US Law Enforcement Response, Time, Scale and Coordination (Galveston, TX) - Page 11

Icelander · 05-31-2019, 07:35 AM

I'm looking for guidelines on how fast US local, state and federal law enforcement agencies can respond to perfidious villains whose meticulous, subtle, occult machinations have been disrupted and who find themselves forced to resort to far riskier, ad hoc stratagems, facilitated by sicarios wielding semi-automatic AR-15 type rifles.

Briefly, if an ambulance escorted by one or two police radio cars were attacked by multiple men with rifles, killing 2+ police officers and 2 EMTs, how quickly could a response be mobilized?

In particular, how quickly could Galveston PD and/or the Galveston County Sheriff's Office set up a roadblock on Harborside Drive / State Highway 275, a possible road such an attack would occur at and one logical route to take for the Galveston Causeway, the quickest way off the island on the I-45?

Edit: Actually, the chosen ambush point will be the corner of Galveston's Broadway Street and 71st Street, with the escape route being Broadway Avenue to the west for a short distance before merging into I-45 and heading over the Galveston Causeway to the mainland. This has the advantage, for the OpFor, of mostly eliminating the risk of their target being transported a different route, by hitting the target just after they start their transport, at the intersection which represents the first opportunity to choose between different routes.

It's also only 3.2 miles from the mainland, over the Galveston Causeway on the I-45, and a total of 6 miles by freeway (inc. on and exit ramps) to the extraction spot chosen by the OpFor, with multiple choices of routes, in Bayou Vista, where they will change vehicles and scatter.

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Federal and State Response

As a ruthless ambush of an ambulance and police vehicles using weapons that looked pretty military would probably push a lot of 'terrorism' buttons, how extensive would the law enforcement response become? What agencies would become involved, beyond those who were involved in the original murder and kidnapping investigation that was underway when the attack was made?

Background on the Situation and the Crime

In my Caribbean by Night campaign, Galveston PD discovered six bodies in the Seawall Walmart in Galveston about an hour before midnight, December 27 2018. Some thirty minutes after that, units responded to a report of shots fired in the historic Strand district, near a building adjoining Harborside Drive, with the shots being fired on the 23rd Street and/or a parking lot off it.

Two males, Janus Eremus and Ronald E. Green, were arrested at the scene, suspected of having drugged and kidnapped a young woman, Alice Talbot. Ms. Talbot was rescued, but made only a short statement before being allowed to rest. This was contrary to the wishes of the detectives in charge of the kidnapping case, as it deprived them of crucial information during the vital first hours of the case, but Ms. Talbot is employed by local billionaire J.R. Kessler, who sent a high-powered criminal defense attorney on her behalf and threatened dire legal consequences if the victim were not allowed immediate bed rest and the medical attention of her choice.

In the course of their investigation, Galveston PD has discovered connections between the kidnapping to the six bodies discovered earlier in the Seawall Walmart. The victims were apparently killed somewhere else, 12-18 hours before, and concealed in a back room of the Walmart. Five out of six bodies have been identified, three as employees of the Walmart, one as a tourist and one as a hotel employee from the Hotel Galvez. The sixth is a young woman who may also be a tourist, but the leading theory among the detectives is that she is a prostitute, despite her fingerprints not being in the system.

This case is probably the largest that the Galveston PD has handled in years, Serial killers are rare and six victims found at one location is unusual and dramatic. Galveston PD has jurisdiction, but I'm guessing that the Galveston County Sheriff's Office would cooperate right from the start, as two of the victims lived outside the municipal area of Galveston proper and, in any case, the actual site of the murders might just as likely have been in their jurisdiction.

It is also highly likely that other agencies would provide support, at least, with a possibility that the FBI would claim jurisdiction on the basis of kidnapping charges and/or the likelihood that the victims were transported from elsewhere. The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) are also very likely to be involved, both as forensic support and possibly, through the CID and the Texas Rangers Division, clamoring to be the lead agency.

The Gulf Coast Violent Offender Task Force sounds like it ought to get involved. It's led by the US Marshals and I don't know how that works when there are no known suspects with active warrants, but from reading news stories, it sounds like the GCVOTF would coordinate any necessary manhunt, even if the more technical aspects of the homicide investigation might be in the hands of others.

