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Detective

Detective

:To see the article about the Nintendo game, see Gumshoe (video game). A detective is
- an officer of the police who performs criminal or administrative investigations,
- in some police departments, the lowest rank among such investigators (above the lowest rank of officers and below sergeants). Some departments have distinct levels of detectives, depending on their experiences and skills. New York City and Los Angeles both have three grades. A number of larger police departments have rank structures for their investigators that parallel the "street" police, such as Detective Sergeants and Detective Lieutenants,
- a civilian licensed to investigate information not readily available in public records (a private investigator, also called "P.I." or, in a pun on "private i.", private eye), or
- informally and primarily in fiction, any unlicensed person who solves crimes, including historical crimes, or looks into records.

Detectives and their work

Becoming a detective

In most American police departments, a candidate for detective must have served as a uniformed officer for a period of one to five years before becoming qualified for the position. Prospective British police detectives must have completed two years as a uniformed officer before applying to join the Criminal Investigation Department. In European police systems, most detectives are university graduates who join directly from civilian life without first serving as uniformed officers. In fact, many European police experts cannot understand why British, American and Commonwealth police forces insist on recruiting their detectives from the ranks of uniformed officers, arguing that they do a completely different job and therefore require completely different training, qualifications, qualities and abilities. The opposing argument is that without previous service as a uniformed patrol officer a detective cannot have a great enough command of standard police procedures and problems and will find it difficult to work with uniformed colleagues. Detectives obtain their position by competitive examination, covering such subjects as:
- Principles, practices and procedures of investigations
- Principles, practices and procedures of interviewing and interrogation
- Local criminal law and procedures
- Applicable law governing arrests, search and seizures, warrants and evidence
- Police department records and reports
- Principles, practices and objectives of courtroom testimony
- Police department methods and procedures Private detectives are licensed by the state in which they live after passing a competitive examination and a criminal background check. Some states, such as Maryland, require a period of classroom training as well.

Organization of detectives

The detective branch in most larger police agencies is organized into several squads or departments, each of which specializes in investigation into a particular type of crime or a particular type of undercover operation, which may include:
- Homicide
- Robbery
- Stolen vehicles
- Fraud
- Burglary
- Narcotics
- Forgery
- Criminal intelligence
- Sex crimes
- Street crime (mugging etc.)
- Computer crime
- Crimes against children
- Surveillance
- Arson

Techniques of detectives

Street work

Detectives have a wide variety of techniques available in conducting investigations. However, the majority of cases are solved by interrogation of suspects and witnesses, which takes time. In a policeman's career as a uniformed officer and as a detective, a detective develops an intuitive sense of the plausibility of suspect and witness accounts. This intuition may fail at times, but usually is reliable. Besides interrogations, detectives may rely on a network of informants they have cultivated over the years. Informants often have connections with persons a detective would not be able to approach formally. In criminal investigations, once a detective has a suspect or suspects in mind, the next step is to produce evidence that will stand up in a court of law. The best way is to obtain a confession from the suspect, usually in exchange for a plea bargain for a lesser sentence. A detective may lie or otherwise mislead and may psychologically pressure a suspect into confessing, though in the United States suspects may invoke their Miranda rights.

Forensic evidence

Physical forensic evidence in an investigation may provide leads to closing a case. Examples of physical evidence can be, but are not limited to:
- Fingerprinting of objects persons have touched
- DNA analysis
- Luminol to detect blood stains that have been washed
- Bloodstain pattern analysis
- Footprints or tire tracks
- Chemical testing for the presence of narcotics or expended gun propellant
- The exact position of objects at the scene of an investigation Many major police departments in a city, county, or state, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, maintain their own forensic laboratories.

Records investigation

Detectives may use public and private records to provide background information on a subject. These include:
- Fingerprint records. In the United States, the FBI maintains records of people who have committed felonies and some misdemeanors, all persons who have applied for a Federal security clearance, and all persons who have served in the U.S. armed forces
- Records of criminal arrests and convictions
- Photographs or mug shots, of persons arrested
- Motor vehicle records
- Credit card records and bank statements
- Hotel registration cards
- Credit reports
- Answer machine messages

Court testimony

Unless a plea bargain forestalls the need for a trial, detectives must testify in court about their investigation. They must seem reliable and credible to a jury, and must not give the impression of personal vindictiveness or cruelty. A detective's background often comes into question in courtroom testimony. A famous example came in the murder trial of O. J. Simpson, when Detective Mark Fuhrman of the Los Angeles Police Department testified for the prosecution. Attorney F. Lee Bailey first asked Fuhrman if he had ever used the "n-word" (see Nigger). Fuhrman denied this. In court, Bailey produced taped interviews with Fuhrman using this offensive word.

Famous detectives

The detective story has been a popular genre in books, radio, television, and movies since the early 19th century. In many police drama series, detectives are depicted as being something of an elite, with most uniformed police officers deferring to them. Famous fictional detectives include:

Police detectives

- Detective Andy Sipowicz, played by Dennis Franz in the television series NYPD Blue
- Lennie Briscoe, played by Jerry Orbach in the television series Law & Order
- Sergeant Joe Friday, portrayed by Jack Webb and later by Ed O'Neill in the television series Dragnet
- Lieutenant Columbo, played by Peter Falk in the television series Columbo (and also some television movies)
- Detective Chief Inspector Jane Tennison, played by Helen Mirren in Prime Suspect.
- Detective Chief Inspector Morse, in the novels of Colin Dexter and played by John Thaw in Inspector Morse.
- Detective Inspector Jack Regan, also played by John Thaw, and Detective Sergeant George Carter, played by Dennis Waterman, in the television series The Sweeney.
- Thompson and Thomson, from the comic Tintin, created by Hergé

Private detectives

- Adrian Monk, played by Tony Shalhoub
- Auguste Dupin, created by Edgar Allan Poe
- Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple, both created by Agatha Christie
- Jim Rockford, created by Roy Huggins and Stephen J. Cannell, and portrayed by James Garner in the television series The Rockford Files
- Thomas Sullivan Magnum, played by Tom Selleck in the television series Magnum P.I.
- Philip Marlowe, created by Raymond Chandler
- Sam Spade, created by Dashiell Hammett and portrayed on film by Humphrey Bogart
- Sherlock Holmes, created by Arthur Conan Doyle See Detective fiction and Crime fiction for more details.

