To help you create your characters and sense the vibe, let me tell you more about the characters you will work with, the Department and the town itself.





Barstow

Barstow is a rather small town in Southern California, quite important locally as the logistic centre of the region - it has a sizeable BNSF rail yard, an important U.S. Marine Corps Logistics base and a U.S. Marine National Training Centre. It's currently experiencing a time of boom, with about 20% increase in population over the past few years. This quiet town doesn't have many problems, but times are a-changin'.



Barstow Police Department

While the real town of Barstow indeed has a Police Department, this one is entirely fictional, as are all the people working for it, but based on the real one and its structure. It is a small department with just a few detectives and beat cops, around 40 men overall, tasked with serving and protecting the people of this small, provincial town. It doesn't have much at its disposal, and so you will have to make do with with what you are given. You can count on the County Sheriff to an extent, but ask for too much, and he might get suspicious of your ability to handle the situation.



The San Bernardino County Sheriff provides court protection, jail administration, and coroner services for all of San Bernardino County. It provides police patrol, detective, and marshal services for the unincorporated areas of the county. (Wikipedia) - you are therefore going to be working with them quite a lot.



Captain Patrick Thompson

Old guard. A stern protestant whose ancestors came to the US from Northern Ireland. Slightly anti-Catholic, which doesn't help in this region, and privately a bit racist, but he tries to treat his men fairly. Old age makes him lose his grip a bit, but he can be very effective when a crisis comes to his little town. He replaced a disgraced captain, Michael Zimmerman, following a racist incident.



Detective Sergeant Henry Kaminski

Slightly younger than the captain, your real boss. He demands results and values intelligent fieldwork. He declined better offers from the County Sheriff and is very attached to his town. He expects daily updates but otherwise will try not to intervene too much - he values his men and their intelligence.



Other detectives and beat cops:

1. Detective John Jamison - one of the oldest guy on the force. A bit chubby and lazy, but understands the trade like few others.

2. Detective Nick Carson - mid-aged, chainsmoker, not the sharpest tool in the shed but he knows how to get the job done.

3. Lieutenant Jack Talbot - he leads the patrol division. He knows everyone in this town and is getting really well with the locals.

4. Mark Canseco - young blood, already slacking a bit at times, excellent company.

5. Kirk Denver - a bit of a show-off.





UPDATE

As Barstow is small, please disregard the Area Knowledge (Precinct) skill - it would make no sense.