Where we are in play right now, it is just under 27 hours since the bodies were found, meaning that it is just past midnight on the night before the 29th of December, 2018.

The Galveston PD and the Galveston County Sheriff's Office have just taken one Gwen Delvano into custody, as a person of interest in the case, due to her credit card being used to book an apartment where the two men who were arrested appear to have been staying. Ms. Delvano is to be transported to the UTMB TDCJ Hospital for scans due to a head injury before being processed into the county jail.

A corporate executive by the name of Raul, commanding some dozen men of a South American origin, some of whom have military experience and all of whom are experienced shooters, has been tasked with stopping this. They are armed with personal sidearms and various AR-15 type rifles. With them are two security professionals / PIs in Raul's empoy and a taciturn Russian mechanic with Spetsnaz sniper experience, armed with a Barrett Model 82A1 CQ .50 BMG rifle.

OpFor Personnel
OpFor Vehicle Fleet
OpFor Arsenal
Igor the Spetsnaz sniper

The Kidnapping of Alice Talbot
Detail on the Situation at Midnight
The Law Enforcement Officers Present Where 'Gwen Delvano' is Taken Into Custody
Ambulance Used to Transport 'Gwen Delvano'
More on the Ambulance and EMTs
Some Guesses as to What Might Happen if the Ambush Succeeds
Threat of Law Enforcement Helicopters

Areas of Responsibility and Chain of Command On the First Day of the Investigation - I'm looking for more on the state-level response; Texas Department of Public Safety, inc. Texas Rangers. Comments?

Edit: See new post with updated situation

Less than 24 hours after these events, the police response and manhunt will grow even more substantial, as the PCs reveal an attempt to smuggle 42 women into Houston as part of an apparent human trafficking ring and a firefight between the crew of the ship, police and Good Samaritans leaves some 21 dead.

I'm wondering how wide-ranging and extensive the response can get and what problems that might cause for villains or PCs trying to do something out of sight within 200 miles of the Galveston-Houston area.