External links

- [http://www.my-private-investigator.com/ Online Detective Tools]
- [http://www.detectivechoice.com Online Investigation Tools]
- [http://www.diydetective.com/ Do it yourself detective] Category:Law enforcement Category:Law enforcement workers
- Detective Category:Police officers ja:探偵

Nintendo

Nintendo (Japanese: 任天堂; , ) is a Japanese company originally founded on November 6,1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi to produce handmade hanafuda cards, for use in a Japanese playing card game of the same name. In the mid-twentieth century, the company tried several small niche businesses, such as a love hotel and a taxi company. Over the years, it became a video game company, growing into one of the most powerful in the industry. Aside from video games, Nintendo is also the majority owner of the Seattle Mariners, a Major League Baseball team. Nintendo has also purchased majority ownership of Gyration, a company specializing in gyros and motion sensors, for assistance in designing the controller of the Nintendo Revolution. Nintendo has the reputation of historically being the longest running company in the video game console market and the most influential and well-known console manufacturer, as well as being the dominant leader of the handheld console market. They began in the Japanese market in 1983, the North American market in 1985, and the European market in 1986. Over time Nintendo has manufactured five TV consoles — the Famicom/NES, the Super Famicom/Super NES, the Nintendo 64, and the present GameCube and the upcoming Nintendo Revolution — and many different handheld portables, including seven versions of their popular Game Boy, the Game & Watch, the Virtual Boy, the Pokémon Mini, and the Nintendo DS. They have also published over 250 games, developing at least 180 of them, and have sold over 2 billion games worldwide.

Handheld consoles

Game Boy

Main articles/the Nintendo handheld console lineage:
- Game Boy
- Game Boy Pocket
- Game Boy Light
- Game Boy Color
- Game Boy Advance
- Game Boy Advance SP
- Game Boy Micro

Game Boy Micro

Introduced in 1989, and continuing strong today, were Nintendo's portable Game Boy systems. With several redesigns and improvements, including Pocket, Light, Color, Advance, Advance SP, and Micro versions, the Game Boy is the single most successful, and oldest portable video game platform still in production. Game Boy Evolution refers to the as-yet-unannounced successor to the Game Boy Advance. The Game Boy has been known for putting over a dozen other portable systems out of business (including Nintendo's other attempts such as the Virtual Boy). Due to low battery consumption, durability, and a library of over a thousand games, the Game Boy has been on the top of the portable console food chain since its inception and made Nintendo the domineer of the handheld console market. Slowing sales of the Game Boy were remedied by the introduction of the Pokémon game, which started a phenomenon of top selling video games, movies, merchandise, and TV shows. The Pokémon phenomena helped and continue to help rocket Game Boy sales all around the world.

Nintendo DS

Main article: Nintendo DS Nintendo DS Nintendo released their Nintendo DS (Dual Screen or Developer's System) handheld game console first in the United States on November 21 2004, then in Japan on December 2 2004 and later on March 11 2005 in Europe. In the U.S., shipments of the DS reached 500,000 within the first week, and in Japan, the figures were even more impressive, reaching the same figure within four days of its launch. It has also proven to be the fastest-selling console in European history, having sold over 1 million units in six months (250,000 of those units in Great Britain alone). The Nintendo DS features two backlit LCD screens, the bottom of which is touch sensitive, which can create a unique style of gameplay (see Kirby: Canvas Curse or WarioWare: Touched!). It also features a built in microphone and the ability to connect up to 16 Nintendo DS systems together wirelessly for "PictoChat", a chatroom system built into the DS, up to 8 players wirelessly for multiplayer gaming and can hook up 4 players via Wi-Fi for multiplayer gaming that stretches across the world. It can also play software designed originally for the Game Boy Advance, but without multiplayer abilities, as the Nintendo DS lacks a wired extension port. Nintendo has officially stated that the DS in the name can stand for two different things; Developer's System to their developers, or Dual Screen to their consumers. The most popular usage is Dual Screen. At the Game Developers Conference, Nintendo announced that they would be launching an online service for the Nintendo DS called Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, allowing multiplayer gaming over the Internet. The online service is very different from that of its competitors' because it is free to consumers who already have an internet connection at home or know of a Wi-Fi hotspot. As of October 18th, 2005, Nintendo has partnered up with Wayport to bring free Wi-Fi access to Nintendo DS owners. As of November 14th in America, November 25th in Great Britain and on December 28th in Dublin, the launch of their Nintendo DS Internet gaming service, over 6,000 McDonald's Restaurants nationwide will become free Wi-Fi hot-spots. Nintendo UK also announced plans for over 7500 British Wi-Fi hotspots, including McDonald's restaurants, football stadiums, hotels, motorway service stations, railway stations, student unions, airports, and libraries.

Other hardware

- Game & Watch
- Super Game Boy – Adapter for playing Game Boy games on the Super NES.
- Virtual Boy – The Virtual Boy used a red monochrome 3D virtual reality like system. Fewer than two dozen games were released for it in the United States.
- Nintendo 64DD – Only released in Japan, this add-on system's games are on re-writeable magnetic disks. Games released include a paint and 3D construction package, F-Zero X Expansion Kit, for creating new F-Zero X tracks and a few others. A complete commercial failure, many speculated that Nintendo released it only to save face after promoting it pre-emptively for years.
- Pokémon Mini – Unveiled in London at Christmas 2000, the Pokémon mini was Nintendo's cheapest console ever produced; with games costing £10 ($15) each, and the system costing £30 ($45). This remains the smallest games console ever made. Sales of this system were rather poor, but it is not a flop because Nintendo did make a profit on every game and system sold.
- Triforce – An arcade system based on Nintendo GameCube hardware, developed in partnership with Sega and Namco.
- Game Boy Player – An adapter for playing Game Boy games on the GameCube.
- iQue Player – A version of the Nintendo 64, with double the clock speed and downloadable games, released only in the Chinese market.

