Spruce Point Constabulary
Whilst the Pine Pillow-House stands on the north side of Woodsman's Square, the building almost directly opposite it on the south side is a stark opposite. Drab, but standing out for a few reasons. A structure of stone and iron, one of very few structures in the frontier village besides the River Station across Pyr's Run, that is not built primarily of timber. Stone blockwork, the building almost fortified, complete with being surrounded by an exterior wall, some twelve feet in height, and a solid iron gate the only point of access.
Yet the gate remains open, generally with an officer greeting all whom come through. Inside the building one sees is simple, functional, with two floors. There is also a basement, the jail and its ten holding cells seeing modest use. The western protrusion of the building has its own separate entrance, and is the public facing office of the Constabulary, and includes the courtroom, which sees use about once a month, for only a few days. Spruce Point is not big enough to have a full court and justice constantly at work here, and thus for those more serious offenses, or the occasional moderate sized contract or civil dispute, such cases must wait to be heard until one of the Justices makes the roundings from Needle-Grove or Fort Spearhead. However such cases are infrequent, as one might expect in a smaller settlement like this.
No most cases are handled by the town council, acting within permissible limits to handle smaller scale disputes and misdemeanors. Drunk and Disorderly conduct being one of the most common, as one might imagine. Fines and various non imprisonment based punishments being the most common forms of discipline for these. Beyond this, the main part of the Constabulary is what you would expect on the interior. Offices, rooms for storing evidence, paperwork, etc, a locked armory, and of course on the main floor, a dog kennel. The Spruce Point Police department employ and care for three Santhuli Wulfhunds, large breed dogs known to excel at tracking, running and with powerful physique.
The cells within the basement are simple enough, solid iron bars, rough hewn walls within the bedrock, a small barred window to allow a little light through. They are not spacious, and the floor is loose soil and stone. Whilst generally mostly empty, it is not uncommon for one or two cells to end up occupied overnight by drunkards whom got themselves in a bit of trouble, either at the Pillow-House or at the other drinking house in town, the Charcoal Horn.
Yet the gate remains open, generally with an officer greeting all whom come through. Inside the building one sees is simple, functional, with two floors. There is also a basement, the jail and its ten holding cells seeing modest use. The western protrusion of the building has its own separate entrance, and is the public facing office of the Constabulary, and includes the courtroom, which sees use about once a month, for only a few days. Spruce Point is not big enough to have a full court and justice constantly at work here, and thus for those more serious offenses, or the occasional moderate sized contract or civil dispute, such cases must wait to be heard until one of the Justices makes the roundings from Needle-Grove or Fort Spearhead. However such cases are infrequent, as one might expect in a smaller settlement like this.
No most cases are handled by the town council, acting within permissible limits to handle smaller scale disputes and misdemeanors. Drunk and Disorderly conduct being one of the most common, as one might imagine. Fines and various non imprisonment based punishments being the most common forms of discipline for these. Beyond this, the main part of the Constabulary is what you would expect on the interior. Offices, rooms for storing evidence, paperwork, etc, a locked armory, and of course on the main floor, a dog kennel. The Spruce Point Police department employ and care for three Santhuli Wulfhunds, large breed dogs known to excel at tracking, running and with powerful physique.
The cells within the basement are simple enough, solid iron bars, rough hewn walls within the bedrock, a small barred window to allow a little light through. They are not spacious, and the floor is loose soil and stone. Whilst generally mostly empty, it is not uncommon for one or two cells to end up occupied overnight by drunkards whom got themselves in a bit of trouble, either at the Pillow-House or at the other drinking house in town, the Charcoal Horn.
Law Enforcement
This modernized concept, only a few decades old, has swept the world and become common place. The idea of separating law enforcement from active military personal, and was a founding principle for Spruce Point. A total of twenty-five people are employed full time by the Constabulary, of those fifteen are law enforcement personal. The rest are two night cleaners, administrative staff, and two kennelmasters to care for the precincts three police dogs. Sheriff Ivar Nardirsson runs the constabulary and the entire precinct, as well, by virture of the laws in place for small communities within Suranth, as being in charge of the Militia armory, training and scheduling jointly with Captain Sara Veroma. The precinct does include a modest, but reasonably sized training field and shooting range behind it for just such exercises. A fairly substantial portion of the small town's adults are members of the militia, spending one day a week training and drilling here under the watch and guidance of Sheriff Nardirsson, or one of his two deputies, as well as, on rare occasions, under the watchful eyes of Captain Veroma or another member of the River Watch she sends in her place.
Jail
The jail within the Constabulary is s simple, but effective affair. Packed dirt floors, hardened iron bars and frameing, with deadbolt and pin lock cell doors. There are ten cells, each about five feet by seven feet, often with naught but a blanket and a bucket in them, the bucket without any metal handles or the like of course. Though in the basement of the structure, there are small windows, barred, in each cell, carefully positioned to allow a little daylight in, though this also means the chill of the tundra winters, and the snow, also regularly get in, and some mild flooding in the thaw is not uncommon. These cells, whilst reasonably simple and effective, are not proper prison standard of course, as Spruce Point is simply too small a town to have a proper prison facility. They are mostly meant for holding overnight for for short stays until proper transference, transportation, or until a Justice passes through town able to hear the case and make a ruling. Most nights it is not uncommon for one or two of the woodsman to end here for a bar-fight or other drunken misconduct, usually with a mild fine, a few bruises from their initial arrest, and being released the next morning with a terrible hangover, only to go right back to work.
Civil Service
As noted, this is also the headquarters, such as would exist, for the Spruce Point Militia. The weapons and armor that would be doled out, though not any sort of standard issue gear, and mostly odds and ends collected from bandits, donated by widows, or by other citizens, there is a smattering of various arms here. They are kept in reasonable working condition, though by no means up to military standards. Mostly it's simple shields, bows, a few firearms, a plethora of axes and hatchets, and bits of hide, leathers, and other fabric armors. Many of these would only see use to arm and armor but a few people in town in dire situations, as most people have at least a blade or other sidearm and some sort of thick woolen or other fabric clothing that is more or less the same as the simple armors available, however this allows people to drill and train without spending their own coin and risking damage to their own property, a useful thing to convince people to participate.
Nice place. I would definitely feel safer with a building like that around. I love that they have dogs!
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