When this happens, sec "void their metaprotections."
Therein lies the rub. Sec cannot be escalated against normally. Even if you manage to "win" the conflict against the officer, you will be marked for death by them and the entire sec team afterwards. Because the rest of the sec team are just doing their job, the escalation doesn't apply to them. Even if you kill the officer, after their revival (at which point the conflict should be over), they can use the fact you've committed murder as an excuse to step back into their role as officer and round remove you. But they likely won't need to do that - the rest of the sec team will have you captured and perma'd or round-removed for killing an officer.
Not a great outcome! You might say it would be better to ahelp the situation instead. That is definitely an option. But there should also be a reasonable IC option in situations like these.
ENTER THE PROPOSAL: Make Rule 4's "act like an antag, get treated like one" apply to security officers that unjustifiably void their metaprotections in their treatment of a player.
WHAT WOULD THIS MEAN?: If a sec officer, for instance, griefs a player for a minor sort of crime - e.g. 10 minutes gulag and a kneecapping for hacking into botany - this would make them fully valid to that player. If any other player were to stuff you in a box for 10 minutes and break your legs unprompted, admins wouldn't think twice if you deepfried their brain - so why should an officer be any different?
In most cases where officers void their metaprotections, their behavior is also rulebreaking. So why wouldn't they be valid?
DOWNSIDES?: One could envision a scenario where the officer voids his metaprotections in handling some giga shitter that constantly tided him the entire round. Perhaps he, instead of booking them for assault, chose to kneecap the player. Would the officer then be valid to that player, since he voided his metaprotections? Here is where the "unjustifiably" part comes in. We can agree kneecapping there would be justifiable, so the officer isn't acting like an antag, and the proposal doesn't apply.
Motivation for this thread: