Poem: "The Individual's Own Reason"
Aug. 21st, 2015 11:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithThis poem is spillover from the August 4, 2015 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from librarygeek and siliconshaman. It also fills the "do something new" square in my 8-1-15 card for the As You Like It fest. This poem has been sponsored by Anthony & Shirley Barrette. It belongs to the Officer Pink thread of the Polychrome Heroics series.
"The Individual's Own Reason"
"I want you to start taking
more of the soup cases,"
Chief De Soto said to Ansel,
entirely without warning.
"What?" Ansel said, startled.
"I don't ... I mean, you know that
I'm not a real soup, right? That is,
the color change is real, but I don't
have any powers beyond that. I can
do the outreach, talk to kids like Skippy,
sure, but supervillains?" He shook
his head. "I don't know if I'm
cut out for that, Chief."
This wasn't the first conversation
they'd had about Ansel's new status,
but there was a big difference between
agreeing to help with kids flickering and
agreeing to go chase supervillains.
"I understand that the teddy-bear hair
is all you got --" the older man said.
"Okay, that one's new," Ansel said with
a grin, pulling a candy bar out of his desk.
"You win a prize for originality."
"You're keeping track of descriptions?"
the chief asked as he accepted the gourmet treat,
this one dark chocolate with malted milk.
"Sure, it's kind of fun," said Ansel.
"Cotton candy, thistle, every Floppit
between red and purple ..." Then he
sobered. "Seriously, though, why me?"
"Because you're all I've got," the chief said.
"We don't get a lot of cape fights in town, but
sometimes it happens, and other times it's just
minor supervillains sneaking around committing
ordinary crimes in extraordinary ways."
"What about superheroes?" Ansel said.
"Dealing with supervillains is usually their job."
"We've got the Rescuer willing to give us
a hand with abuse cases, and Savoir Faire
drops by occasionally to handle a cape fight,
but they are not police," said the chief.
"They don't have the same training or
authority that we do, and it matters."
"I'm not BASH, and that's the closest
we have to anyone trained for soup fights,"
Ansel pointed out, shaking his head.
In fact, they didn't have a whole BASH team in
Bluehill, just four trained officers who usually worked
in pairs for major drug busts or other risky details,
including reports of a supervillain incident.
Of those, Bert Armbruster was the only person who had
transferred from a bigger city with serious experience, and
Justin Bates was talking about switching from BASH to
a tamer department because his wife was expecting.
"I won't ask for miracles," said Chief De Soto.
"I'm only asking you to shore up a division where
I could really use another badge on the roster."
Ansel thought about his discussion with Skippy
regarding the importance of soup representation on
the police force, and how similar it was to race relations.
So much came down to the individual's own reason
for service, what each person believed was right,
and how they worked through solving a problem.
The department needed the best crew that
they could get, and Ansel had to admit
he had relevant qualifications now.
"Yes, sir," he said. "I'll do my best."
So Ansel took some time getting to know
the BASH officers better, along with extra practice
on the shooting range since he wasn't very good
with a zatzer, just enough to qualify annually.
He politely declined their offer of training
to carry an actual firearm, and after they saw
his scores, they didn't pressure him further.
That shook his confidence a little.
"What do you think about this?"
he asked his girlfriend Janie.
"I think there are a lot worse people that they
could put on soup patrol," she said. "Remember
that disaster in D.C.? Or the one in Mercedes?"
She shook her head. "Neither of those men
had superpowers, but they made a total
mess of things. I know you won't."
"Thanks," said Ansel. "I needed that."
It gave him enough of a boost to return
to work and focus on his expanding duties.
It was almost a letdown to discover that
most of the supervillains in Bluehill
just weren't all that scary.
There was a string of very petty thefts --
mostly picking pockets and snatching purses --
by a teenager with Super-Speed.
A case of acquaintance rape with
an accusation of superpowers turned out
to be ordinary date-rape drugs, which would
still put the man in jail for a considerable span.
There were, however, shipments of
super-gizmotronic drugs arriving from
time to time thanks to traveling supervillains,
which worried everyone with a bit of sense.
Ansel managed to collar a few
of their hired thugs, but so far nobody
had gotten close to the leaders.
