Internal security and law enforcement in the New Greater Empire

Internal security and law enforcement in the New Greater Empire is the responsibility of various agencies and institutions, some of which have overlapping functions and operate in close cooperation or competition with each other. Within the Empire, the majority of law enforcement activities fall under the provincial or planetary level, though national-level institutions directly under the Imperial Government also exist for law enforcement and internal security matters. One exception to this is the Imperial Security Service, which operates under the Imperial Throne rather than answering to the Imperial Government.

Local police forces
The bulk of law enforcement within the Empire is carried out by local police forces, which comprise of the myriad Provincial Police Departments and Planetary Orbital Guards. Within the Imperial Constitution, every constituent province is legally responsible for its own internal law enforcement through a provincially-funded and operated police department, which is to uphold the overarching Imperial laws as well as any laws passed by the provincial government. Imperial laws supersedes any local laws at any point of time. Through the Planetary Council, each province is also responsible for providing funding, equipment, and personnel to the planetary Orbital Guards, which is the local law enforcement agency that operates within the orbit of the particular planet.

Orbital Guards
""This is the Hourai Orbital Guard. Your vessel is known to be carrying wanted fugitives. Power down your vessel and prepare to be boarded, or we are authorised to open fire.""

- Hourai Orbital Guard Tachi-class patrol ship Ashigaru Hourai Typhoon during a routine arrest

The Imperial Orbital Guards are planetary-level spaceborne law enforcement units. Orbital Guards are funded and equipped by the provinces on the particular planet, but are placed under the command of the planetary governor. The jurisdiction of the Orbital Guards is limited to their particular planet or moon, with multiple Orbital Guard organisations within the same system not unheard of in systems with more than one heavily colonised body. Typically, Orbital Guards are also limited to their jurisdictions by the equipment that they receive, which are usually small-sized patrol ships and cutters largely limited to in-system FTL jumps. Orbital Guards are also often called upon to carry out search-and-rescue missions in their jurisdictions as well.

Imperial Security Service
""The only crime bigger than sedition is betraying the Imperial Throne.""

- Okazaki Hikari, Imperial Service Agent

The Imperial Security Service (Teikoku Shineitai), also often known as the Imperial Service (Teikokutai), is a major paramilitary organisation directly under the Imperial Throne, commanded by the Imperial Monarch through the Royal Office of Security. The Imperial Service is responsible for both internal and external intelligence, as well as security of the Empire. Proud successor of the infamous ancient Ordic Yashiman organisation once known as the Imperial Security Agency, the Imperial Service is authorised to protect law and order in the Empire through any means necessary, maintaining the stability and balance of the state and ensuring the state's continued loyalty to the Imperial Throne.

The two main constituent branches of the Imperial Service are the Intelligence Section and the Operational Section. The Intelligence Section is responsible for general domestic and foreign intelligence operations in the service of the Imperial Monarch, while the Operational Section consists of several paramilitary combat units used for counter-terrorism and other armed operations. A third branch may also exist, the Internal Section, which operates in major secrecy and supposedly exists to ensure the continued loyalty of people within and close to the Imperial Court.

The Imperial Service is the largest paramilitary force in the Empire not under the control of the Imperial Government, and largely exists to ensure that the Imperial Government cannot revolt against the Imperial Monarch. Intelligence gathered by the Imperial Service as well as information on the operations of the Imperial Service are only shared with the Imperial Government at the discretion of the Imperial Monarch, leading to distrust and conflicts between the Imperial Service and the military government, particularly the primary secret police force of the Empire, the Tokkeitai.

Members of the Imperial Service are widely considered to be fanatically devoted to the Imperial Throne. Imperial Service agents often wear plainclothes, though Operations Section troops are easily recognisable in their white tactical uniforms.

Tokkeitai
""When the state is the military, and the military is the state, where does the authority of the military police end?""

- Popular Exonet copypasta

The Special Police Unit (Tokubetsu Keisatsu Tai), often referred to as the Tokkeitai, is the military police branch of the Imperial Government, under the Ministry of National Security.

The Tokkeitai acts as a military police for the joint military branches under Imperial Government's jurisdiction, though the Imperial Army and Navy's own military police corps carry out military policing functions in units more directly under their respective control. In addition, the Tokkeitai also acts as a general internal law enforcement and secret police force in the Empire, and is also responsible for carrying out internal security, counter-intelligence, surveillance, and extrajudicial operations in the interest of national security.

As a national police force, the Tokkeitai has jurisdiction across the Empire. Reporting directly to the Imperial High Council, the Tokkeitai is empowered to protect the integrity of the Imperial Government and enforce the laws passed by the Imperial Government. The Tokkeitai operates in cells headquartered in major cities across the Empire, and can also call upon a large tactical section of over 500,000 paramilitary troops. As a military branch, the Tokkeitai has access to most military-grade hardware within the Empire. The Tokkeitai has its headquarters at the Takemura Memorial Complex outside of Kurokawa City on Eienkyo, with secretive training camps and schools across the Empire.

Both the Tokkeitai and the Imperial Service often come into fierce competition due to their overlapping jurisdictional realms, which is by design to ensure that both forces are constantly in check and maintaining the balance of power between the Imperial Throne and the Imperial Government. This simply means that to be an enemy of the Empire within its territories is to call upon oneself the wrath of two of the most efficiently terrifying organisations in human history.

Imperial Space Rangers
""This is the Imperial Space Rangers vessel Aohitsugi. Your vessel has violated the law. Power down your engines and prepare to be boarded.""

- Overheard communications chatter

The Imperial Space Rangers (Uchū Hogo-tai) is a national-level agency under the Imperial Ministry of Public Safety, responsible for spaceborne law enforcement and national security, search and rescue and disaster response, sector surveying, and space traffic management. The Space Rangers work closely with the Orbital Guards and the Imperial Customs Authority to ensure the safety and security of space travel within Imperial Space, as well as on Empire-regulated circuits. Unlike the Orbital Guards, the Space Rangers have the capabilities to regularly operate in interplanetary and interstellar ranges.

Imperial Customs Authority
The Imperial Customs Authority is the border control and trade enforcement agency of the New Greater Empire, under the Imperial Ministry of the Economy. The Imperial Customs Authority is responsible for securing the Empire against undesirable goods or beings, as well as the security of trade within the Empire. To the latter end, the ICA is responsible for ensuring that all trade within the Empire complies with Imperial laws, and also enforces the taxation of the trade routes. The agency also provides security for major trade routes within the Empire, and operates a substantial patrol fleet.

Taxation Branch
The Taxation Branch taxes stuff. The Security Branch collects.

Security Branch
The Trade Security Branch is the branch of the ICA responsible for the security of major trade lanes in the Empire. This partially overlaps with the duties of the Space Rangers, and both organisations work closely to protect the vital internal trade of the nation.