Posted by Civilian Joseph Karlson (Police Commissioner) in Commissioners Office - Government Tower - TMODJ
Shortly after Pangolin’s meeting with the Lieutenant Governor ended, he went down to the Commissioner’s Office and briefed him on the specifics. After a detailed but brief explanation, the Detective Chief Inspector left the office and was replaced by Alicia Gonzales, the Deputy Commissioner.

Joseph stood looking out the window down at the city as Alicia prepared herself a cup of tea. She was a short, thin woman in her mid-fifties and had served as Joseph’s deputy for the past four years. She wore the Senior Officer Uniform, not civilian clothing like Joseph preferred. Finally, she sat down in one of the plush sofas and sipped her tea “You’re in a mood today” She said lightly, peering at him through her eyelashes. The comment made Joseph snort.

“Just some developments in the Jones murder” He turned from the window and stepped towards her. “Even after a decade on Oed and I still can’t get used to the banality of crimes committed here.” He sighed and sat down in an armchair

Alicia smiled at him, a smile that didn’t reach her eyes “Does that mean that it won’t be long until you can redirect some of the MCD resources to other cases?”

Joseph scowled. He much preferred Alicia over her predecessor, who was a purely political animal, making decisions based on optics and what would benefit their career. However, Alicia tended to be completely ignorant of the Politics of the job, especially now with their neighbours returning to the galactic scene “We’ve already expanded the department, DCI Stone is running her own team, and so far has been performing admirably. She was your recommendation”

Alicia sipped her tea “I’m aware” She spoke in a neutral tone, but there was a flash of smugness in her eyes. She’d championed hard for Stone to be promoted and given her own team instead of just being integrated into Pangolin’s team. Joseph had argued against it, not out of any lack of faith; he’d been bored and getting a rise out of his Deputy was always entertaining. She was also an excellent debater, and so far, he’d never won an argument “But this case has been one of the largest in Oed history, every agency involved” She raised a hand to forestall his argument “I know the importance of this case Joe, I understand it, but we’ve been pouring resources from almost every department to this, thousands of manhours and no sign of it slowing down, if we are reaching the endpoint I think it is time to start rolling back, if not MCD resources then at least here in the tower”

Joseph sighed, “I don’t disagree, Alicia. Look, there’s going to be a meeting of the Cabinet regarding the latest developments” He didn’t say what those developments were, not yet “After that discussion, I’ll send you a plan of action for rolling back technical support, and you can get on it”

Commissioner Karlson & Deputy Commissioner Gonzales

Alicia grunted “Alright, let’s table the discussion until the adults have had a chance to speak” Her tone was sardonic, but there was no malice in it “Let’s move on, the cross training with the Duroc forces has been very succesful on both ends, it seems your little brother has an eye for talent, his people took surprisingly well to descalation training” She announced

Joseph smiled widely “And our men, I hope they weren’t too damaged” There was a brightness in his tone which got a very pronounced eye roll from Alicia

“They did fine” She said in a brisk tone “We’ll have to see how effective Duroc tactics are at a later date”

Commissioner Karlson & Deputy Commissioner Gonzales