Another string of crimes gradually revealed
tentative connections -- small to middling thefts,
but also disruptions of service, some intimidation,
and signs of a gang getting more troublesome.
The frustrating thing was that they always seemed
to strike when the police were already occupied
with a disturbance somewhere else.
Ansel spent one particularly worthless morning
chasing after leads that all petered out to nothing.
At noon he gave up and headed for lunch.
With the air conditioning on the fritz in
his patrol car, he rolled the windows down,
and that helped to let out the overheated air.
The drive-up microphone at the barbecue joint
wasn't working either, so he just parked
his car in the parking lot and walked in.
Ansel browsed the menu, ordered,
and soon returned with his food.
Debating between the car and a picnic table
left him deciding on the table, but it was covered
with some kind of sticky seedpods, so Ansel
stashed his bag in the car while he attempted
to make a clean space using some napkins.
That's when he saw the dog, or at least,
he thought it was a dog at first glance.
It had a triangular head with erect ears and
it seemed comfortable in broad daylight.
The tail, though, was enormous
and as fluffy as that of a fox.
The markings made it stand out
even more, because the coat was
an impossible shade of pale blue,
like aquamarine, liberally mottled with
black, its ears a deeper cornflower and
its face spotted and striped in patterns
of intricate black, white, and silver.
It was extraordinary, which was worrisome,
because Ansel wasn't sure if the color
was natural or dyed, and the last thing
they needed was a gengineered superdog
fresh out of some mad scientist's lab.
It was still the most beautiful creature that
he had ever seen in his life, with long legs like
a wolf revealed when it suddenly reared up
to put its forepaws against the car.
It was elegant, it was amazing ...
It was stealing his sandwich.
"Hey!" Ansel shouted in surprise. "That's mine!"
But the dog-fox-wolf-whatever leaped in through
the driver's side window, across the seats,
and then out through the passenger's side
with the white paper bag clenched in its teeth.
Ansel gave chase, because he wasn't sure
if barbecued pulled pork would be good for it,
but the long legs easily outmatched him.
The last he saw of it was the white tip of
its fluffy tail disappearing behind a dumpster.
After that he admitted defeat and returned
to the police department to seek comfort
in the cafeteria before writing up the case.
Ansel kept tracking the incidents,
and over time, the blue canid was
joined by reports of a teal deer.
That had led to a heart-stopping chase
by a motorcycle officer, who received
a scolding from Chief De Soto about
the importance of not engaging in
high-speed pursuit for minor crimes.
Plain old police work enabled Ansel
to catch one of the pushers who distributed
the super-gizmotronic drugs, and getting her
off the streets reduced the supply.
Just when he thought he was starting
to get the hang of this, Bert dropped
the first report of a periwinkle ferret
onto Ansel's desk for analysis.
"I am not doing well at this part
of my job," Ansel muttered.
"You're doing fine," Justin said,
patting him on the shoulder.
"We just have a crazy spell
going on with all the animals
showing up in funny colors."
"What do you think is causing it?"
Ansel said. "I really hope it's not
some mad scientist breeding
every shade of blue fur he can."
Justin shook his head. "My money
is on tracer dye," he said. "It's easier
to train animals or guide them with
Animal Control than it is to grow them
special to order in a super-gizmotronic lab."
"That's reassuring," Ansel said as he
picked up the report and began reading.
This incident had involved a jewelry kiosk.
"Whoever is behind this racket is turning
into a giant pain in my tail."
"You know we're glad to have you,
though, right?" Justin said to him.
"You bring a whole new perspective
to our investigations. It's helping.
We honestly don't mind that you're
not much of a door-breaker in the field.
Just keep doing what you do best."
Ansel thought about how much he was
learning, even if some of the lessons
proved frustrating or embarrassing.
Changing his hair color had
changed so much more in his life
than just his power status, and he was
still making new discoveries because of it.
Ansel smiled. "Thanks, Justin,"
he said. "I'm glad to be here too."
* * *
Notes:
"The ultimate authority must always rest with the individual's own reason and critical analysis."
-- Dalai Lama
This is the candy bar prize.
