Law and Order in the Free Western Territories (Patreon)

Property

One of the central tenets of the WFTP (Western Free Trade Protocol), one of the protocols that founded the FWT (Free Western Territories), was inspired by the "principle of effective occupation." This set of guidelines was used during the colonization of Africa in an attempt to prevent conflict between colonizing powers over land and trading opportunities. In short, this document laid down several new rules for land ownership in the affected territories.

To claim ownership (even when previous paperwork existed), the party must effectively occupy the area in question. This would include:

- having representatives present in the area.

- buildings and/or infrastructure built or maintained.

- providing security and control of the area.

- adding to the local economy.

Once the above criteria had been fulfilled for a period of no less than a year, a claim could be registered with the WFSLB (Western Free States Land Bureau).

This was intended to expedite the rebuilding of the devastated areas without having people or companies risk being tied up with pre-disaster paperwork and unclear chains of ownership. It was also intended to reward active participation in reconstruction and dissuade passive ownership of currently useless land that might become valuable in the future.

In practice, this would divide the land between four different groups: Companies, survivors, organizations, and the military.

Of these, companies control the largest areas. Some were present before the disaster, while others moved in fast to claim what land they could. Mutual treaties between these powerful entities formed much of the current political leadership and organization of the FWT. 

The second-largest group is the survivors. These were the people who remained behind or moved west before the official treaties were implemented. They are the backbone of the west, local communities, farmers, co-ops, and landowners who started rebuilding the moment the ash stopped falling. Much like early pioneer communities, they are self-sufficient and somewhat insular. 

The third group is various organizations. This is a mixture of religious, political, or otherwise strongly motivated people moving west to start a new society together. They tend to be insular, sometimes aggressively so, and view any outsiders with suspicion as they don't share their particular views. This also includes several criminal organizations interested in setting up bases outside official control.

The fourth, and smallest group, is the US military, which went to great lengths to secure what they saw as areas vital to the nation's interest (including their former bases). They are not there officially, but it is an open secret.

Taxes and economy

There are no federal or state taxes, but the local communities can and do levy local taxes. Often these are called "fees" to avoid the stigma of taxation, which many moved west to escape. They are often tied to infrastructure use, like roads, water, electricity, schooling, policing, health care, and emergency services.

Policing

Most policing in the west is local and private. This ranges from tax-and-ticket funded community sheriffs to the large city-wide police departments whose funding comes from pooled company resources. The only federal presence is through the Ranger's initiative.

So what laws are being policed? Again, this varies depending on the community's priorities where the policing is being done.

In general, property laws, theft, and violence are a priority. The policing is done to keep order; whatever that entails depends on the local statutes. Individual freedom tends to be a priority. For example, speed limits are rarely enforced other than as a means for local communities to earn money from fines. 

To use Los Diablos as an example, the city proper is policed by the LDPD, while the surrounding (non-company) communities have their own sheriffs or have paid into the system to get LDPD coverage. The LDPD gets its funds from the same Municipality Fund covering other vital city infrastructure. This fund is paid into by various companies and individuals in exchange for voting rights and representation on the city council. Thus the LDPD's main focus is making sure the city is safe and functional for business. 

The city also contains several heroes (company-sponsored and freelancers) who are deputized to make arrests and enforce the laws. An unknown number of vigilantes fight "crime" to a varying degree but leave it to law enforcement to make actual arrests. They operate in a legal gray area, but the LDPD relies on them to the point of putting out bounties on various villains to entice capture. Vigilantes specializing in this often call themselves bounty hunters. The Guardians is a relatively new addition to the status quo. This is a personal initiative from Mayor Alvarez, partly sponsored by the city and private donations. It is intended to relieve some pressure from the local Ranger team, though whether successful or not depends on who you ask.

Courts and Sentencing

While based on the system present in the rest of the US, there are several important differences. There is no jury. Instead, guilt is determined by a trio of judges (one senior, two juniors) unless it is for routine cases where only one is used. Much of the judicial system is funded partly by fines; thus, fines are the most common punishment meted out even for crimes that would lead to jail time in the rest of the US. Of course, this means that people of means can break laws at their leisure, as long as they are prepared to pay the fines if they are caught. For people unable to pay the steep fines, incarceration and labor are alternatives. Few people have any illusions that this is a fair system, but it gives a semblance of predictability and order.

Jails and Incarceration

Jails are private and more akin to factories and work camps than anything else. They make money providing a cheap workforce unable to protest to various companies, and many jails are so closely tied to various companies that they might as well be just another factory with free labor. This slave labor is one reason why many companies see soaring profits despite the need to invest heavily in the infrastructure of the surrounding area.

For boosted or heavily modded prisoners, things are handled slightly differently. If their various powers are deemed useful, they will be added to the prison-factory system, though there is always a lot more security for them. Some, however, are far too dangerous. While the death penalty exists, the most common solution tends to be to use them for research and experimentation. Very little is still understood about the changes the boost drug makes on the human body, and there are always researchers willing to pay steep prices to get access to rare specimens.

Protests and Debate

Of course, there is a lively debate about the current status quo. Human rights protesters have singled out the FWT for years, and the current practice has been called unconstitutional in the rest of the US. However, according to the treaties that formed the Free Western Territories, the Justice Department has no authority on the ceded ground. This has not stopped the UN from speaking out on the matter, but words are words, and money is money.

The human rights campaigners hope that once the current deal expires, which it will in less than a decade, the US government will step in and return things to some semblance of normality. Some, however, fear that the FWT is nothing more than an experiment to see whether this can be implemented in the rest of the states.