05-31-2019, 07:35 AM	#1
Icelander Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Iceland*	US Law Enforcement Response, Time, Scale and Coordination (Galveston, TX) I'm looking for guidelines on how fast US local, state and federal law enforcement agencies can respond to perfidious villains whose meticulous, subtle, occult machinations have been disrupted and who find themselves forced to resort to far riskier, ad hoc stratagems, facilitated by sicarios wielding semi-automatic AR-15 type rifles. Briefly, if an ambulance escorted by one or two police radio cars were attacked by multiple men with rifles, killing 2+ police officers and 2 EMTs, how quickly could a response be mobilized? In particular, how quickly could Galveston PD and/or the Galveston County Sheriff's Office set up a roadblock on Harborside Drive / State Highway 275, a possible road such an attack would occur at and one logical route to take for the Galveston Causeway, the quickest way off the island on the I-45? Edit: Actually, the chosen ambush point will be the corner of Galveston's Broadway Street and 71st Street, with the escape route being Broadway Avenue to the west for a short distance before merging into I-45 and heading over the Galveston Causeway to the mainland. This has the advantage, for the OpFor, of mostly eliminating the risk of their target being transported a different route, by hitting the target just after they start their transport, at the intersection which represents the first opportunity to choose between different routes. It's also only 3.2 miles from the mainland, over the Galveston Causeway on the I-45, and a total of 6 miles by freeway (inc. on and exit ramps) to the extraction spot chosen by the OpFor, with multiple choices of routes, in Bayou Vista, where they will change vehicles and scatter. --- Federal and State Response As a ruthless ambush of an ambulance and police vehicles using weapons that looked pretty military would probably push a lot of 'terrorism' buttons, how extensive would the law enforcement response become? What agencies would become involved, beyond those who were involved in the original murder and kidnapping investigation that was underway when the attack was made? Background on the Situation and the Crime In my Caribbean by Night campaign, Galveston PD discovered six bodies in the Seawall Walmart in Galveston about an hour before midnight, December 27 2018. Some thirty minutes after that, units responded to a report of shots fired in the historic Strand district, near a building adjoining Harborside Drive, with the shots being fired on the 23rd Street and/or a parking lot off it. Two males, Janus Eremus and Ronald E. Green, were arrested at the scene, suspected of having drugged and kidnapped a young woman, Alice Talbot. Ms. Talbot was rescued, but made only a short statement before being allowed to rest. This was contrary to the wishes of the detectives in charge of the kidnapping case, as it deprived them of crucial information during the vital first hours of the case, but Ms. Talbot is employed by local billionaire J.R. Kessler, who sent a high-powered criminal defense attorney on her behalf and threatened dire legal consequences if the victim were not allowed immediate bed rest and the medical attention of her choice. In the course of their investigation, Galveston PD has discovered connections between the kidnapping to the six bodies discovered earlier in the Seawall Walmart. The victims were apparently killed somewhere else, 12-18 hours before, and concealed in a back room of the Walmart. Five out of six bodies have been identified, three as employees of the Walmart, one as a tourist and one as a hotel employee from the Hotel Galvez. The sixth is a young woman who may also be a tourist, but the leading theory among the detectives is that she is a prostitute, despite her fingerprints not being in the system. This case is probably the largest that the Galveston PD has handled in years, Serial killers are rare and six victims found at one location is unusual and dramatic. Galveston PD has jurisdiction, but I'm guessing that the Galveston County Sheriff's Office would cooperate right from the start, as two of the victims lived outside the municipal area of Galveston proper and, in any case, the actual site of the murders might just as likely have been in their jurisdiction. It is also highly likely that other agencies would provide support, at least, with a possibility that the FBI would claim jurisdiction on the basis of kidnapping charges and/or the likelihood that the victims were transported from elsewhere. The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) are also very likely to be involved, both as forensic support and possibly, through the CID and the Texas Rangers Division, clamoring to be the lead agency. The Gulf Coast Violent Offender Task Force sounds like it ought to get involved. It's led by the US Marshals and I don't know how that works when there are no known suspects with active warrants, but from reading news stories, it sounds like the GCVOTF would coordinate any necessary manhunt, even if the more technical aspects of the homicide investigation might be in the hands of others. Where we are in play right now, it is just under 27 hours since the bodies were found, meaning that it is just past midnight on the night before the 29th of December, 2018. The Galveston PD and the Galveston County Sheriff's Office have just taken one Gwen Delvano into custody, as a person of interest in the case, due to her credit card being used to book an apartment where the two men who were arrested appear to have been staying. Ms. Delvano is to be transported to the UTMB TDCJ Hospital for scans due to a head injury before being processed into the county jail. A corporate executive by the name of Raul, commanding some dozen men of a South American origin, some of whom have military experience and all of whom are experienced shooters, has been tasked with stopping this. They are armed with personal sidearms and various AR-15 type rifles. With them are two security professionals / PIs in Raul's empoy and a taciturn Russian mechanic with Spetsnaz sniper experience, armed with a Barrett Model 82A1 CQ .50 BMG rifle. OpFor Personnel OpFor Vehicle Fleet OpFor Arsenal Igor the Spetsnaz sniper The Kidnapping of Alice Talbot Detail on the Situation at Midnight The Law Enforcement Officers Present Where 'Gwen Delvano' is Taken Into Custody Ambulance Used to Transport 'Gwen Delvano' More on the Ambulance and EMTs Some Guesses as to What Might Happen if the Ambush Succeeds Threat of Law Enforcement Helicopters Areas of Responsibility and Chain of Command On the First Day of the Investigation - I'm looking for more on the state-level response; Texas Department of Public Safety, inc. Texas Rangers. Comments? Edit: See new post with updated situation Less than 24 hours after these events, the police response and manhunt will grow even more substantial, as the PCs reveal an attempt to smuggle 42 women into Houston as part of an apparent human trafficking ring and a firefight between the crew of the ship, police and Good Samaritans leaves some 21 dead. I'm wondering how wide-ranging and extensive the response can get and what problems that might cause for villains or PCs trying to do something out of sight within 200 miles of the Galveston-Houston area. __________________ Za uspiekh nashevo beznadiozhnovo diela! Last edited by Icelander; 02-15-2020 at 01:11 PM.