The effect of superpowers on law enforcement can raise problems. Terramagne is in fact evolving toward assigning ordinary police to ordinary crimes and superheroes to supervillain crimes. You can see the steps along the way in these episodes about police with superpowers, or cases where the civil authorities are coordinating efforts with SPOON. It's difficult to capture and punish supervillains, or get superheroes to testify in court. T-America addresses this by treating the cape name and legal name as two different aspects, hence why a superhero can testify in court in costume -- and why a supervillain with a lot invested in his cape name may be subject to losing that identity as a penalty for his crimes. Superheroes may break laws in pursuit of supervillains, but really, supervillains commit a lot of those same crimes. Some of these are less illegal in Terramagne, especially for superheroes known to the local authorities, which is one reason why so many soups have a stable territory. Supervillains often resort to crime even when legal activities would be more lucrative. Sometimes it's because they don't want to be bothered with regulations, or because they have no business skills, or their past experience just indicates people will screw them.
Now consider that local-America has a crappy history of race relations and police work, and Terramagne-America is only somewhat better. This includes both Irish and Italian folks, both of whom have since built a significant presence in the police force; and Jews, who preferred to become lawyers. Currently a key challenge in T-America is integrating superpowers with society, including law enforcement. There's always tension when members of one group attempt to control the actions of another, so the most effective approach is to promote self-regulation, in this instance by recruiting soups into the police force and assigning super officers to soup cases. This helps improve police-community relations.
Taking on new responsibilities is a natural part of work. There are tips for convincing a hesitant employee to accept and for adjusting to changes on the job.
Date rape drugs are bad enough in L-America, and worse in T-America. Due to similarities in effect, few but experts can tell them apart. Chemically assisted assault can have devastating effects.
Enjoy a recipe for Barbecue Pulled Pork Sandwiches, a staple of Southern comfort food. Many small barbecue restaurants have their own recipes.
See the blue canid, teal deer, and periwinkle ferret.
High-speed chases are dangerous police work, not just for the officers and suspects, but for innocent bystanders. Many parts of T-America have restricted or banned them, and similiarly, some discourage pursuit of supervillains outside of violent crimes. Instead they capitalize on alternative methods, such as tracking devices -- a fleeing suspect loses the general right to be free from nonconsensual tracking. T-America's greater investment in technology and de-escalation skills enables them to solve crimes in safer ways, but it still relies on officer self-control and chief enforcement of the rules. After all, they wouldn't have taken the job if they didn't have a strong instinct to catch crooks, and that's hard to hold back.
People often feel nervous when taking on new work. Understand how to help new coworkers feel welcome and appreciated.
librarygeek and siliconshaman. It also fills the "do something new" square in my 8-1-15 card for the As You Like It fest. This poem has been sponsored by Anthony & Shirley Barrette. It belongs to the Officer Pink thread of the Polychrome Heroics series."The Individual's Own Reason"
"I want you to start taking
more of the soup cases,"
Chief De Soto said to Ansel,
entirely without warning.
"What?" Ansel said, startled.
"I don't ... I mean, you know that
I'm not a real soup, right? That is,
the color change is real, but I don't
have any powers beyond that. I can
do the outreach, talk to kids like Skippy,
sure, but supervillains?" He shook
his head. "I don't know if I'm
cut out for that, Chief."
This wasn't the first conversation
they'd had about Ansel's new status,
but there was a big difference between
agreeing to help with kids flickering and
agreeing to go chase supervillains.
"I understand that the teddy-bear hair
is all you got --" the older man said.
"Okay, that one's new," Ansel said with
a grin, pulling a candy bar out of his desk.
"You win a prize for originality."
"You're keeping track of descriptions?"
the chief asked as he accepted the gourmet treat,
this one dark chocolate with malted milk.
"Sure, it's kind of fun," said Ansel.
"Cotton candy, thistle, every Floppit
between red and purple ..." Then he
sobered. "Seriously, though, why me?"
"Because you're all I've got," the chief said.
"We don't get a lot of cape fights in town, but
sometimes it happens, and other times it's just
minor supervillains sneaking around committing
ordinary crimes in extraordinary ways."
"What about superheroes?" Ansel said.
"Dealing with supervillains is usually their job."
