working even through exhaustion, albeit with deteriorating performance. He can also use Lifting ST 22 if he needs, but this risks damaging his body. His Lifting skill has deteriorated to HT+3 -16 once he stopped having hobbies, his Driving (Automobile; OS: Truck) is DX+5 -15, his Freight Handling is IQ+3 -14, Machinist IQ+3 -14, Mechanic (Automobile; OS: Truck) IQ+3 -14 and Mechanic (Heavy Wheeled) IQ+2 -13. Igor also has Per and Will 13 and Scrounging at Per+3 -16.

Of Igor's combat skills, the most likely to be relevant are Camouflage IQ+4 -15; Guns (Longarm) at DX+8 -18; Observation Per+3 -16; Soldier IQ+5 -16; Stealth DX+4 -14; Tactics IQ+3 -14.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Verjigorm

honestly, It sounds like a good time and place for a block-and-tackle or similar pully system, as they provide the mechanical advantage to allow one man, even a superhumanly strong one, to move something in that weight range easily. And presumably without risking dropping it and having Count Chocula or whomever fall out. Now, you can also use the block-and tackle in conjunction with a dolly and a loading ramp(common on most moving trucks, it's a almost 3' wide ramp that stows underneath the truck's bed, and is easy to pull out and slide back in).

Originally Posted by Þorkell

Just as an FYI the trucks that are used here and might be ones that Icelander has seen have the powered ramp doubles as the door. So to open or close the box all you need to do is to lower or raise the ramp. The device for which is usually located at the rear corner of the truck, I assume left rear is more common because of where the driver's door is. Or the driver has a remote. You can easily lower and raise the ramp while driving, I've done so because I forgot to raise the ramp once and it wasn't until other drivers in traffic pointed the error out to me that it dawned on me that it was open.

I'm not sure that what Þorkell and I are imagining (probably because I can see one truck like that out the window and Þorkell has experience with them) is the same kind of powered ramp Verjigorm is talking about. From my limited experience, they don't look all that slow and being remote-controlled, are fairly convenient to open and close at the driver's whim.

But if they are rare, inconvenient or would look odd on an American box truck that is basically a large model of pickup truck with an enclosed 16' box, I defer to greater expertise. As long as there is a loading ramp of some kind that Igor can use, he's probably fine.

Originally Posted by Verjigorm

The block and tackle may not be needed, depending on how strong Igor is: I can push a 300lb piece of furniture up a ramp, but 600lbs? That's a little worrisome. Of course, I'm like a ST12 guy with some Lifting skill. But some sort of pulley or block and tackle wouldn't be a bad deal. A few dollys and a hand cart are probably absolutely necessary.

Dollies, blocks and tackles, pulleys and such may be added to taste. Igor was entirely free to spend up to $50,000 on tools, modifications and whatever he wanted (he doesn't want anything except to serve his masters, though), aside from the purchase price of the truck.

The only reason is that the truck isn't some fancy model with all the bells and whistles is that being unobtrusive was important for the work Igor got it for. But as long as it isn't visible in traffic, Igor was allowed to pimp his ride as much as he wanted, including an extensive selection of various tools.

As noted in another post, Igor is ST 18, Lifting skill 16 and has up to total ST 22 available with his Unsupported Lifting ST, though that may damage him (which would be sub-optimal). Best to avoid straining the vessel unless it is really needed, so Igor would probably default to using normal freight handling tools when the situation allowed it.

Originally Posted by Verjigorm

A rolling door is the best deal here. You can rapidly open and shut it, it's not something they can open from the inside. Uh, either way, you might want to have some sort of thick light barrier curtain set up to avoid light infiltration, because you can't really insulate the doors that well to keep the sound in and the light out. It's not a huge deal: you'd be surprised at how muffled the inside of the cargo compartment is.

If speed is of the essence, I'd ditch the powered loading ramp. They're slow, loud, and you have to swing them down and swing them up before you can access the interior. Just too much of a hassle for rapidly getting in and out.

If it's a powered ramp, probably remove the whole damned thing. It's just going to be a nuisance.

Fair enough.

Originally Posted by Verjigorm

It takes longer to remove the door than it does to just remove the door handle. I've never actually removed the roll-up door from a truck(when I was doing freight handling professionally, we had mechanics who dealt with that, rather than our package handlers or junior management). But they're essentially like roll-up garage doors, and those are usually a head ache to deal with. For expediency's sake? Just remove the handle, attach some ratchet straps on the inside to secure it, and call it good. Takes two hours, tops.

Note that two hours is too long.

It would be ideal if Igor and his up to four assistants (one of whom knows what he's doing, one of whom has minimal welding and mechanic experience, two of whom are unskilled) could do something that would make it possible to fire through the rear of the vehicle, but didn't take much more than thirty minutes. If it takes an hour and a half, it might be that Raul could compensate for it, but it would be very troubling. Two hours would make this effectively impossible, as Raul can't be sure that she won't be moved within that time.

However, the truck doesn't need to work ever again after this one time. We're not talking about a careful removal of the doors, they can destroy anything they like, because after this is done, the truck will never again need rear doors.

Is that possible?

