As a criminal RPer, I've got to say that OOC communication really is key. RPing a law enforcement officer trying to arrest someone is still RP, and it has to be based on an underpinning of trust.Â
Send the criminal a tell (as Berrod suggested) asking if they want to play you coming after them. There are a lot of reasons why they wouldn't want you to. Perhaps they're in an established top-down (i.e.: with a dungeon master, a plot outline, etc) roleplay, and there isn't room for someone to jump in - people who play these sorts of plots tend to be wary of random people who jump in to join them, as they're used to trolls and people who want to jump in and assume the heroic role in the plot. Perhaps they've had a bad experience with godmodders and they'll ignore anyone who comes in to RP a conflict with them cold. Perhaps they're simply douchebags who don't want to RP anything beyond them acting like bad guys. It doesn't really matter why they don't want you to jump in with them, the fact that they don't simply means that you can't assume a position of authority with them. It's always a little awkward - you end up having to ignore criminal activity that's happening right in your sight - but that's sort of the way it is with any conflict RP. And law enforcement RP is definitely conflict RP.
There are a lot of criminal RPers who roleplay out in public specifically to provide hooks for law enforcement RPers (or others) to interact with them. I know I definitely do this, and it's resulted in a hell of a lot of good RP with said John Laws.
Send the criminal a tell (as Berrod suggested) asking if they want to play you coming after them. There are a lot of reasons why they wouldn't want you to. Perhaps they're in an established top-down (i.e.: with a dungeon master, a plot outline, etc) roleplay, and there isn't room for someone to jump in - people who play these sorts of plots tend to be wary of random people who jump in to join them, as they're used to trolls and people who want to jump in and assume the heroic role in the plot. Perhaps they've had a bad experience with godmodders and they'll ignore anyone who comes in to RP a conflict with them cold. Perhaps they're simply douchebags who don't want to RP anything beyond them acting like bad guys. It doesn't really matter why they don't want you to jump in with them, the fact that they don't simply means that you can't assume a position of authority with them. It's always a little awkward - you end up having to ignore criminal activity that's happening right in your sight - but that's sort of the way it is with any conflict RP. And law enforcement RP is definitely conflict RP.
There are a lot of criminal RPers who roleplay out in public specifically to provide hooks for law enforcement RPers (or others) to interact with them. I know I definitely do this, and it's resulted in a hell of a lot of good RP with said John Laws.
