Co-OPed by Europa Undivided and Khasinkonia
Welcome to New Cottington PD, a crime drama where you get to write the life of a detective in the Serious Crimes Unit of the (seemingly) hopelessly corrupt New Cottington PD. You will be tasked with tracking down and bringing to justice a variety of strange and interesting gangsters and other criminals, a task which is made harder by the fact that half your fellow officers are on someone's payroll and the citizens don't trust you. Will you fall to corruption? Perhaps you go off the rails and become worse than the criminals? Or maybe you might try to be a light in the darkness who can bring some kind of order to the crime ridden city?
'New Cottington' is set in the fictional city of the same name that is more-or-less this universe's version of New York. Other than this one change you can assume that all technology etc. is more-or-less the same as it is today and other places still exist on the map. I have chosen to use a fictional city to allow a bit of creativity on my, and your part regarding places etc. Similarly, the NCPD is not a real police force with real procedures etc; this is a crime drama, not a police simulation so you do not need to go to police college to learn procedure before joining. Someone who I trust to remain active and not abandon the thread unexpectedly will be told their character is the 'Lead Detective' (yes I know that real police departments have grades etc.) though the Captain will be your 'quest giver'... and rip you a new one if you decide to shoot up the casino.
The tone of this RP will not be entirely serious at times. Expect outrageous villains who chew the scenery and big shoot outs, but also plenty of time to develop your character.
Finally, if you still feel like joining (no matter how long it gets), that is fine, there is always room for a new rookie on the squad!
Case One
(With some theme music)
It was another cold, dark day in December. Snow was falling on the city, just a light dusting. For now. The Christmas lights were up across town and the shop windows were lavishly decorated, glowing with the promise of the festivities to come and the promise that the world's problems might be fixed if only people would spend just a little bit more money on the latest offering by this season's well intentioned pop star. The women and men of the Serious Crimes Unit were, undoubtedly not feeling particularly festive.
Another body had been found - the third in a series that was beginning to point to a serial killer. For some people that was cause enough to be feeling grim though, if that were not enough, the call-out had come at 5:00 in the morning, which was really quite uncivilised, especially for those officers who had been feeling festive the night before...
The local detective, a gaunt looking man with large ears and a mop of hair that fell forward across his brow, seemed all too eager to hand the case over, which wasn't a good sign. Local detectives could be quite territorial and the involvement of Serious Crimes all too often got their back up, as if it were somehow a challenge to their competence, "You the guys from Serious Crimes?" he inquired, "Detective Lambert, pleasure to meet you. If you'll follow me, I'll show you the body."
The body had been found down by some old warehouses on the riverfront. If there hadn't been lights, it would have been easy to think the rusting, dilapidated old buildings were abandoned. A few curious warehouse workers were hanging about near the police perimeter, though they couldn't see much. The cordon had been set up on the road, though to get down to the body required climbing down a steep bank next to the docks, where the local cops had the body under a blanket set right on the water's edge. Lambert peeled it back far enough to see the face, which, for those in the unit who were familiar with the local mafia would immediately reveal why Lambert was so happy to get rid of the case.
The body was pallid in death, though the crooked nose and lantern jaw perched atop a massive frame that was as much fat as muscle was still unmistakable: Frank 'the Lemon' Scavi. His dark hair, usually slicked back was plastered over his face - time spent in the water. Someone had cut his throat, the wound was unmistakable, though there was no blood under the blanket. Presumably the crime had happened elsewhere and he'd washed up here.
Scavi had worked for Tony Cardo, one of the big players in the city. Whomever had taken Scavi out was going to have Cardo out for blood; if this was the work of another family it could turn into a gang war and anyone investigating the case would end up in the middle, potentially in the crosshairs of both groups. Investigating it wasn't going to be easy and was likely to draw the ire of some very dangerous people... not the kind of hot potato you wanted to be left holding.
"This looks like the work of a serial killer," Lambert supplied, which was the excuse they were using to get rid of the case, "Third body we've found like this in the last two weeks, throat slashed and gallbladder removed. Don't ask me why. If it's like the other two, when your medical examiner takes a look at it they'll say it looks like the person had some surgical training. The other two were vagrants. I'm sure that our ME will be happy to share any notes on the bodies, though we haven't generated any leads."
They probably hadn't put much effort into investigating the death of a couple of vagrants. That kind of crime tended to go unsolved.
"You folks have any questions?" Lambert asked, "If not I'll be up at the car," he hiked his thumb in the direction they had come from, where the police vehicles were parked up, "so you know where to find me if you come up with some."