Policies

Emulation

Nintendo is known for a "no tolerance" stance against emulation of its video games and consoles. It claims that mask work copyright protects its games from the exceptions that United States copyright law otherwise provides for backup copies. Nintendo uses the claim that emulators running on personal computers have no use other than to play pirated video games, contested by some who say these emulators have been used to develop and test independently produced "homebrew" software on Nintendo's platforms, and that Nintendo's efforts fudge the truth about copyright laws, mainly that ROM copiers are illegal [they really are legal if used to dump un-DRM'd roms on to your computer for personal use], and that emulators are illegal [If they do not use copyrighted BIOS, or use other methods to run the game, they are legal]. The revival of the NES and SNES through emulation has gradually settled down, and NES and SNES ROMs are actually getting easier to find. A common justification pirates try to make is that they believe [the pirated games] will never see the light of day again and because the titles are no longer on sale, no damage is done to the company. However, Nintendo's opposition remains, due largely to its tendency to re-release old games within new ones, as with Animal Crossing, Metroid Prime, and The Legend of Zelda Collector's Edition, as well as with the re-release of many older games for the Game Boy Advance Classic NES Series. The enhanced remake idea sometimes, but not always, curbs the need for emulation of NES quality games on the Nintendo GameCube. Recently Nintendo has announced that their upcoming Nintendo Revolution console will be backwards compatible, allowing users to play GameCube games by inserting the game discs. The system will also allow for the downloading of NES, SNES and N64 games onto the console over the Internet, with them being playable on the console which may actually be achieved through emulation. With this new feature, coined the "virtual console" by the company's president, Nintendo may be able to reduce the illegal ROM downloading and open up a new revenue stream, although success is still unknown.

Censorship

For many years, Nintendo of America had a policy of strict censorship for video games published on its systems. In 1994, when the ESRB video game ratings system was introduced, Nintendo chose to abolish most of these policies in favor of gamers making their own choices about the content of the games they played. When this policy was still in effect, religious symbols, appearance of excessive blood or gore, nudity, sexuality, or smoking was all removed from licensed games. This zero tolerance policy was praised and championed by U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman, but others criticized the policy, claiming that gamers should be allowed to choose the content they want to see. Today, changes to the content of games are done primarily by the game's developer. Nintendo has since allowed several mature-content games to be published on its systems, including (but not limited to): Perfect Dark, Duke Nukem 3D (as Duke Nukem 64) Conker's Bad Fur Day, BMX XXX, Resident Evil 4, True Crime: Streets of L.A., and Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem, and Geist, all prime examples of Nintendo lessening their practices. These games are all rated "M" (for mature), as are their counterparts for Sony's and Microsoft's systems. Interestingly enough, the Playstation 2 version of BMX XXX had censored breasts in it, while Nintendo left it alone. One known side effect of this policy was the Sega Genesis version of Mortal Kombat selling over double the number of the Nintendo's Super NES version, mainly due to the fact that Nintendo had forced Acclaim to recolor the red blood to look like white sweat and replace some of the more gory attacks in their release of the game, unlike Sega, which allowed the selling points of blood and gore to remain in the Genesis version. (Nintendo allowed the Super NES version Mortal Kombat II to ship uncensored the following year.) Also, Square executives have suggested that the price of publishing games on the Nintendo 64 along with the degree of censorship and control Nintendo enforced over their games -- most notably Final Fantasy VI -- were factors in moving their games to Sony's PlayStation console. Although Nintendo had begun lessening their censorship of console games with the 1994 introduction of the ESRB, portable games continued to be censored for some time. For example, Konami was forced to remove all references to cigarettes in the 2000 Game Boy Color game Metal Gear Solid. Another example is the Game Boy version of Mortal Kombat II, which contains no blood whatsoever and has extremely toned down fatalities (though it is unknown if this was at Nintendo's demand). However, Mature-rated Game Boy Advance games such as 2003's Max Payne and 2004's Grand Theft Auto Advance suggest that Nintendo is no longer interested in censoring the games that appear on its systems, console or portable. Nintendo's censorship policies have created a view of Nintendo as a "kiddy company", which was taken advantage of by their competitors. In recent years, Nintendo has done much to shed this reputation and has begun to create more mature games such as Geist. The original Super Smash Brothers on the Nintendo 64 was rated E by the ESRB, while its GameCube sequel, Super Smash Bros. Melee was rated T. The Metroid Prime games and the new Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess have been notably more adult oriented.

Public relations

For years and to today, Nintendo has been regarded as a secretive company by the press. Rarely does Nintendo confirm or deny rumors. Nintendo is known as one of the top companies for customer service, however. In this vein, Nintendo is known as the rulers of unveiling things at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles every year. The Nintendo DS was first revealed here, and many online sources rely on E3 to come around for Nintendo to launch news about new systems. However, at this year's Expo, Nintendo released very few technical details about their upcoming console, the Nintendo Revolution. The Nintendo Revolution controller, which had been shrouded in secrecy, was revealed on September 16, 2005 at the Tokyo Game Show (TGS). Nintendo of America uses an outside firm, Golin Harris, to handle much of its public relations. Beth Llewelyn is the in-house senior director of public relations at Nintendo of America. Tom Harlin is Nintendo of America's manager of public relations. Nintendo of Europe also uses an outside firm, Cake Media, to handle much of its public relations.

Community

From 1995 to 1997, Nintendo's American community was hosted by AOL and called the Loudhouse. In 1997, the company paid for a very small BBS and Message Center hosted on their own servers. Starting in 2001, the online community was effectively shut down until around 2002, at which point NSider chat was reopened to subscribers of Nintendo Power. In April of 2003, Nintendo bought a Lithium Technologies license and moved the community to the Hyrule Town Square on Lithium servers. In November 2003, the full Nintendo NSider Forums opened. Still hosted by Lithium, this update came with a new look, new ranks, and integration with My Nintendo.