Edit: It should probably be noted that among the many tools Igor has is an extensive set for wrecking, breaking and entering (Forced Entry, not Lockpicking). Bolt cutters, crowbars and utility bars, gear jaw wrecker, hammers, sledgehammer, demolition axes, etc. Tomás and Eduardo also have what amounts to an Electronics Repair (Security) toolkit and also have stealthier surveillance and break-in tools, but Igor has everything he'd need to break into a secured area using brute force.

[Verjigorm]

Igor can just rip the handle off then.

Edit: Or remove it with a screw gun. The adding of straps and what not can be done away with. Maybe one strap to keep the door secure up, but otherwise, it's not a breaker.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Verjigorm

Igor can just rip the handle off then.

Edit: Or remove it with a screw gun. The adding of straps and what not can be done away with. Maybe one strap to keep the door secure up, but otherwise, it's not a breaker.

Ok, removing the locking handle, does that means that the rolling door automatically rolls upwards?

The state Igor wants the truck in is with the rear of the box completely open and no way for it to close accidentally. That means either no door or a door somehow secured in the upward state. Straps might be enough, but it might also be possible to screw in some of the gear Igor uses to secure boxes or coffins closed, bolts or the like.

I figure Raul would aim to have Igor finish his work in thirty minutes. While, as events turned out, the OpFor has until just after midnight, Raul couldn't be sure that the PCs wouldn't preemptively call the police, so he had to be ready for anything an hour sooner than any police vehicle actually arrived as things played out. Also, Igor needs time to confirm the hide chosen by Raul and Eduardo, to Camouflage himself and run through a few 'if then' variations with Raul.

If Igor isn't finished in thirty minutes, Alberto, who'll be driving the truck, would have to finish up. Alberto has Driving (Automobile; OS: Trucks)-14, Freight Handling-12, Machinist-10, Mechanic (Automobile; OS: Trucks)-11 and Scrounging-12.

[Verjigorm]

Originally Posted by Icelander

Ok, removing the locking handle, does that means that the rolling door automatically rolls upwards?

The state Igor wants the truck in is with the rear of the box completely open and no way for it to close accidentally. That means either no door or a door somehow secured in the upward state. Straps might be enough, but it might also be possible to screw in some of the gear Igor uses to secure boxes or coffins closed, bolts or the like.

I figure Raul would aim to have Igor finish his work in thirty minutes. While, as events turned out, the OpFor has until just after midnight, Raul couldn't be sure that the PCs wouldn't preemptively call the police, so he had to be ready for anything an hour sooner than any police vehicle actually arrived as things played out. Also, Igor needs time to confirm the hide chosen by Raul and Eduardo, to Camouflage himself and run through a few 'if then' variations with Raul.

If Igor isn't finished in thirty minutes, Alberto, who'll be driving the truck, would have to finish up. Alberto has Driving (Automobile; OS: Trucks)-14, Freight Handling-12, Machinist-10, Mechanic (Automobile; OS: Trucks)-11 and Scrounging-12.

Correct, the door will just roll up. You could zap a screw in the track and let the head protude some to stop it from coming back down. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.

[Icelander]

The Galveston PD numbers around 150-200 staff, all told, including non-sworn support staff, investigative division and all specialist functions. Patrol officers are unlikely to number over 75, unless there is significantly less support and investigative staff than in our local departments.

The Galveston County Sheriff's Office has around 430 personnel, but 275 of those work in the Corrections Division and are mostly Corrections Deputies and not trained, certified (by TCOLE) or empowered to patrol as peace officers. The law enforcement, investigative and patrol operations part of the GCSO is about equal in size to Galveston PD.

The Galveston PD is on a four watch, staggered twelve hour system. As is the Galveston County Sheriff's Office.

What does this mean in terms of who is on duty at midnight on a Friday night, December 28th, 2018?

Is the shift commander a Lieutenant, with one or more Sergeants on patrol, or is a Sergeant maybe the sole one in charge over a small shift of 15-18 people or so?

Note that even though Icelandic police have a ridiculous number of higher-rank officers, most of them are detectives or middle managers of support staff and generally don't work nights. Night shifts of about sixteen to twenty officers usually only have a Sergeant in charge (my best friend is one) and even when there are 30-40 patrol officers out during times the shifts are augmented, he'll still be the most senior officer, though sometimes there will be a couple of other Sergeants on the shift, ones with less time in, who aren't acting as shift commanders. That's excluding the intake Sergeant, who handles the detention cells and processes the arrested, the equivalent of which in Galveston would be the night shift commander of the County Jail.

Obviously, I don't have a good handle on how smaller US departments use Sergeants. The LAPD, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and Miami-Dade Police Department (the primary departments with which my friend has attended seminars) are all such extremely large forces that they have spare Sergeants available during night shifts for taking international guests on ride-alongs, but that is probably not the rule for departments orders of magnitude smaller.

Especially after the previous night saw both departments catch a huge case, kidnapping and six murders, and a lot of the senior people, detectives and crime scene technicians having spent Thursday night with little sleep and all day Friday dealing with a career-maker (or breaker) of a case, with various divisions of Texas DPS, the FBI, Gulf Coast Violent Offenders Task Force and all sorts of agencies requesting data or even becoming involved.

What does the rank structure look like on the night shifts of the Galveston PD and the GCSO and who will be making the decisions during those crucial seconds and minutes after the first shots ring out?