Sector Ranger/Legends

"What others abandon, we protect."

- Sector Rangers motto The Sector Rangers, officially the Corps of Rangers and later also called the Imperial Sector Rangers, were a sector level law enforcement organization that existed virtually unchanged since the Galactic Republic.

Overview
The Sector Rangers were established during the days of the Galactic Republic as the Senate mandated the creation of a universal police agency, charged with apprehending criminals and keeping the peace, a concept duplicated in each sector of the Republic. While local law enforcement agencies were restricted by jurisdictional boundaries, the Sector Rangers were able to pursue criminals anywhere within a given sector or even beyond to bring them to trial.

Although also operating alone, Rangers usually traveled in pairs or groups of four for particularly dangerous assignments. Often, they were organized in teams composed of the crew of a Ranger ship, typically a small transport. As the Rangers often had to move quickly through space, they were also expected to be capable starfighter pilots.

At the time of the Galactic Civil War, a typical ship of the Ranger Corps was the Law-class light patrol craft, though the sections of the Bormea and Darpa sectors also used PB-950 patrol boats and Regulator X-Q2 System Patrol Cruisers. Around 137 ABY, armed transports of the Gladius-class were their preferred long range scout vehicle.

In addition to their own ships and droid complements, Sector Rangers had the right to commandeer local policemen or make use of Republic or Imperial vessels in the course of their duties, although most avoided doing so unless the situation at hand required such draconian fault-prone methods. Rangers were trained to be cautious and methodical in their gathering of evidence or employment of their powers, so as not to have criminals be released due to legal loopholes and mistrials. Furthermore, authority figures being a stickler for red tape or reacting indignantly were not unheard of.

In systems that were not affiliated with the current galactic government or held it in poor regard, the Corps' enforcement powers, including the suspension of local officials, were of no avail, so the Rangers had to rely on their skills in negotiation or intimidation alone to get the help they needed on worlds like Tatooine and Nar Shaddaa. However, because the Sector Rangers had a reputation for fairness and aloofness from petty politics, most citizens spoke with them more willingly than officers of other law enforcement agencies.

Special Enforcement Officers
Considering the highly unusual circumstances that most Sector Rangers found themselves in, they could be in the company of almost any type of contemporaries&mdash;mercenaries, slicers and even gamblers&mdash;each possessing some unique skill that proved helpful to the Sector Ranger in bringing criminals to justice. In this spirit, Rangers were empowered to deputize a select number of civilians to act as legal agents for the duration of an investigation. The Corps' Special Enforcement Officers often worked alongside Jedi, though most SEOs chafed at the use of the Force of the latter, or their refusal to get involved in certain types of cases.

Recruited from the best of the Sector Rangers, SEOs had wider arrest and detention powers, which allowed them to cross sector boundaries in pursuit of a wanted criminal without first requesting clearance from the bordering sector's Ranger branch (the normal procedure for members of the Corps).

Due to this high degree of autonomy and independence, it was not uncommon for SEOs to operate far from their nominal headquarters as their investigation led them across the known space.

Many SEOs went about their duties undercover, infiltrating the underworld to approach a delinquent. A comparatively famous example for this practice is Officer Narra Mesyne, who impersonated a swoop racer called Miraj and ended up winning many races over the course of her assignment. Many SEOs also specialized in anti-terrorist operations, hostage rescue and counter-espionage efforts. Because of their expanded jurisdiction, Special Enforcement Officers would sometimes lead teams of other Rangers dedicated to one or more of these particular types of crimes.

Sometimes the higher ranking SEOs rubbed the regular Rangers the wrong way when they used their position to take over an investigations or pull a Ranger off his case to assist the SEO's own. Nevertheless, most Special Enforcement Officers were held in regard and represented the ultimate goal for a Sector Ranger to eventually attain through years of service.

Because of adventure possibilities exemplified by cases like that of the aforementioned Officer Mesyne, many holodramas featured a SEO pursuing an adversary across the length and the breadth of the galaxy, perhaps driven by a personal involvement in the crime, or the fulfillment of some private passion.