"We've got the Rescuer willing to give us
a hand with abuse cases, and Savoir Faire
drops by occasionally to handle a cape fight,
but they are not police," said the chief.
"They don't have the same training or
authority that we do, and it matters."
"I'm not BASH, and that's the closest
we have to anyone trained for soup fights,"
Ansel pointed out, shaking his head.
In fact, they didn't have a whole BASH team in
Bluehill, just four trained officers who usually worked
in pairs for major drug busts or other risky details,
including reports of a supervillain incident.
Of those, Bert Armbruster was the only person who had
transferred from a bigger city with serious experience, and
Justin Bates was talking about switching from BASH to
a tamer department because his wife was expecting.
"I won't ask for miracles," said Chief De Soto.
"I'm only asking you to shore up a division where
I could really use another badge on the roster."
Ansel thought about his discussion with Skippy
regarding the importance of soup representation on
the police force, and how similar it was to race relations.
So much came down to the individual's own reason
for service, what each person believed was right,
and how they worked through solving a problem.
The department needed the best crew that
they could get, and Ansel had to admit
he had relevant qualifications now.
"Yes, sir," he said. "I'll do my best."
So Ansel took some time getting to know
the BASH officers better, along with extra practice
on the shooting range since he wasn't very good
with a zatzer, just enough to qualify annually.
He politely declined their offer of training
to carry an actual firearm, and after they saw
his scores, they didn't pressure him further.
That shook his confidence a little.
"What do you think about this?"
he asked his girlfriend Janie.
"I think there are a lot worse people that they
could put on soup patrol," she said. "Remember
that disaster in D.C.? Or the one in Mercedes?"
She shook her head. "Neither of those men
had superpowers, but they made a total
mess of things. I know you won't."
"Thanks," said Ansel. "I needed that."
It gave him enough of a boost to return
to work and focus on his expanding duties.
It was almost a letdown to discover that
most of the supervillains in Bluehill
just weren't all that scary.
There was a string of very petty thefts --
mostly picking pockets and snatching purses --
by a teenager with Super-Speed.
A case of acquaintance rape with
an accusation of superpowers turned out
to be ordinary date-rape drugs, which would
still put the man in jail for a considerable span.
There were, however, shipments of
super-gizmotronic drugs arriving from
time to time thanks to traveling supervillains,
which worried everyone with a bit of sense.
Ansel managed to collar a few
of their hired thugs, but so far nobody
had gotten close to the leaders.
Another string of crimes gradually revealed
tentative connections -- small to middling thefts,
but also disruptions of service, some intimidation,
and signs of a gang getting more troublesome.
The frustrating thing was that they always seemed
to strike when the police were already occupied
with a disturbance somewhere else.
Ansel spent one particularly worthless morning
chasing after leads that all petered out to nothing.
At noon he gave up and headed for lunch.
With the air conditioning on the fritz in
his patrol car, he rolled the windows down,
and that helped to let out the overheated air.
The drive-up microphone at the barbecue joint
wasn't working either, so he just parked
his car in the parking lot and walked in.
Ansel browsed the menu, ordered,
and soon returned with his food.
Debating between the car and a picnic table
left him deciding on the table, but it was covered
with some kind of sticky seedpods, so Ansel
stashed his bag in the car while he attempted
to make a clean space using some napkins.
That's when he saw the dog, or at least,
he thought it was a dog at first glance.
It had a triangular head with erect ears and
it seemed comfortable in broad daylight.
The tail, though, was enormous
and as fluffy as that of a fox.
The markings made it stand out
even more, because the coat was
an impossible shade of pale blue,
like aquamarine, liberally mottled with
black, its ears a deeper cornflower and
its face spotted and striped in patterns
of intricate black, white, and silver.
It was extraordinary, which was worrisome,
because Ansel wasn't sure if the color
was natural or dyed, and the last thing
they needed was a gengineered superdog
fresh out of some mad scientist's lab.
It was still the most beautiful creature that
he had ever seen in his life, with long legs like
a wolf revealed when it suddenly reared up
to put its forepaws against the car.
It was elegant, it was amazing ...
It was stealing his sandwich.
"Hey!" Ansel shouted in surprise. "That's mine!"