People

See also Nintendo people
- Fusajiro Yamauchi — Founder of Nintendo in 1889.
- Minoru Arakawa — Founder and former president of Nintendo of America.
- Hiroshi Yamauchi — Former president of Nintendo (1949-2002).
- Satoru Iwata — Current president of Nintendo.
- Shigeru Miyamoto — Nintendo's chief designer and video game producer. Largely known for creating many of Nintendo's most popular games including Mario, Donkey Kong, Pikmin, and the Legend of Zelda. In 1998 Miyamoto became the first person to be inducted into the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences' Hall of Fame.
- Gunpei Yokoi — Best-known as the creator of the Game Boy and the Metroid series. Now deceased.
- Satoshi Tajiri — Creator of the Pokémon series.
- Koji Kondo — Composer of music tracks in many Nintendo games.
- Yuka Tsujiyoko — Composer of music tracks in many Intelligent Systems games, most notably Paper Mario and the Fire Emblem series.
- Howard Philips — Creator of Nintendo Power magazine.
- Tatsumi Kimishima — Current president of Nintendo of America.
- Perrin Kaplan — Nintendo of America's Vice President of Marketing and Corporate Affairs
- Reggie Fils-Aime — Nintendo of America's current Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing
- Howard Lincoln — Now retired, a former Nintendo of America Senior Vice President.
- George Harrison — Senior Vice President of marketing and corporate communications.
Notable software and franchises
Related article: Franchises established on Nintendo systems
- Animal Crossing
- Balloon Fight
- Custom Robo (Confined to Japan until 2004)
- Donkey Kong (Nintendo EAD Tokyo) - Dates back to its original line of arcade games. Introduced Mario, then known as "Jumpman".
- EarthBound (called "Mother" in Japan)
- Excitebike
- Fire Emblem (Intelligent Systems) (Confined to Japan until 2003)
- F-Zero (Nintendo EAD)
- Game & Watch - Nintendo's oldest franchise
- Golden Sun (Camelot) - Developed by a third party
- Kid Icarus (Intelligent Systems)
- Kirby (HAL Laboratory, Inc.)
- The Legend of Zelda (Nintendo EAD) - One of the company's most popular franchises and widely considered to be among the best franchises ever. It has won numerous awards including several "Greatest Game of all Time" awards.
- Mach Rider
- Mario (Nintendo EAD) - Nintendo's flagship franchise and main influence in the platform genre.
- Mario Kart
- Metroid (Intelligent Systems / Retro Studios) - One of the company's most popular franchises
- Nintendogs - Puppy simulator franchise with several cameos of other Nintendo Franchises
- Nintendo Wars (Intelligent Systems) (Confined to Japan until 2001; Advance Wars was not released in Japan due to 9/11 until Game Boy Wars Advance 1+2 was released there on November 25th, 2004)
- Pikmin
- Punch-Out!!
- Pokémon (Game Freak) - Arguably the most influential (certainly the most lucrative) of Nintendo's recent franchises
- Star Fox (Nintendo EAD)
- Super Smash Bros. (HAL Laboratory, Inc.) - A relatively new, critically lauded series of Nintendo's past successes
- Tetris Attack (Intelligent Systems)
- Wario
Divisions

First-party

- Nintendo EAD Tokyo — Youngest group inside Nintendo; responsible for Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat.
- Nintendo Entertainment Analysis and Development (Originally "Nintendo Research & Development 4") — Largest division at Nintendo. Managed by Shigeru Miyamoto. Responsible for Mario, Zelda, and F-Zero franchises.
- Nintendo Integrated Research & Development (Originally "Nintendo Research & Development 3") — Produced arcade games in the 1980s.
- Nintendo Licensing Division — Produces (and licenses) first-party games by independent developers.
- Nintendo Research & Development 1 — Oldest team inside Nintendo.
- Nintendo Research & Development 2 — "Experimental" group, responsible Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble and The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures.
- Nintendo Research & Engineering — Hardware oriented.
- Nintendo Software Planning Division — Specializing in communicating with overseas developers.
- Nintendo Software Technology Corporation — First inhouse development studio of Nintendo of America.
- Nintendo Special Planning & Development — Recently formed development group focusing on Pokémon Mini, the e-Reader, and the Game Boy Advance.
Second-party

- Brownie Brown — Software developer consisting of former members of Squaresoft.
- Game Freak — developer of the Pokémon video game series.
- Genius Sonority — Newly formed developer; responsible for Pokemon Colosseum.
- HAL Laboratory — Responsible for the Kirby franchise, Super Smash Bros. Melee, and the development of the e-Reader.
- Intelligent Systems (Often confused with Nintendo Research & Development 1) — Established in 1986 by members of Nintendo Research & Development 1 to develop games. Responsible for Metroid, Fire Emblem, and Nintendo Wars franchises.
- Retro Studios — Former second-party, now wholly-owned by Nintendo; responsible for the Metroid Prime series.
- iQue — Responsible for Nintendo products in China, partially owned by Nintendo
Arcade games released by Nintendo

- Cruis'n USA
- Cruis'n World
- Cruis'n Exotica
- Donkey Kong
- Donkey Kong Jr.
- Donkey Kong 3
- Duck Hunt
- Excitebike
- F-Zero AX
- F-1 Race
- Hogan's Alley
- Ice Climber
- Killer Instinct
- Mach Rider
- Mario Bros.
- Mario Kart Arcade GP
- The Nintendo Super System
- The Nintendo Vs. Series
- The Play Choice 10 series
- Popeye
- Punch-Out!!
- Radar Scope
- Sheriff
- Super Mario Bros.
- Super Punch-Out!!
- Urban Champion
- Wild Gunman
Anime
On November 2004, Hiroshi Yamauchi announced that Nintendo would start making anime. Its first project is an adaption of the Hyakunin Isshu poem.
Nintendo offices and locations
Nintendo Co., Ltd (NCL), the main branch of the company, is based in Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. Nintendo of America (NOA), its American division, is based in Redmond, Washington with a distribution center in Atlanta, Georgia. Nintendo of Canada, Ltd. (NOCL) is a based in Richmond, British Columbia, with its own distribution centre in Toronto, Ontario. Nintendo of Australia, its Australian division, is based in Scoresby, Melbourne, Victoria, and Nintendo Europe, the European division, is based in Großostheim, Germany. Nintendo has also founded iQue, Ltd. in Suzhou, China, a company that sells Nintendo products only in mainland China. And a store in New York City
Unauthorized Brand Use in the Philippines
In the Philippines, an electronics retailing chain operates under Nintendo's name, apparently illegal in nature since the Nintendo brand is trademarked by the video game giant. In addition, the retailer also uses Nintendo's logo clearly displayed on its stores. The illegal Philippine "Nintendo" sells many kinds of electronics as well as video games, including Sony PlayStation and Microsoft Xbox hardware and software. Most of the games it sells to the public are pirated. Apparently Nintendo of Japan never took legal action against the Philippine Nintendo retailer, which currently has two branches in Metro Manila. One in the city of Manila and another at the Festival Super Mall in Filinvest, Alabang, Muntinlupa City. Many illegal/pirated gameboy advance games were also sold through mall giants such as SM.
See also