The Sector Rangers also shared and maintained a database of known criminals and suspected agents of criminal groups.

History
Since their formation the Sector Rangers were concerned with law enforcement and peacekeeping matters and not military or political issues. In the days of the Galactic Republic, the Republic Office of Criminal Investigations was the Corps' governing body.

The Rangers tried to put an end to the trade of Zygerrian slavers, but they survived the best efforts, even those of the Jedi.

With the Jedi Order engaged in the fighting of the Clone Wars, policing and enforcing ration regulations had fallen to the Sector Rangers.

They remained largely unchanged during the Imperial era except in name, then referred to as the Imperial Sector Rangers. In this time, Sector Ranger Central Command was administered by the transformed Imperial Office of Criminal Investigations (IOCI), which was itself answerable to the Justice branch of the Coalition for Progress, part of COMPNOR.

At least two Imperial Sector Rangers, Dyyz Nataz and the Diollan Spurch Goa, became bounty hunters prior to the Battle of Yavin. They were relieved of duty because they had blown a palace asteroid of Jabba the Hutt into pieces, causing a scandal.

In 0 ABY an attempted larceny by Cecil Noone's robber band resulted in a messy shootout between their bulk freighter Borogove and a Sector Ranger patrol boat, stranding the thieves in the Kamar Badlands. The criminals made the repairs to their ship in time to end the awkward situation.

In the following year and at the behest of Moff Landric, the Imperial Office of Criminal Investigations (IOCI) assigned Inspector Zanza Gata to bring the art thief known only as the "Tombat" to justice. IOCI Director Jacen Corbit introduced the experienced Special Enforcement Officer to a packed room of reporters in a dramatic press conference on Danteel.

Before 2 ABY, a Ranger of the Yarith sector named Fenn Gilbrantes encountered the dreaded Mon Calamari pirate Salmakk on Hoth and survived the confrontation.

During the Galactic Civil War, Moff Irnst Stavveld instructed the Sector Ranger Central Command to detail an additional patrol to the Induparan Crown Worlds area, after Governor Mirash Peet had requested support in view of increasing Rebel Alliance privateer activities in the region, chiefly due to the exploits of Urias Xhaxin and the crew of the EF76 Nebulon-B escort frigate Free Lance.

On Stend VI, Special Enforcement Officer Narra Mesyne was hunting the Herglic criminal Kaylo NaKuda. Over the course of her assignment, she took an alias, participated in swoop races and rapidly gained fame at The Pits.

In 8 ABY, the Human assassin Brahle Logris tried to murder a Ranger on Gandalla. He was convicted and sent to prison after a unit of Sector Rangers tracked him down and arrested him at gunpoint.

In 10 ABY, a Sector Ranger captured Iquar from the Karazak Slavers Cooperative and extracted a confession revealing Seland' Ir as the mastermind behind the kidnapping of Janissa Locrin.

In the course of the Galactic Civil War, the Galactic Empire was torn apart to form the New Republic and the Imperial Remnant, and the Sector Rangers inevitably followed suit. Following the Liberation of Coruscant in 7 ABY, General Airen Cracken reorganized the Sector Rangers within the New Republic into the New Republic Security Force. In addition to enforcing common law, it was hoped that this new organization, consisting of many ex-Rangers, could end the activities of the Palpatine Counter-Insurgency Front.

During Darth Krayt's Galactic Empire, the leader of the One Sith made sure to put the Sector Rangers under direct Imperial control, much like over hundred years ago under Palpatine's rule. Members of the Corps acted with a jurisdiction rivaled only by the Sith Lords in charge of the Empire.

Appearances

 * Republic HoloNet News Core Edition 14:4:14
 * X-Wing: The Krytos Trap
 * Dark Empire
 * X-Wing: The Krytos Trap
 * Dark Empire
 * Dark Empire