But the dog-fox-wolf-whatever leaped in through
the driver's side window, across the seats,
and then out through the passenger's side
with the white paper bag clenched in its teeth.
Ansel gave chase, because he wasn't sure
if barbecued pulled pork would be good for it,
but the long legs easily outmatched him.
The last he saw of it was the white tip of
its fluffy tail disappearing behind a dumpster.
After that he admitted defeat and returned
to the police department to seek comfort
in the cafeteria before writing up the case.
Ansel kept tracking the incidents,
and over time, the blue canid was
joined by reports of a teal deer.
That had led to a heart-stopping chase
by a motorcycle officer, who received
a scolding from Chief De Soto about
the importance of not engaging in
high-speed pursuit for minor crimes.
Plain old police work enabled Ansel
to catch one of the pushers who distributed
the super-gizmotronic drugs, and getting her
off the streets reduced the supply.
Just when he thought he was starting
to get the hang of this, Bert dropped
the first report of a periwinkle ferret
onto Ansel's desk for analysis.
"I am not doing well at this part
of my job," Ansel muttered.
"You're doing fine," Justin said,
patting him on the shoulder.
"We just have a crazy spell
going on with all the animals
showing up in funny colors."
"What do you think is causing it?"
Ansel said. "I really hope it's not
some mad scientist breeding
every shade of blue fur he can."
Justin shook his head. "My money
is on tracer dye," he said. "It's easier
to train animals or guide them with
Animal Control than it is to grow them
special to order in a super-gizmotronic lab."
"That's reassuring," Ansel said as he
picked up the report and began reading.
This incident had involved a jewelry kiosk.
"Whoever is behind this racket is turning
into a giant pain in my tail."
"You know we're glad to have you,
though, right?" Justin said to him.
"You bring a whole new perspective
to our investigations. It's helping.
We honestly don't mind that you're
not much of a door-breaker in the field.
Just keep doing what you do best."
Ansel thought about how much he was
learning, even if some of the lessons
proved frustrating or embarrassing.
Changing his hair color had
changed so much more in his life
than just his power status, and he was
still making new discoveries because of it.
Ansel smiled. "Thanks, Justin,"
he said. "I'm glad to be here too."
* * *
Notes:
"The ultimate authority must always rest with the individual's own reason and critical analysis."
-- Dalai Lama
This is the candy bar prize.
The effect of superpowers on law enforcement can raise problems. Terramagne is in fact evolving toward assigning ordinary police to ordinary crimes and superheroes to supervillain crimes. You can see the steps along the way in these episodes about police with superpowers, or cases where the civil authorities are coordinating efforts with SPOON. It's difficult to capture and punish supervillains, or get superheroes to testify in court. T-America addresses this by treating the cape name and legal name as two different aspects, hence why a superhero can testify in court in costume -- and why a supervillain with a lot invested in his cape name may be subject to losing that identity as a penalty for his crimes. Superheroes may break laws in pursuit of supervillains, but really, supervillains commit a lot of those same crimes. Some of these are less illegal in Terramagne, especially for superheroes known to the local authorities, which is one reason why so many soups have a stable territory. Supervillains often resort to crime even when legal activities would be more lucrative. Sometimes it's because they don't want to be bothered with regulations, or because they have no business skills, or their past experience just indicates people will screw them.
Now consider that local-America has a crappy history of race relations and police work, and Terramagne-America is only somewhat better. This includes both Irish and Italian folks, both of whom have since built a significant presence in the police force; and Jews, who preferred to become lawyers. Currently a key challenge in T-America is integrating superpowers with society, including law enforcement. There's always tension when members of one group attempt to control the actions of another, so the most effective approach is to promote self-regulation, in this instance by recruiting soups into the police force and assigning super officers to soup cases. This helps improve police-community relations.
Taking on new responsibilities is a natural part of work. There are tips for convincing a hesitant employee to accept and for adjusting to changes on the job.
Date rape drugs are bad enough in L-America, and worse in T-America. Due to similarities in effect, few but experts can tell them apart. Chemically assisted assault can have devastating effects.
Enjoy a recipe for Barbecue Pulled Pork Sandwiches, a staple of Southern comfort food. Many small barbecue restaurants have their own recipes.
