DED
The Directive Enforcement Department (DED) is one of the largest and most powerful branches of CONCORD.
Core operations
The DED is the police force and paramilitary wing of CONCORD and is by far the strongest armed force in the world of New Eden that doesn’t pledge fealty to any one empire. The main responsibility of the DED is to track high-profile criminals and attack criminal facilities. Among the other responsibilities of the DED is aiding customs officials in patrolling areas where smuggling is rife.
Additional operations
In addition, the DED takes care of all kinds of security issues regarding meetings and conferences between the empires, they lend ships for operations by the other branches of the CONCORD, and they often support local law enforcement in dealing with large-scale criminal activity or similar matters. DED ships are equipped with the latest surveillance technology and are considered a great support for customs patrols. The DED’s jurisdiction is limited to space but in recent years they have been authorized to operate in stations and on planets.
Sovereignty
They frequently operate outside empire space, wanting criminals to understand that they are nowhere safe from the long arm of the law. However, the power of DED, and in fact the whole of CONCORD, differs widely between the various empires, or even between different regions of any one empire, as local governments or magnates often oppose strong DED presence for one reason or another. The DED has yet to gain any significant foothold in the outer regions.
Bounty hunter operation
Bounty hunters, or ‘independent contractors’ as the DED euphemistically refers to them, are often used by the paramilitary arm of CONCORD when it is tracking and pursuing criminals. The DED also handles the licensing of bounty hunters for the empires, although some empires have been known to bypass the DED in special circumstances. Additionally, since the rise of the independent capsuleers, empire corporations routinely make use of them for so-called ‘kill missions.’
