Ranks and Positions
Security Officer
| Centralizing the responsibilities of two senior officers into a single position provides Starfleet with a more effective way of reacting to emergency situations. |
Starfleet attaches maximum importance on the security of
its personnel, ships and facilities, and has a highly visible security presence
in all of its operational areas. |
| Security officers have been a permanent part of Starfleet crews throughout its history, and carried out both shipboard and away team duties, providing safety for the other members. | |
| Changes in Starfleet’s crew philosophy led to an expanded role for security officers, demonstrated by the introduction of the Security station on Galaxy-class ships in 2363. | |
| Duties: | During diplomatic missions, extra security measures can be installed and the movements of potentially hostile non-crewmembers monitored in order to reduce the risk of sabotage or terrorist actions against the vessel. |
| A number of important operations are carried out at the Security station; security teams are assembled and given verbal or keyed-in instructions using the console. The operation of the ship’s defensive systems, including torpedoes, defensive shielding and phaser banks is also achieved at this position. | |
| The Security officer has the responsibility for configuring and utilizing long and short-range sensor arrays for the protection of the vessel. The Security officer also has direct control of the launching of sensor probes to gather information from potentially hostile environments, and message buoys to act as warning to other vessels. | |
| Under certain circumstances, the Security officer may take charge of the tractor beam in order to repel an object away from the vessel, or lock onto a structure, or attempt to prevent another ship escaping from the Starfleet vessel |