- History of computer and video games
- Nintendo Seal of Quality
- Lewis Galoob Toys, Inc. v. Nintendo of America, Inc.
- List of video games published by Nintendo
- List of Nintendo characters
- List of Japanese companies
- History of Nintendo
References

- [http://www.nintendo.com/corp/history.jsp Nintendo]. Retrieved Feb. 9, 2005.
- [http://n-sider.com/articleview.php?articleid=45 N-Sider]. Retrieved Feb.10, 2005.
- Anthony, JC. [http://n-sider.com/articleview.php?articleid=273&page=2 N-Sider 2]. Retrieved Feb.10, 2005.
- Liedhold, Marcus & Liedholm, Mattias. [http://nintendoland.com/home2.htm?history/index.htm Nintendo Land]. Retrieved Feb. 9, 2005.
- [http://www.forbes.com/finance/mktguideapps/compinfo/ForeignCompanyTearsheet.jhtml?cusip=6639550 Forbes]. Retrieved Feb. 9, 2005.
- [http://biz.yahoo.com/ic/41/41877.html Yahoo! Finance details for Nintendo Co, Ltd.] Retrieved Feb. 9, 2005.
- [http://biz.yahoo.com/ic/43/43619.html Yahoo! Finance details for Nintendo of America]. Retrieved Feb. 9, 2005.
- Casamassina, Matt. [http://www.n-sider.com/articleview.php?articleid=344&page=3 N-Sider]. Retrieved Mar. 18, 2005.
- McCullough, J.J.. [http://www.filibustercartoons.com/Nintendo.php Filibuster Cartoons]. Retrieved Feb. 9, 2005.
- [http://www.nintendo.com/corp/legal.jsp Nintendo copyrights]. Retrieved Feb. 9, 2005.
- [http://www.nintendo.com/corp/annual_report.jsp Nintendo's annual financial report]. Retrieved July 29, 2005.
- [http://www.nintendo.com/global List of official Nintendo sites]. Retrieved October 9, 2005.
External links

Official sites

- [http://www.nintendo.com/ Nintendo of America]
- [http://www.nintendo.ca/ Nintendo of Canada]
- [http://www.nintendo-europe.com/ Nintendo Europe]
- [http://www.nintendo.com.au/ Nintendo Australia]
- [http://www.seriousgamer007.blogspot.com/ Nintendo Viral Marketing]
Articles

- [http://articles.filefront.com/Purported_Revolution_Leak_Raises_Eyebrows_Doubts/;366;;;/article.html Purported Revolution Leak Raises Eyebrows, Doubts]
- [http://media.ds.ign.com/media/682/682837/vids_1.html The Nintendo Development Structure]
- [http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/1.04/nintendo.html?pg=1&topic= The Untold Story of Maniac Mansion] by Douglas Crockford.
-
- [http://www.gamespot.com/features/vgs/universal/hist_nintendo/ The History of Nintendo] ja:任天堂 ko:닌텐도 simple:Nintendo Category:Companies_of_Japan

Police

]] ] Police forces are government organisations charged with the responsibility of maintaining law and order. The word comes from the French, and less directly from the Greek politeia, referring to government or administration; the word police was coined in France in the 18th century. The police may also be known as a constabulary, after constables, who were an early manifestation of police officers. In most Western legal systems, the major role of the police is to discourage and investigate crimes, with particular emphases on crime against persons or property and the maintenance of public order, and if able to apprehend suspected perpetrator(s), to detain them, and inform the appropriate authorities. See criminal law. Police are often used as an emergency service and may provide a public safety function at large gatherings, as well as in emergencies, disasters, and search and rescue situations. To provide a prompt response in emergencies, the police often coordinate their operations with fire and emergency medical services. In many countries there is a common emergency service number that allows the police, firefighters or medical services to be summoned to an emergency. Police are also responsible for reporting minor offences by issuing citations which typically may result in the imposition of fines, particularly for violations of traffic law. Police sometimes involve themselves in the maintenance of public order, even where no legal transgressions have occurred — for example, in some Australian jurisdictions, people who are drunk and causing a public nuisance may be removed to a "drying-out centre" until they recover from the effects of the alcohol.

History

In ancient times, the military was mostly responsible for maintaining law and order in cities. The Roman Empire had a reasonably effective law enforcement system until the decline of the empire, though there was never an actual police force in the city of Rome itself. Beginning in the 5th century, policing became a function of clan chiefs and heads of state. Local lords and nobles were responsible to maintain order in their lands, and often appointed a constable, sometimes unpaid, to enforce the law. In 1663, London hired watchmen to guard the streets at night, augmenting the force of unpaid constables, as the first paid law enforcement body. This practice was widespread throughout the United Kingdom. Then, on June 30 1800 the authorities of Glasgow, Scotland successfully petitioned the Government to pass the Glasgow Police Act establishing the City of Glasgow Police. This was the first professional police service in the country and was different from previous law enforcement in that it practiced preventative policing. This was quickly followed in other towns, which set up their own police forces by individual Acts of Parliament ^{[http://www.scotia-news.com/issue5/ISSUE05a.htm]}. In 1829, the Metropolitan Police Act was passed by Parliament, allowing Sir Robert Peel, the then home secretary, to found the London Metropolitan Police, generally regarded as the first civil police force organised on modern lines. It became a model for the police forces of many countries, including the United States. The first police service to be set up outside the UK was in Gibraltar, with the formation of the Gibraltar Police (now Royal Gibraltar Police) in 1830. By 1721, the Mossos d'Esquadra had been formed in Catalonia in north eastern Spain. In 1834, the Toronto Police were founded in Canada, one of the first municipal police departments in North America. In the United States some of the first full-time police forces were the Boston founded in 1839 and the New York City in 1845.

