SimCity 234: Large Police Station

Before you get all huffy, a precinct and a station are the exact same thing. Don't believe me? Google it. In the meantime, I refuse to contribute to the insanity over at Maxis. If "large fire station" was acceptable, I don't see why "large police station" wasn't as well.

Anyway, the large police station is the most compact and vastly upgradable building in SimCity. It has a staggering number of modules yet takes up less space when fully upgraded than most of the other equally-expanded ploppables in the game.

Modules: Sign

Don't worry: convicts know where they are. Besides, when was the last time you saw a police "precinct" with enough cash to buy a three-story monolith to hang outside their building?

Modules: Dispatch Tower

Gets your cops out faster. It improves the overall response time of your police force.

Modules: Patrol Car Lot

Adds patrol cars the same way as in smaller police stations, but it adds more patrol cars with each plop. The result is that you get more cops on the road faster, but you also increase your monthly police expenses faster.

4 modules for a total of 28 patrol cars

Modules: Jail Cells

Same as in smaller police stations -- they even stack the same way.

4 modules

Modules: Crime Prevention Centers

Work on educating your Sims, making them less vulnerable to crimes.

4 modules, shared with detective wing

Modules: Detectives Wing

Search houses and work on getting particularly wily criminals like murders and arsonists.

4 modules, shared with crime prevention centers

Modules: Helipads

Airborne crime fighting: you can't beat it. These sky cops drop in on your the criminal underbelly unexpectedly with handcuffs gleaming in the searchlights.

4 available

Layout

You can actually pack this one in quite tightly to save space. They take up almost the same amount of space as a small police station. The photo above is the same as the one at the head of this article, except it's from another angle to show the other modules that I stacked in the rear.

SimCity 232: Police Station

Police stations are the first line of defense for a new city against it's growing population and the criminals it births. At first when you build your city, everyone is oddly sociable and well adjusted. However, as the city grows, if you fail to provide any police protection, your city will descend into anarchy and some Lord of the Flies stuff that, frankly, I don't even want to think about.

The police station (shown above with all of the modules added) is the first and least expensive of the crime fighting ploppables, but it also has a limited range and effectiveness. Without additional buildings and upgrades, the two cops who come with it will become quickly overwhelmed by the crime families and gangs that naturally incubate inside a city.

Module: Jail

It's simple: when a cop finds a criminal, where's he going to put him? He can't just ride around the countryside with dozens of con men smashed into the back of his patrol car. That would be cruel and unusual. Building jails to house your criminals will allow you to slowly reduce the overall crime rate of the area around your station.

You can have up to four jail modules per station. One of them can get plopped on top of the station proper, however I think that looks goofy. It's better to lay the first two jail modules side by side and then plop the second two on top of the first two. It takes up a little more space, but I think it's worth it.

Module: More Cop Cars

Adding more and more cop cars is very important. Each pair of cop cars you add to your fleet will reduce crime exponentially. I highly recommend maxing out your bruiser cruisers whenever you can.

Module: Sign

It's a sign. It says "Cops" just in case there are English-speaking tourists in the area who need help or directions.

Module: Flag Pole

It's a flag pole. I adds that little bit of something that you'll only notice while you're plopping it down because the thing is so freakin' thin that a thousand times you pass by the police station you'll never see it.

SimCity 148: Fire and Crime

Police and fire coverage is actually not required at the start of your city. You are reliably blessed with an influx of introductory citizens that maintain both a delightful disposition and an uncanny understanding of the dangers of unlit pilot lights.

However, in short order -- as your city continues to bloom -- you will need to address the issues of crime and flammability. First will be fire; after, crime.

The Fire Department

Here's what the game has to say when you roll over the information button on the fire department HUD.

• All buildings have a chance to catch on fire
• Buildings on terrain with lots of water have a lower fire risk
• Buildings housing educated Sims have a lower fire risk
• Overflowing garbage and abandoned buildings are a fire risk
• Neighbor cities can provide coverage free of charge
• Add fire trucks to put out more fires
• Only hazmat trucks from the fire headquarters can put out hazmat fires
• Industrial zones have a higher fire risk
• Fires can spread to adjacent buildings
• The fire marshal lowers the chance of fires
• Some criminals start fires
• Fire helicopters avoid traffic to on the way to put out a fire

Managing Risk

Of all of the ploppables that you have at your disposal, the fire stations are the most important to place in key areas. You want five fire stations -- four for the corners and one dead center. They should be serviced by medium sized roads and/or boulevards so that they don't have to contend with traffic jams. Also, you want to make sure that your fire stations are as modulated as possible -- especially the fire bell -- to maximize their response time to fires.

Hazardous Materials (HAZMAT)

Chemical fires are particularly devastating and difficult to put out. As a result, you require a special task force of firefighters to handle these delicate situations.

Garbage, Abandonment, and Rubble

If you fail to handle your garbage properly or clean up your city by bulldozing rubble and abandoned buildings, you risk the possibility that some fire bug will come along and torch the place just for kicks. Keep your eyes out for these unsightly scars on your grid and do something about them before they become a true nuisance.

The Police Department

Here's what the game has to say when you roll over the information button on the police department HUD.

• Police stations and patrol cars prevent crimes and arrest criminals
• Criminals start as uneducated kids
• If criminals are successful, they commit worse crimes
• Police take criminals to holding cells
• Once criminals serve their time they are rehabilitated and released
• If holding cells are full, criminals are released early
• Criminals can travel from neighboring cities that have high crime
• The Detective Wing allows police to arrest criminals in their homes
• Criminals are attracted to commercial areas
• Police helicopters can track and arrest criminals even in their homes

Criminality

A good education system is the best way to handle crime in your city. Prevention is always better than reaction. However, if you're not in the mood to become a university town, you'll need a quality police force. Make sure you add a few jails to your stations in order to prevent recidivism and you can pretty much relax...

Neighbors with Problems

...until, that is, one of your neighbors stops paying attention and inadvertently exports criminals to your town via the main highway. Criminals in other towns -- once the crime rate reaches an extraordinary high level -- will begin to infect other cities in the area. Thus, you must work together with other mayors -- especially if you are the other mayor -- to make sure that their problems don't become your problems.