Types of Police in Night City

The police department in Night City is broken up into a number of divisions and sections, based primarily on specialty. The majority of the force is comprised of beat and patrol officers, and just about every cop (with few exceptions) spends time on the street before going on to one of the more specialized sections.

Here's a list of the divisions in Night City. This is to give you an idea of what your character might aspire to, given enough time and experience on the force. Hopefully, this will provide you with some guidance in creating a character.

Note that it's perfectly acceptable to want to be a straight beat or patrol officer. Getting a slot in one of the other specialized divisions/sections (Vice, for example) takes skill, luck, and a certain amount of masochism.

Internal Affairs Division (IAD)
Internal Affairs are, to put it simply, the cops for the cops.

Nearly always despised by their fellow officers, IAD is charged with investigating violations and gross misconduct within the department. They often find grounds to investigate other officers based on the merest suspicion of corruption.

Investigation
Includes sections for Homicide, Vice, Robbery, and Special Investigation (SIn).

Homicide investigates murders and deaths. They're very busy, and often overworked.

Vice investigates controlled substances, including trafficking, possession, non-commercialized vice, prostitution, gambling, substance abuse laws, weapons laws, and extortion. A lot of Vice cops do undercover work.

Robbery investigates thefts, such as armed robbery, robbery, burglary, auto theft, grand larceny, fraud, counterfeiting, and embezzlement. This usually requires a lot of paperwork.

Special Investigation is a wild card unit. They investigate all manner of crimes, but traditionally are assigned to those with particularly special attention due to seriousness, publicity, politics, and/or corporate pressure. It's a section with a lot of prestige, some mystery, and a reputation to uphold.

Administration
Administration (or "Admin") is manned primarily by non-cops, such as secretaries and desk jockeys.

These guys handle administrative tasks, like payroll, benefits, etc. Mostly listed for posterity, since few cops actually aspire to work in Admin.

Tactical
Includes sections for Special Weapons And Tactics (SWAT), Maximum Tactical (MaxTac), and Riot.

SWAT is typically held on alert in preparation for high risk situations, such as sieges, dealing with dangerous suspects, providing security, and sealing off critical locations.

MaxTac (also called C-SWAT or Cyborg Suppression) takes SWAT to a higher level, and specializes in taking down suspects who are particularly well-augmented cybernetically, and who are often mentally unstable as a result.

Riot is another tactical section responsible for dispersing large numbers of people, mostly using non-lethal methods (though this is not always the case).

Net Security (NetSec)
Net Security focuses on computer crime.

Given the prevalence of 'net crime, these guys are very busy, and many of the best netrunners on the force serve in NetSec. Not only do they investigate hacking and Net-related B&E and theft, but they also investigate murders related to computer crime, and act as computer support for other sections.

Patrol
Includes sections for Airborne, Cruiser, Traffic, and Beat.

Airborne cops fly helicopters and aerodynes, patrolling from the sky and assisting other sections as required.

Cruiser patrols drive the "black and whites" and respond to issues that crop up throughout the city.

Traffic patrols enforce traffic violations and hand out tickets related to those sorts of violations.

Beat cops are like cruiser patrol, but they do their job on foot (and are generally derided by just about everyone else).