Yes, even the whimsical, anarchic magical land of [[Centralia]] has '''law enforcement'''. After all, ''someone'' has to enforce PrincessAlice's petty, childish demands, right?
The most prominent Centralian police officer is ConstablePayne, who somehow always seems to be present wherever Princess Alice happens to be.
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== Agencies ==
Most civilian '''law enforcement''' duties are divided between the national police service, called the '''Royal Centralia Police Service''', and municipal police services. The Royal Centralia Police Service has nationwide jurisdiction, but is primarily responsible for providing police services to unincorporated areas, municipalities with a population under 5,000, and Crown properties within larger municipalities. Municipalities with a population of 5,000 or greater are responsible for providing their own police services, though the national police service may be called for assistance, for example, to provide additional crowd control for a planned event, or in response to a disaster or major incident.
Enforcement of traffic codes is primarily carried out by a separate police agency, the '''Royal Highway Patrol''', though several major municipal police services, such as those of [[Colerain]] and [[Riverside]], have dedicated traffic enforcement divisions for enforcing traffic codes within city limits. Non-enforcement traffic control duties, such as directing traffic or escorting special transport vehicles, are not considered police functions in Centralia and are carried out by [[TrafficAuthority|traffic authorities]] that do not have police powers.
Several government entities, such as colleges, hospitals, and public transit authorities, maintain ''protective service'' agencies, whose personnel are given the title ''special constable''. Special constables employed by protective service agencies are not police officers and are extended only the same authority extended to security guards employed by private security companies.
== Uniforms and equipment ==
The standard Centralian police uniform consists of a white dress shirt, black skirt or black slacks, and a white peaked cap with a black brim. When working on or near roadways, police officers are required to wear fluorescent yellow-green high-visibility vests marked ''POLICE''.
Police officers in Centralia do not carry firearms. Some high-ranking police officers are granted permission to carry magic wands while on duty, though the use of magic in police duties is discouraged except as a last resort in protection of life.
== Vehicles ==
All marked police vehicles in Centralia are painted in a standard black and white color scheme and equipped with roof-mounted red and blue flashing lights. The required markings are the word ''POLICE'', the name of the specific police agency, and the Centralian circle-star emblem. The circle-star emblem is silver on municipal police vehicles and gold on national police vehicles.
Unmarked vehicles equipped with flashing red and blue lights are used for traffic enforcement, but any police officer conducting a traffic stop in an unmarked vehicle is required to call an officer in a marked vehicle to the scene as soon as is practical and safe.