Multiple levels of police agencies

In many countries, particularly those with a federal system of government, there may be several police or police-like organisations, each serving different levels of government and enforcing different subsets of the applicable law.

Australia

In Australia there are two levels of police forces, state police and the Australian Federal Police. Each State as well as the Northern Territory is responsible for maintaining its own police force which is responsible for policing at the state and local level. This involves general law and order, traffic policing, major crime, anti-terrorism branches, water police, search and rescue and in some states transit police. Local policing in the Australian Capital Territory, Jervis Bay Territory and Australia's external territories is contracted to the Australian Federal Police (AFP). In some states, local governments employ by-laws officers or rangers to enforce local by-laws or ordinances relating to such matters as parking, dog ownership, retailing, littering or water usage. These local government officers are not considered to be police forces as they generally only have the power to issue fines and do not have the same powers as state police, such as the power of arrest. The Australian Federal Police operates at a Federal level and concerns itself with Federal laws including corporate law, drug smuggling, money laundering, people smuggling, e-crime and anti-terrorism. Australian Federal Police Officers also serve on international peacekeeping and policing operations in such places as Cyprus, Timor Leste, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. Other Federal Agencies are also responsible for specific areas of law enforcement. These include the Australian Crime Commission, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and the Australian Customs Service.

Brazil

In Brazil there are two or three levels of policing: the Brazilian Federal Police and state police operate everywhere, and some cities also have City Guards. Each State is responsible for maintaining its own police forces, which are responsible for policing at the state and local level. Patrol and order duties are carried out by a military police force and investigation duties by a civil police force. Because of this division of responsibilities, there is lot of tension between these forces. In some cities, the local government employs city guards, who patrol municipal property such as parks and the environs of city halls. City guards are not permitted to carry firearms on duty. The Brazilian Federal Police operates at a Federal level and concerns itself with Federal laws, including corporate law, drug smuggling, money laundering, people smuggling, e-crime and anti-terrorism.

Canada

e-crime In Canada, there are three levels of police forces: municipal, provincial, and federal. Constitutionally, law enforcement is a provincial responsibility, although most urban areas have been given the authority to maintain their own police forces. Small municipalities contract out their law enforcement to the provincial authorities, and all but three provinces in turn contract out their provincial law enforcement responsibilities to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the federal force, which therefore is the only police force to service three distinct levels in the area. Ontario, Quebec and Newfoundland maintain their own provincial police forces: The Ontario Provincial Police, Sûreté du Québec and Royal Newfoundland Constabulary. Smaller Canadian cities often contract police service from the RCMP, while larger cities maintain their own force. There are also a few private police forces, with the same powers as other governmental forces. The Canadian National and Canadian Pacific railroads both have their own police forces, whose duty is to prevent pilferage of the merchandise being carried on their rail systems and to protect staff, passengers and property. Other entities, such as Hydro Québec and formerly the National Harbour Board, also have their own police forces.

France

National Harbour Board National Harbour Board In France, there are two separate national police agencies, with overlapping but different jurisdiction:
- the National Police (Police Nationale) in the towns;
- the Gendarmerie (Gendarmerie Nationale; military police) in the country, villages and small towns. A similar diffusion exists, or has existed, in several other countries following the French system. Additionally, French municipalities may have a local police called the police municipale, garde municipale or garde champetre, with restricted powers: they can only enforce the municipal by-laws (amongst which those related to the road circulation) and participate in prevention actions (survey, evacuation of buildings, protection against accidents, etc.). These personnel may or may not be allowed to bear firearms. In French, the term "police" not only refers to the forces, but also to the general concept of "maintenance of law and order" (policing). There are two types of police in this general sense:
- administrative police (police administrative): uniformed preventative patrols, traffic duties etc., with limited powers of arrest.
- judicial police (police judiciaire): law enforcement and investigation of crime, with full powers of arrest. Thus, the mayor has administrative police power in a town (i.e. they can order the police to enforce the municipal by-laws), and a judge has police power in their court (i.e. they can have people who disrupt the proceedings expelled from the court room). Until 1984, the National Police was involved in the prehospital care and casualty transport (Police secours). The prehospital care is now performed by firefighters; however, mountain rescue is performed by the Gendarmerie PGHM (Peloton de gendarmerie de haute montagne) and the National Police CRS (Compagnies républicaines de sécurité; Republican Security Companies). Some other countries follow this model and have separate police agencies with the same role but different jurisdictions.

Germany

CRS CRS Germany is a Federal Republic based on sixteen states. Each of those states has its own police force. Each is supervised by the Minister (or, in Bremen, Hamburg and Berlin, the Senator) of Internal Affairs of the state. Although uniforms and vehicle colour schemes are similar all over Germany, the police forces are structured slightly differently in each state. For example, the Kriminalpolizei (detective branch) are part of the ordinary police force in some states and separate organizations in others. In addition, the Federal Government has a Federal Police, previously called the Bundesgrenzschutz (Federal Border Protection), but from 2005 named the Bundespolizei (Federal Police). The German Federal Railways also had its own police force, the Bahnpolizei (Railway Police). When the railways were privatized in the 1990s, the Bahnpolizei was assimilated into the Bundesgrenzschutz, since executive power in Germany is only permitted by law to be under government control. Private police forces are therefore not allowed in Germany. Due to the ideal of using the same color of police uniforms and vehicles throughout the European Union, the German police have in the last few years begun to slowly change from green to blue. Hamburg was the first state to make the transition. Before German reunification on 3 October 1990, the German Democratic Republic was policed by the Volkspolizei (People's Police).