See the blue canid, teal deer, and periwinkle ferret.
High-speed chases are dangerous police work, not just for the officers and suspects, but for innocent bystanders. Many parts of T-America have restricted or banned them, and similiarly, some discourage pursuit of supervillains outside of violent crimes. Instead they capitalize on alternative methods, such as tracking devices -- a fleeing suspect loses the general right to be free from nonconsensual tracking. T-America's greater investment in technology and de-escalation skills enables them to solve crimes in safer ways, but it still relies on officer self-control and chief enforcement of the rules. After all, they wouldn't have taken the job if they didn't have a strong instinct to catch crooks, and that's hard to hold back.
People often feel nervous when taking on new work. Understand how to help new coworkers feel welcome and appreciated.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2015-08-22 01:13 pm (UTC)Bwa-ha!
I think I smell a new story branch a-budding. ;-)
Yes...
Date: 2015-08-22 11:17 pm (UTC)Bwa-ha!<<
I couldn't resist. Ansel has become SO attached to his pink hair, it seemed inevitable for his opposite to have something in the blue-green range. And of course, deer are skittish with little patience to stand around ...
>> I think I smell a new story branch a-budding. ;-) <<
Yep. The several poems remaining in the Officer Pink stack are extensions of Ansel's new effort to handle the supervillain activity in Bluehill.
Re: Yes...
Date: 2015-08-22 11:28 pm (UTC)Re: Yes...
Date: 2015-08-22 11:31 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-08-23 01:44 am (UTC)That blue canid sounds absolutely gorgeous. I'm really hoping it was just scavenging for food for itself, possibly with souped-up intelligence enough to know how to access the inside of a car via the window (so young, mobile child levels of reasoning), but wasn't out for anything more malicious. That description biased me in its favor, whoops!
Yes...
Date: 2015-08-23 04:07 am (UTC):D
>> That blue canid sounds absolutely gorgeous. <<
Yes, it is. Long, soft, fluffy fur for maximum tactile stimulation.
>> I'm really hoping it was just scavenging for food for itself, possibly with souped-up intelligence enough to know how to access the inside of a car via the window (so young, mobile child levels of reasoning), but wasn't out for anything more malicious. <<
You'll find out in the next poem, whenever that gets published.
>> That description biased me in its favor, whoops! <<
It's okay. It should be pretty clear which characters are downright evil, which are the most upstanding, and which fall into that pesky gray area between where 99% of everything resides.
(no subject)
Date: 2015-08-31 07:01 am (UTC)Yes...
Date: 2015-08-31 07:14 am (UTC)the BASH trained cops
Date: 2015-09-01 01:48 am (UTC)but I love that they appreciate Ansel's skillset, especially because SWAT cops here are incredibly focused on their own skillset, and tend to rank themselves against fellow SWAT officers.
That one moment of difference is not only AWESOME, it gives me FAITH in the T-American system, individually and collectively.
It leaves the two bad apples as outliers, where they belong.
Re: the BASH trained cops
Date: 2015-09-01 08:31 am (UTC):D
>> but I love that they appreciate Ansel's skillset, especially because SWAT cops here are incredibly focused on their own skillset, and tend to rank themselves against fellow SWAT officers. <<
Terramagne has a better grasp of both diversity and teamwork. Bert is a great doorbreaker. BASH needs doorbreakers. He's a terrific leader. But he sucks at de-escalation, and he understands that sometimes breaking down a door is not the best solution to a problem. He doesn't want avoidable property damage or, worse, injuries. Conversely Ansel is great at things like de-escalation and soup stuff, but marginally adequate at shooting and really not aggressive in general. Put them on a team together and they have all those bases covered now, without anyone having to use a screwdriver to pound nails. Yay!
>> That one moment of difference is not only AWESOME, it gives me FAITH in the T-American system, individually and collectively. <<
I'm happy to hear that. I want to write solutions, not just problems. Much of the wreckage we're seeing in local-America is due to militarization, hyperspecialization, and overuse of heavy force. A mixed team is better equipped to respond appropriately to situations. There are a few precincts training their people better, and I'm always watching for that to use as inspiration.
