Certain actions in the game will create crime entries. Characters who are set to protect the 'victims' of such actions will attack the perpetrator and not stop until either one of them is out of health points.
Criminal actions are only recorded as crimes if there is at least one witness present.
A crime is considered witnessed as long as one character was anywhere on the panel at the time the crime was committed. This includes characters with no health points.
Fighting a character will create a crime entry with the perpetrator set as the attacking character or animal and the victim set as the defending character. All organisations that have that character as a member will have a crime entry added.
Moving furniture will create a crime entry with the perpetrator set as the character moving the furniture. All organisations that are set to protect the location the furniture was in will have a crime entry added, so long as there was at least one witness present from that organisation.
Damaging constructions will create a crime entry with the perpetrator set as the character doing the damaging. All organisations that are set to protect the location the construction was in will have a crime entry added, so long as there was at least one witness present from that organisation.
Picking up items from organisation stockpiles will create a crime entry with the perpetrator set as the character taking the item. The organisation that has set that location as their stockpile will have the crime entry added so long as there was at least one witness present from the organisation.
Taking items from character stockpiles is not considered a crime, so character stockpiles should be behind strong walls if this behaviour is not desired.
Because taking from character stockpiles is not considered a crime, it can occasionally be useful to transport items between organisations by hauling to and from character stockpiles first.
Painting on a protected panel is considered a crime if you do not belong to the organisation/s that protect the panel. All organisations that are set to protect the location the furniture was in will have a crime entry added, so long as there was at least one witness present from that organisation.
If a character has their protect order toggled to on, they will attempt to attack any character in the same location as them who committed a crime they are set to protect against. They will not travel to help protect, and once a character leaves their panel they will go back to doing whatever they were doing before.
Characters can be set to protect three different things:
If a character's protection order would have it attack a character who is a member of the same organisation as the protector, they will not attack them. If you are not completely sure whether to trust a player, it is adviseable to not add them to organisations that all of your protectors are members of.
Criminals are listed for each organisation in the organisation page. They can be forgiven by mods and admins of the organisation, which will update all members of that organisation not to attack them.