[rcallewaert]

Sooooo, after attending this convention for 5 years, I need to ask this question:

What authority does IRT have over congoers.

I'm not asking this to be a complete retard and know they can't do anything about it; I'm asking because everyone has heard of or been the victim of rude IRT personnel. I've read around the forums about this(as much as I can, since IRT will be omitted from the search because of it's length). And I've heard that they can tell you not to do stuff up until the point where it's harassment for the congoer to "I can take your badge"; so it would be nice to know how far their power, if any, extends.

[TheStrongJaeger]

Disclaimer: I"m not IRT, if anything I say is wrong please correct me.

If you are breaking any convention rules they have the power to take your badge, they can ask you to leave the convention space and they can confiscate props if they are against the rules. I you are a big problem they may work with the hotel to have you removed from the hotel itself. They are not police so they don't have the authority to arrest or detain you or any other comparable police action.

That's at least how I understand it.

[rcallewaert]

So are the rules in the Acen phamplet all they can enforce? Or rather, must I follow the direction of a disgruntled IRT person in fear of losing my badge, because they can supposedly take away my badge away or can I stand my ground if I believe they are being unfair? Can a single IRT member take away my badge at their sole discretion, or is it a collective decision from higher-ups?

[TheRabbi]

Hey there! Being a long-standing member of IRT and one of our assistant department heads, I can give you a good answer to this question.

IRT is there to help keep the convention safe for everyone. We enforce costume and prop policy, other convention policies, help prevent damage to the hotel, and generally keep the convention safe. We roam the entire convention 24 hours a day, and are easily recognizable so that people can come up and ask us questions; we act as a face of the convention in that way. We also look out for illegal activity or activity that goes against the hotel's policy, and we will detain (a word with such negative connotations, but really the only word that means what I want to say here) people who are breaking the law or hotel policy until the police or hotel security, respectively, can come and deal with it properly.

No IRT operative has the ability to take your badge on a whim. Even I, the assistant head of IRT, cannot take your badge in an instant. There are steps I have to go through in order for that to happen, including input from higher-ups. We view having a badge taken as a consequence for something really bad. So no, you can't just have your badge snatched because some IRT op feels like it. What an op might ask you to do, though, if they feel you are being a troublemaker, is ask you to come back to the IRT pen - our headquarters - so we can straighten out what happened a few steps away from the situation. Almost always in the pen a supervisor will be present to make sure that both sides of the story are being heard and that whatever consequences need to be given are given according to our guidelines.

If an IRT op tells you to do something and you think it's wrong or unfair, I'd like to ask that, if it's urgent or immediate, you do what they ask. We have good reasons for our policies and actions, and sometimes there isn't time or place to explain those reasons. However, in a leisurely situation, most IRT ops will be happy to tell you the reason they're asking you to do something. And if they can't, they will find out for you, or you can come to the IRT pen where there will be someone who can explain it to you. If from there you still think it's unfair, you can talk to one of the ADHs or the DH and make a suggestion for a rules change (we do listen to you!) or go to the feedback panel during con and give your suggestion there.

I hope that you won't have any issues with IRT this year; most people seem to find us helpful (though there are some who have bad encounters). The think we look for most in an applicant's background is retail or customer service experience, and we train on those skills as well. If you do have a complaint against a particular IRT op, the most important thing to do is remember their name or callsign. Every one of our ops, when on duty, has their callsign written in orange on the left shoulder of their uniform vest, similar to where the nametape of a police officer or salesperson in a store might have it. Off duty, you should ask to see their badge and note their name. (I will make sure that it gets mentioned in our orientation that ops must show their badges to congoers who ask.) There are 205 ops on IRT this year; without the callsign or the name of the op you had a complaint against, it's unlikely we'll be able to figure out who it was and help remedy the complaint.

I hope this helps.