But this is the kind of thing that ordinary officers need to handle superpowers. Guns and armor actually do make pretty good equalizers. It's the teamwork that will kick supervillain butt 9 times out of 10, though. Most criminals just plain don't have the social skills for fluent cooperation. You see some with gangs, especially the most organized ones; but the vast majority are either soloists or small loose-knit teams. A well-trained pro team can usually beat them, even if the bad guys have superior firepower.
>> It leaves the two bad apples as outliers, where they belong. <<
Yep. There are always going to be assholes in a group. What determines the group's quality is not an absence of assholes, but rather how they handle the ones they have. T-American police have high standards, and tend to fire officers for questionable behavior. In Brad's case, he was able to switch from one place to another to another because much of what he did was competent, until he went far enough to start attracting the wrong kind of attention. Officer RAT on the other hand made such an abrupt shift into Hellnoville that his precinct was all, "That guy is not with us!"
Two different trajectories, two different outcomes.
Re: the BASH trained cops
Date: 2015-09-01 01:56 pm (UTC)Prevailingly true, but also why the people who DO have those skills drift toward Kraken and the Marionettes--organized crime may as well be called sociable crime!
BTW, I still have notes on Tanner's hometown cops in interviews after the shooting. Which would tick Cash off, because he's like "If he set off the Jerk Alarm in your head, WHY didn't you go to your boss?"
Which is very, very different than "another suspect shot" discussions WE have here.
Re: the BASH trained cops
Date: 2015-09-01 04:44 pm (UTC)That is a brilliant observation! Those are the high ends. On the low end, you get charismatic supervillains and their hapless minions, like Haboob and the Kitab. Even in our world, gangs are known for forming to fill the social gaps in young people's lives. I love the idea of sociable crime. That is a thread worth following!
>> BTW, I still have notes on Tanner's hometown cops in interviews after the shooting.<<
That would be awesome. T-American discussion would be substantially aimed at "What went wrong, and how can we stop it from happening again?"
>> Which would tick Cash off, because he's like "If he set off the Jerk Alarm in your head, WHY didn't you go to your boss?" <<
It's a valid question ...
* Nobody noticed anything wrong, which is possible in a very busy department.
* People noticed it, but did not report it, because they didn't think it was important enough, didn't have time, and/or didn't want to make trouble.
* People reported it, but the chief ignored the reports because Officer RAT was a relative or other favorite.
* People reported it, and the department already wanted to fire him, but his previous offenses were not actionable yet. Firing people for trivial offenses is a waste of resources because nobody is perfect. I think this is the most likely, because people usually chain up to a major crime like that. He probably got reprimanded at least a handful of times, and may have failed to earn promotions in pace with his peers. So then it becomes a question of where you draw the line.
The latter would also play in to Officer RAT's decision of premeditated use of contraband equipment outside of his official duties, if he'd gotten scolded several times for what he thought was just doing his job.
>> Which is very, very different than "another suspect shot" discussions WE have here. <<
Sooth.
Re: the BASH trained cops
Date: 2015-09-01 05:27 pm (UTC)His captain even started putting pressure on by assigning him partners who were black, Latina, Vietnamese... She was HOPING he would say or do anything actionably bigoted, even if it was just an internal complaint to the ethics department.
She's got a styrofoam "tombstone" tucked in her desk drawer now, with Tanner's badge and ID clipped to it. She feels like they failed to help him early enough, failed to redirect him, etc. She's completely determined to make sure it doesn't happen again.
Which makes her a good resource for Bluehill, BTW; her suburb of Chicago doesn't have a lot of budget, but she's making every penny count with better training. Sharing that with other cops is one way she's dealing with her reactions to Tanner.
Re: the BASH trained cops
Date: 2015-09-01 05:45 pm (UTC):D Great minds warp alike. I appreciate having another "down the slippery slope" character to counterbalance the tendency of my supervillains to fall up.
>>His captain even started putting pressure on by assigning him partners who were black, Latina, Vietnamese... <<
Good idea ...
>>She was HOPING he would say or do anything actionably bigoted, even if it was just an internal complaint to the ethics department. <<
But ouch for his partners. *ponder* I wonder if any of them will send notes of commiseration to Cash? "I got stuck with him as my partner for a year. I sympathize with your hardship."
