Ask for and issue warrants

A warrant is an order against a character in a roleplay community. It is in-character: it belongs to the character, never to the avatar behind them, so it can't mix with out-of-character (OOC) moderation. See Create your characters.

Every step needs its own permission, so a community decides who asks, who decides and who serves. Give them to people through roles. The community owner holds them all.

Ask for a warrant

1. In your community, go to Warrants (under Roleplay) and press Ask for a warrant.
2. Pick the Character. Only characters in this community can be named.
3. Choose Arrest warrant or Search warrant.
4. Choose the From department that is asking, if there is one. It lists the community's departments.
5. Type the Reason: the charges, or why it is needed. Add Details (optional), like what to look for, and for a search warrant the Place.
6. Press Ask for warrant.

Everyone who can issue warrants is told there is one waiting. Until it is decided you can take it back with Withdraw request on its page.

Issue or deny it

Someone with the permission to issue opens the warrant from the Warrants list and presses Issue or Deny.

• Issue asks how many days the warrant stands for (30 unless you change it, up to 365) and lets you add a note. When the days are over, the warrant shows as Expired by itself.
• Deny needs a reason. Whoever asked is told.

Issuing pages the law enforcement units: everyone who is on duty on a law enforcement department's roster and can see warrants gets a notification, and an IM in SL unless they turned that off under Warrants in their notification settings. If they are wearing the RP HUD, it shows the page too. See Rosters and duty.

Serve or close it

• Mark served records that the warrant was carried out, with a note. Only a warrant in force can be served. If you can see Records, you can also choose the character's arrest that served it, and the warrant then links to that arrest.
• Close ends a warrant that was not served, like one for a suspect who turned themselves in. It needs a reason, and works on a warrant that is waiting or in force.

Whoever asked is told either way. Every step is in the warrant's History and in the community's audit log.

Find warrants

The Warrants list shows what is waiting or in force. Use Show for served, denied, closed and expired warrants, or all of them, and the search box for a character's name or a warrant's number.

A community that has Justice later will have judges issue and deny the warrants that officers ask for here.