In my opinion here's how I'd like to see Public Safety tackled in Sim City!
To start, each city would have a theoretical safety rating of 100, as time passes, occasionally crimes will occur just as occasionally fires would break out, and if you have proper police coverage, the police will apprehend your criminal sims and restore your city's safety rating back to 100. Failure for police to catch a criminal will keep your city safety rating lower.
Theoretically, the way this would work, is that based on probabilities the city will randomly spawn a crime somewhere in your city. Calls to 911 will direct Police agents to the scene and their priority will be to apprehend the Suspect sim. The Suspect agent will be tasked with making it to the farthest border of the city (so that your police will have an opportunity to stop them), disregarding traffic signals and other sims. (this may result in the suspect's car being disabled, and the chase turning into a foot pursuit.) The police meanwhile, will be faster, but will have to worry about causing any harm to sims in the crossfire, and thus, may be slowed down. If a suspect sim escapes capture, and leaves the city, they become "AT LARGE" and will commit crimes in other cities in the region. Which ever city captures the Suspect sim, will be granted the safety points the suspect sim stole from other cities, along with bragging rights for their superior policing ability.
I think, not only would this add a new element to multiplayer, (having a theoretical "Sim City's Most Wanted" section where you can see all AT LARGE sims in the region and their respective bounties.) But the fun of watching your police sims run down a fugitive sim through the back lots of a residential neighborhood would be a very cool experience.
What do you folks think?
-Sim City Chief of Police
Ace Adams
here's a shoddy version of what a "most wanted" thing would look like...