>>She's got a styrofoam "tombstone" tucked in her desk drawer now, with Tanner's badge and ID clipped to it. She feels like they failed to help him early enough, failed to redirect him, etc. She's completely determined to make sure it doesn't happen again. <<
Wow. That's beautiful and heartbreaking. Definitely write it up! "Styrofoam Tombstones" would make a good title.
>> Which makes her a good resource for Bluehill, BTW; her suburb of Chicago doesn't have a lot of budget, but she's making every penny count with better training. Sharing that with other cops is one way she's dealing with her reactions to Tanner. <<
This sounds like Bert's boss. My guess is that one of her ongoing projects is training officers in a very large, very mixed-race city who can then take their experience to smaller, less-mixed locales to provide skills that are harder to get homegrown. And conversely, she's taking their recruits who want to get out of the home turf and head to the big city.
That would make a wonderful connection -- especially now that Ansel is crossing over to support BASH on some of their soup cases. It's a link to possibly swapping Ansel up to Onion City to do a presentation on his work in soup outreach.
Re: the BASH trained cops
Date: 2015-09-01 08:49 pm (UTC)You've gotten me thinking about another set of interconnections, too!
(no subject)
Date: 2015-08-22 07:33 am (UTC)Thank you!
Date: 2015-08-22 07:39 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-08-22 07:58 am (UTC)Yes...
Date: 2015-08-22 08:46 am (UTC)I strangely like that this thread has a focus on colours
Date: 2020-05-19 02:32 pm (UTC)Love the teal deer and blue ferret though!
Whoever the unnamed soup is, they seem to know that they'll get away with thieving in animal-form instead of human form which is seriously clever.
Does the unnamed soup also have some kind of hypnotic power or were they working with the surprise that Ansel had at seeing a blue canid?
It was kind of in the same vein as Macavity making his way into Damask's headspace and Maze taking a while to realise which was amusing.
Continuing onto the next poem :)
~Angel
Re: I strangely like that this thread has a focus on colours
Date: 2020-05-19 07:45 pm (UTC)Quite a few.
>> Your blue canid link isn't working and I really wanted to see the picture because you're description of said canid was captivating.<<
Fixed, thanks.
>> Love the teal deer and blue ferret though! <<
:D
>> Whoever the unnamed soup is, they seem to know that they'll get away with thieving in animal-form instead of human form which is seriously clever.<<
Yep. Also, he's not actually comfortable with stealing, and feelings differ considerably across forms.
>> Does the unnamed soup also have some kind of hypnotic power or were they working with the surprise that Ansel had at seeing a blue canid?<<
Not exactly. Most of it is surprise.
>> It was kind of in the same vein as Macavity making his way into Damask's headspace and Maze taking a while to realise which was amusing.<<
LOL yes.
Re: I strangely like that this thread has a focus on colours
Date: 2020-05-20 12:18 am (UTC)Fixed, thanks.<<
Absolutely gorgeous. I want to give canid Turq all the cuddles! Will he accept them if they are air-cuddles?
>>Yep. Also, he's not actually comfortable with stealing, and feelings differ considerably across forms.<<
Okay, so pure survival coupled with maybe outside peer pressure. Kind of like in Oliver Twist? Way outdated source but it may be similar.
>>Not exactly. Most of it is surprise.<<
Well, even in T-America I don't suppose it's am everyday occurence to see a blue animal.
~Angel
Re: I strangely like that this thread has a focus on colours
Date: 2020-05-20 01:20 am (UTC):D
>> I want to give canid Turq all the cuddles! Will he accept them if they are air-cuddles? <<
Air-cuddles he can probably manage at this stage.
>>Okay, so pure survival coupled with maybe outside peer pressure. Kind of like in Oliver Twist? Way outdated source but it may be similar.<<
You're a lot closer than you think. Just wait until you meet Mr. Dipper.
>>Well, even in T-America I don't suppose it's am everyday occurence to see a blue animal.<<
Yeah, it's rare but not unheard of. People know what a crayon soup is even if they've never seen one, so the list of possibilities includes a dyed ordinary critter, something cooked up in a mad science lab, or a crayon soup. Turq is actually more, because he's a shapeshifter and so on.