Rules of Engagement

Introduction — commander's intent

We are the US Customs and Border Protection (USBP). We operate the Bridge of the Americas — the only legal border crossing in the game — and we perform border protection. This ROE is binding for every member of the USBP.

The ROE tells you when and how much force you may use. It does not tell you how to do a check, a search or customs clearance — that is in the SOP. Above the ROE there are always the Rules 2026, the GameBook 2026 and safety; the ORG and the GAMEMASTER decide.

Right to defence

You may open fire or use preventive force against those who show a HOSTILE ACT or HOSTILE INTENT (a threat of immediate use of force) against you or against other friendly forces.

• Hostile act — the attack is already happening: shooting, a knife attack, a violent entry, an attack on a patrol.
• Hostile intent — an attack is about to happen: drawing a weapon, aiming, a coordinated movement to contact distance.

Example: A person at the border crossing pulls out a hidden weapon and you can expect that they will use it against allied units = an attack can be expected. You act immediately.

The right to defence also applies in the occupied part of Mexico, where we may operate.

PID — positive identification

Positive Identification (PID) is required before engaging — a reasonable certainty that the target is a legitimate target. In practice: you must always be 100% sure who you are using force against. If you do not have PID, you do not shoot.

Uniform discipline is mandatory for the whole event and replaces the "nationality" of persons — you recognise who you are talking to by the uniform. The full list of recognition marks of all factions is in the SOP — Cooperation with other forces. Learn it before the event.

When PID fails

• A cartel scarf is not a reliable mark. A cartel member only has to wear it at the moment they go into combat or join a firefight. CHANGED — in 2025 we treated a visible scarf as reliable. No scarf does not mean a clean civilian.
• A "Mexican civilian" may be our own agent. A disguise is allowed to ICE, FBI, CIA and the Zapatistas, and only on Mexican soil. USBP never uses one.
• US Army looks the same as we do — US camouflage and a US flag. Before you shoot at "somebody in camo", make sure it is not the force above us.
• A reflective vest means out of game. Never shoot at a person, a vehicle or a dwelling marked with a reflective vest.

Use graduated force

When time and circumstances allow, use only the force that is necessary and proportionate to protect lives and to complete the mission. Use deadly force only to protect human lives and property designated by the commander.

1. Verbal warning and instruction. Loud, clear, in Czech or in English.
2. Show of force. Raising the weapon, closing the area, reinforcing the patrol, calling the QRF.
3. Administrative sanction. Refusal of entry to the USA, seizure of illegal items, closing the gate. A person who does not cooperate does not have to be let into the USA.
4. Detention. The preferred result in most incidents.
5. Non-lethal force. A shotgun with a blue tape — a hit stuns the target for 10 minutes. Always a better choice than death. It requires a SAFE GUN tape and a Weapon Certificate.
6. Deadly force. Only when a lower level is not enough or the situation does not allow waiting.

Example: You do not use deadly force against a person armed with a knife who is not an immediate threat to anyone. You tell them to drop the knife, you keep distance, and only if it escalates do you use a higher level.

Border regime

The border has three technical forms and each one means a different use of force. The physical description, the map colours and the operating rules are in the SOP — Border with Mexico; here is only what follows from it for the use of a weapon.

Shoot to Kill — and why we still prefer detention

The USBP is authorised to use deadly force against persons who cross the border at a place marked with the yellow-black tape, and against persons who cross a closed border crossing (there even without a warning). PID is always a condition. Crossing the white-red tape is not solved by force — it is reported to the GAMEMASTER.

Anyone who tries to cross the border illegally has a reason for it — they are armed or they smuggle contraband. A dead smuggler tells you nothing and you cannot seize the goods from a dead person, and the goods disappear from the game as soon as they reach a dealer. The preferred procedure is detention, search, seizure and handover for interrogation: ICE (illegal activity and migration), CIA (intelligence interrogation, identification of the commanders of Mexican factions), FBI (federal investigation), EPSO (judges offences committed in the USA).

Detention and interrogation

Detention is our preferred result. But it has hard limits and they are followed without exception.

• Detention may last a maximum of 2 hours and must not be repeated on purpose. Do not hold people "just in case" until the end of the shift.
• If the detained person says "I refuse detention", the detention is only played out in game — you do not touch them. The detained person then must not try to escape until they are released and must move according to your instructions.
• A detained person can be transported across the game area and imprisoned.
• USBP does not run interrogations. If you have a detainee who may know something useful, contact USBP command or hand the person over to ICE or CIA if any of them is on site. Our job is to detain, search, secure the find and hand over.
• Contraband, persons of intelligence interest and faction commanders are reported to command and handed over to ICE, CIA or FBI.
• Offences committed on US territory are handled by EPSO in cooperation with the USBP — you hand the offenders over to them. The EPSO decision is final, the punishments and the amount of the fine are their business.

What is forbidden also for the USBP

The uniform is not an exception from the rules. Remember this as a fixed list.

• You never seize cash from anyone, even when it clearly comes from drugs. Money is always clean.
• Identity documents (the Mexican Carté de Identidat and the US ID / citizenship) and the collector document with POI stamps can be checked, but they cannot be seized and cannot be destroyed — because of the referendum. Pistols are not seized, they can only be destroyed with a white tape.
• RED STOP. If the searched person says "I refuse the search / RED STOP", the physical action stops immediately and the person instead presents all game items. You respect this term without discussion. The same applies with a vehicle and a building, where the driver or the owner must also be present.
• Consideration for children and young people. They are present at the crossing — it is still a LARP, it is not necessary to search everyone with the hardest method. The safety of civilians and uninvolved persons is above everything, a hit on them is always the shooter's mistake.
• Shooting at the crossing, in the city and in inhabited areas only with a pistol and a CITY GUN. Without exception, even in self-defence.
• The border road between the occupation zone and Mexico: it is forbidden to fight FROM the road and ONTO the road, including destroying vehicles, to block the road, to stop or stand on it, to treat wounded on it and to use it for your own advantage. Where it is not necessary, you only cross the road on foot or drive across it.

Who we answer to and where we may go

This is a major change compared to 2025. Read all of it.

What USBP decides at the crossing and what it does not — customs duty, embargo, Time Passes and opening hours — is in the SOP — Customs duty and Time Pass and SOP — Legal border crossing.