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So, I was hanging around the CBS website, and heard someone disparagingly refer to CSI: Miami as CSI: Star Trek because of the unrealistically high level of technology available to the show's cast. My first thought upon seeing this was "CSI: Star Trek? That would be totally wicked!". The more I consider it, the better a crime drama set in the Star Trek universe sounds. It fits the overall Star Trek mood well, as I've always seen Star Trek as more about investigation and discovery than violence. A good Star Trek crime drama would be the same. It would be about solving cases, not about phaser battles with perps (Though I would not complain if such shootouts happened on occasion, so long as they didn't end every single case. Occasional violence is good as long as it doesn't get out of hand and make the main characters look like executioners instead of cops.) I'm thinking of starting a fan fiction series revolving around a team of Federation detectives. These detectives would be like America's FBI in that they would handle crimes with federal jurisdiction (I plan to make all crimes that involve co-operation with foreign law enforcement agencies federal in jurisdiction, as well as those involving political persona and Starfleet personnel.). It will be set in the timeline of The Next Generation.

Does this sound like a good idea, or doomed to failure? What should I call this Federation-wide law enforcement group? What cases should they have jurisdiction over besides the three types I listed?

Also, though I do plan to have phaser shootouts happen, and my detectives will have to kill perpetrators at times, and I may even kill a detective off at some point, I promise not to make such incidents too common. As I said earlier in this post, occasional use of lethal force can make a crime drama exciting, but if done too often it can make the story seem unrealistic and more concerned with action than a good crime mystery. Since Star Trek has always been more about a good mystery/drama than about copious amounts of violence. Sure, Starfleet personnel use violence and kill in the show, but it's not particularly common, and lethal force is only used when there is no practical alternative. I plan to keep it that way in this fan fiction.

Yeah, this sounds like it could be a really good idea - particularly if you have some good twisty-turny plots. 3nodding

Twisty-turny plots are what I intend to provide. Star Trek is known for having more emphasis on a good plot than violence, and I intend to keep it that way.

Also, I've decided that the main characters in this fan-fiction will belong to the San Francisco field office, as that is the capital of the Federation. Their law enforcement agency is the Department of Federal Investigations, and they are responsible for any federal crimes occurring in the Solar System. Since my writing will take place on Earth, most of my detectives will be human, though there will be a couple non-humans. All will belong to races that are members of the Federation. So far, I have the following characters:

San Francisco field office director:

Name: Sarah Davis
Gender: Female
Race: Human
Birthplace: California

Assistant director:

Name: Chen Li Dai
Gender: Male
Race: Human
Birthplace: Korea

Detectives

Name: Keira Wullmer
Gender: Female
Race: Human
Birthplace: Austria

Name: Kwasi Zuberi
Gender: Male
Race: Human
Birthplace: Botswana

Name: Evelyn Disgliero
Gender: Female
Race: Human
Birthplace: Wales

Mailo Feda
Gender: Male
Race: Andorian
Birthplace: Andoria

Medical Examiner:

Ravi Kristamena
Gender: Male
Race: Human
Birthplace: India

Medical Examiner's Assistant:

Pablo Galimendos
Gender: Male
Race: Human
Birthplace: Cuba

Forensic Psychologist:

Name: Luri Telani
Gender: Female
Race: Betazoid
Birthplace: Betazed

As I said, most are human, since this is an Earth field office. I was, however, unable to resist the temptation of having a Betaziod forensic psychologist (George Huang from Law & Order: SVU is one of my favourite TV characters of all time, so I gotta have a psychologist like him on the staff.). The Betazoid telepathic abilities would be inestimably useful for psychological examinations.

That is a pretty wicked idea, I must say. 3nodding