The first step in joining the Watch is contacting an agent who can help you. Any member of the Watch from Rank 6 (Sergeant) and up can speak to you about joining and, when you're prepared to start, swear you in to the part of the service you're interested in joining. Each bureau has its own rules about how this will be done, set by the officer in charge, which will be explained to you when you ask.

Generally speaking, you'll speak to a few people, get your questions answered, and be briefed on what being a constable is like. We try to make this part go as fast as possible, so people aren't left hanging too long. We realize folks' time is valuable, and both you and we have things to do!

Membership Options

Once you join the Watch, you have to decide what you're actually going to do around here. That's going to be a function of your interest and time, and you have a few options.

Regular Members are what most people think of when they think of the Watch. These are the folks in the starting areas, meeting new guests, doing all the things that we do do. The actual depth of what a regular member does - from handing out bags to coordinating the efforts on whole continents - is a function of how much they want to take on after they clear their training period.

Community Support Officers are a special type of Watch volunteer who help out in some capacity, but don't go out and meet with the public. These are folks that manage our reserves, manufacture items for us to hand out, and perform other administrative or behind-the-scenes tasks.

Service Organization

Most people spend less than 20 hours per month on their Watch alternate, and so perfer to concentrate their efforts to help in an area they feel intimately familiar with and comfortable in. Partly to make it more convenient for them, the Service is divided into four bureaus, each corresponding to one of the four racial starting areas and led by an experienced officer.

There is also a "floating" detachment called the Irregulars, whose members just run all over the place as a sort of a go anywhere, do anything, ready force.

The structure of the Watch is designed to scale with its membership size up and down, with provisions for organization by Division (Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms) and by Faction. When force size doesn't warrant the use of additional administrative layers, those ranks simply aren't used.

All of the ranks in the Watch have a specified function and expectations. Click here to see an explanation of the Watch's rank structure and responsibilities by rank.

Orientation and Training

Each bureau will have slightly different rules on what it takes before you move from Rookie to Constable, where you can function on your own. All of them will try and move you through the process as quickly as possible, though, dependent on your availability and willingness to learn.

Most training is done by apprenticing for a brief period under a more experienced agent, going on sorties at least two times, probably more, and demonstrating familiarity with the Watch's operating procedures guide, To Serve Man, found here.

Benefits of Service

Certain expenses incurred while on duty are reimbursible. For example, travel expenses, certain training costs, and pack cost.

Constables are also able to use a limited amount of money to defray the cost of repairing their gear from Watch funds.