India

The police is under the state jurisdiction. The police reports to the state home department. Each state has its State Police and large cities have a Metropolitan Police.

Interpol

Most countries are members of the International Criminal Police Organization - Interpol, established to detect and fight trans-national crime and provide for international co-operation and coordination of other police activities, such as notifying relatives of the death of foreign nationals. Interpol does not conduct enquiries nor arrests by itself, but only serves as a central point for information on crime, suspects and criminals. Political crimes are excluded from its competencies.

Japan

Political crime]] Japan's police are an apolitical body under the general supervision of an independent agency, the National Police Agency, and free of direct central government executive control. They are checked by an independent judiciary and monitored by a free and active press. The police are generally well respected and can rely on considerable public cooperation in their work.

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom is a unitary (as opposed to federal) state, and police forces, generally speaking, are organised at the level of administrative districts. Certain departments of the Metropolitan Police operate throughout the country, including the Anti-Terrorist Branch, Royalty and Diplomatic Protection Department, and certain units of Special Branch. The new Serious Organised Crime Agency will also be a national agency that will work in all police areas. The smallest UK force is the City of London Police.

The United States of America

City of London Police State Police, United States]] In the United States, there are several levels of policing and law enforcement services, federal police, state police (often called state troopers or highway patrol), special-purpose district police (parks, schools, housing, transit, etc), county police (sheriffs, constables, and some county police agencies), and local police. There are thousands of separate police forces. Local policing is usually conducted by the police departments at the county, city, township or village level and may range from one person offices (sometimes still called the town marshal) to the 40,000 men and women of the New York City Police Department. County sheriffs, county police, state police, and highway patrols enforce laws in their particular jurisdictions and are usually the only police in unincorporated areas beyond the jurisdiction of the cities. They also assist the local police with investigations and may operate county jails. Special district police vary in their levels of authority. In some states, they serve as little more than security police, but in states such as California, special district forces are composed of fully-sworn peace officers with statewide authority. These include the Los Angeles School Police Department, which with a deployment of 525 sworn and non-sworn personnel covers 708 square miles from five police divisions and the Minneapolis Park Police Department, a much smaller unit with a deployment of 38 sworn police officers and 27 non-sworn Park Patrol agents. Federal police fall into two broad categories:
- Investigative agencies (such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Marshals Service, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the United States Secret Service); and
- uniformed security police agencies (such as the Federal Protective Service, U.S. Mint Police, United States Park Police and United States Border Patrol). United States Border Patrol Both types operate at the highest level and are endowed with police or quasi-police roles. The investigative agencies have nationwide jurisdiction, while the uniformed agencies tend to have rather limited territorial jurisdictions. The FBI has the most general investigative powers, while the other federal agencies are highly specialized. All federal agencies are limited by the U.S. Constitution to investigating only matters that are explicitly within the power of the federal government, like interstate commerce. However, federal investigative powers have become very broad in practice, especially since the passing of the USA PATRIOT Act. Because of all this complexity, at a crime or disaster scene affecting large numbers of people, there will be many different police agencies involved. Usually the highest local agency, or the highest federal law enforcement agency (the FBI), if a federal law was involved, will take command in such confusing situations, as depicted in movies like The Negotiator or Die Hard.

Police armament and equipment

Die Hard] Die Hard)]] Die Hard]] Die Hard Die Hard, Switzerland]] In many jurisdictions, police officers carry firearms in the normal course of their duties. Police often have specialist units for handling armed offenders, and similar dangerous situations, and can often, in extreme circumstances, call on the military, sometimes including special forces like the SAS. They can also be equipped with non-lethal (more accurately known as "less than lethal" or "less-lethal") weaponry, particularly for riot control. Non-lethal weapons include batons, shields, riot control agents, rubber bullets and stun guns. The use of firearms or deadly force is typically a last resort only to be used when necessary to save human life, although some jurisdictions allow its use against fleeing felons and escaped convicts. Police officers often also carry handcuffs to restrain suspects. Modern police forces make extensive use of radio communications equipment, carried both on the person and installed in vehicles, to coordinate their work, share information, and get help quickly. In recent years, vehicle-installed computers have enhanced the ability of police communications, enabling easier dispatching of calls, criminal background checks on persons of interest to be completed in a matter of seconds, and updating the officer's daily activity log and other required reports on a real-time basis. Other common pieces of police equipment include flashlights, whistles, and, most importantly, notebooks and "ticketbooks" or citations.

In specific countries

India

Unlike in many other countries, the various state police forces in India extensively use the Jeep as their main mode of transport. Jeeps are known for their capabilities to move around in any sort of terrain. The Jeep is always the primary mode of transport at the police station, although for traffic enforcement and patrolling, motorcycles are also extensively used. The Jeeps are provided with wireless sets, light bars and sirens. In specific cases, the Jeeps may also be fitted with hard covers, rather than the canvas cover.

Ireland

The Republic of Ireland has an unarmed police force, An Garda Síochána, although they are all trained to use firearms and all detectives and special units carry them.

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom and some other countries of the British police tradition, the police are not normally issued firearms, but are issued other weapons (batons, pepper spray, CS Spray etc.), although some officers may be issued firearms in special situations. This originates from the formation of the Metropolitan Police in the 19th Century, when police were not armed, partly to counter public fears and objections concerning armed enforcers. However, the Ministry of Defence Police, Civil Nuclear Constabulary and Police Service of Northern Ireland (formerly the Royal Ulster Constabulary) are issued firearms as a matter of routine. Every force can also call upon armed response units in a matter of minutes, and certain specialist squads, such as the Flying Squad, Special Branch, Diplomatic Protection Group, Royalty Protection Branch, and officers protecting airports and government buildings, are routinely armed. The archetypal British "bobby" walked his beat alone. Apart from rapid response units, motor vehicles were rarely used except in rural districts (and even there, bicycles were more common). However, in the last few decades the police have become increasingly motorised and it is now rare to see an officer on foot patrol except in city or town centres, and then rarely alone, although police forces have recently begun to put more police back on the beat. Patrol cars, sometimes known as panda cars (or sometimes jam sandwiches), are in use everywhere and may be crewed by one or two officers. Except for rapid response and traffic patrol vehicles, they are generally smaller and less powerful than American vehicles.

United States

Police in the United States usually carry a pistol (Glocks and Sig-Sauers are the most common) and an impact weapon - a baton, also known as a "nightstick". Most large police departments have elite SWAT units which are called in to handle situations which require greater force, such as hostage situations and building raids. Some departments also use nonlethal weapons like Mace, pepper spray, electroshock guns, and beanbag rifles. Some police departments allow their officers to carry shotguns or assault rifles in their vehicles for additional firepower. To efficiently cover the sprawling layout of the typical American city, American police officers usually patrol in pairs called "units," and ride in specialized cars (such as the Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor) called "cruisers", "patrol cars", or "prowl cars", or in the New York City Police Department "RMPs" (Radio Mobile Patrol). High-speed car chases are common in certain areas of the United States, so police officers are usually trained in high-speed driving techniques and the PIT maneuver. Horses are still used, mainly in crowd control situations, but in remote areas occasionally for patrol or search and rescue.

Restrictions upon the power of the police

In order for police officers to do their job well, they are vested by the state with a monopoly in the use of certain powers. These include the powers to arrest, search, seize, and interrogate; and if necessary, to kill. In nations with democratic systems and the rule of law, the law of criminal procedure has been developed to regulate officers' discretion, so that they do not exercise their vast powers arbitrarily or unjustly. criminal procedure] In American criminal procedure, the most famous case is Miranda v. Arizona which led to the widespread use of Miranda warnings. American police are also prohibited from holding criminal suspects for more than a reasonable amount of time (usually two days) before arraignment, using torture to extract confessions, using excessive force to effect an arrest, and searching suspects' bodies or their homes without a warrant obtained upon a showing of probable cause. There are exceptions for exigent circumstances such as the need to disarm a suspect who is resisting arrest. The Posse Comitatus Act prevents the use of the U.S. military for police activity, giving added importance to police SWAT units. British police officers are governed by similar rules, particularly those introduced under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, but generally have greater powers. They may, for example, legally search any suspect who has been arrested, or their vehicles, home or business premises, without a warrant, and may seize anything they find in a search as evidence. Unlike the system in many countries, a British police officer's rank has no bearing on his or her powers - all police powers are derived from the "office of constable" into which every police officer has been sworn and the newest probationary constable (or part-time volunteer special constable) has exactly the same powers as the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis, Britain's most senior police officer.

Difficult issues

Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis Police organizations must sometimes deal with the issue of police corruption, which is often abetted by a code of silence that encourages unquestioning loyalty to one's comrades over the cause of justice. In the comparatively rare event that an officer breaks this code on a significant scale, they may receive death threats or even be left for dead, as in the case of Frank Serpico. One way to fight such corruption is by having an independent or semi-independent organization investigate, such as (in the United States) the FBI, internal affairs, or the Justice Department. However, truly independent organizations are generally not called in except for the most openly severe cases. Some police organizations, especially in multi-racial or multi-ethnic areas, are faced with routine accusations of racial profiling. Police forces also find themselves under criticism for their use of force, particularly deadly force, when a police officer of one race kills a suspect of another race. In the United States, such events routinely spark protests and accusations of racism against police. Finally, in many places, the social status and pay of police can lead to major problems with recruitment and morale. For more information on extreme forms and various views of policing, see secret police, police state, corporate police state, thought police, and police brutality.

Policing structures

Most police forces contain subgroups whose job it is to investigate particular types of crime. In most Western police forces, perhaps the most significant division is between "uniformed" police and detectives. Uniformed police, as the name suggests, wear uniforms, and their jobs involve overt policing operations, traffic control, and more active crime response and prevention. Detectives, by contrast, wear 'business attire' when their job is to more professonally investigate crimes, usually on a longer-term basis. There are also "plainclothes" officers, who are required to dress in more casual attire for purposes of blending in better. In some cases, police are assigned to work "undercover", where they do not identify themselves as police, sometimes for long periods, to investigate crimes, particularly organized crime, unsolvable by other means. This type of policing shares much with espionage. Specialized groups exist within the branches either for dealing with particular types of crime (for instance, traffic policing, murder, or fraud) or because of particular specialised skills they have (for instance, diving, operating helicopters, bomb squad, and so on). Most larger jurisdictions also retain specially-trained quasi-military squads armed with small arms for the purposes of dealing with particularly violent situations; and they are often equipped with an additional arsenal of non-lethal tactical tools like tear gas, "flashbang" and concussion grenades, and rubber bullets (since their situational mandate typically focuses on removing innocent bystanders from dangerous people and dangerous situations, not violent resolution). These are sometimes called SWAT (Special Weapons And Tactics) teams. Lastly, Western law enforcement commonly employs "internal affairs" police whose job is to oversee and investigate the officers themselves. They do not typically carry firearms and limit their work to fighting bribery, graft, and other forms of internal corruption.

Detective

Detectives and their work

Becoming a detective

Organization of detectives

Techniques of detectives

Street work

Forensic evidence

Records investigation

Court testimony

Famous detectives

Police detectives

Private detectives

See also

External links

Nintendo

Handheld consoles

Game Boy

Nintendo DS

Other hardware

Policies

Emulation

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Public relations

Community

People

Notable software and franchises

Divisions

First-party

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Arcade games released by Nintendo

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See also

References

External links

Official sites

Articles

Police

History

Multiple levels of police agencies

Australia

Brazil

Canada

France

Germany

India

Interpol

Japan

United Kingdom

The United States of America

Police armament and equipment

In specific countries

India

Ireland

United Kingdom

United States

Restrictions upon the power of the police

Difficult issues

Policing structures

See also

Police roles

Ethical issues related to police

Related concepts

Notable historical police personalities

Notable police officers better known in other walks of life

Investigation

Detectives and their work

Becoming a detective

Organization of detectives

Techniques of detectives

Street work

Forensic evidence

Records investigation

Court testimony

Famous detectives

Police detectives

Private detectives