retrospec | Neighborhood Watch

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Neighborhood Watch

Hitori Togusa
11/9 near Recolle Police Department

For those of you who haven't met me, this is Officer Hitori Togusa, with the Recolle Police. I'm posting today to ask for help in organizing a Recolle Neighborhood Watch. Or, more accurately, a Retrospec Neighborhood Watch.
Last month, I saw a lot of people making a lot of effort to help each other out. People trying to keep each other safe, and even the people who couldn't tell that anything strange was going on. It was inspiring. And there were also a lot of questions about what more people can do to help. If there's anything that August and now October have made painfully clear, it's that the RPD can't be in all places at once. But Retrospec can.
Credit Oppa Ichirou Matsuoka for the idea. But what we need would be a few civilian volunteers to organize. This would be entirely civilian-run and organized, we're just here to help. You're going to need more than one person running this. The best candidates would be people who already know a lot of people on the app, and who know what they are capable of. Somebody who can point out, "No, that pet dragon is supposed to be there, but the giant spiders might be a problem."
As I said, the RPD is going to stay out of the handling of it. I've definitely got some recommendations, but people are free to take or leave them. But any of us Officers will help coordinate and train the organizers. Pretty sure Oppa Frederick Baudin was enthusiastic about the idea.
Questions, comments, any volunteers already? Let's talk.

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There are some more people I need to lean on, but who else could you think of? A few of the business owners around here, Mohammed, definitely. Carmen? Majima? Who else do you know?

They're all people who have been itching to find a way to help, I want to give it to them.

You think Majima is reliable in that regard? I don't entirely disagree, I'm just surprised at the recommendation.

Everyone seems to trust Dr. Sutcliffe, for one.

Not that people should be volunteered unless they want to step up.

Absolutely. As soon as we all figured out what the danger was last month, Majima’s first reaction was to offer to escort people through the fog so that nobody had to go anywhere alone. Guy like that has his priorities straight.

It just means there are some people I can specifically reach out to in case they missed this. More people are likely to commit once they see this is actually going to happen.

[ ... Huh, that's a good point. ]

I must've missed that.

I do have people I'd personally rely on, but I don't know if those people would want to be volunteered to everyone. But if you really think I've got some capability, I'll show up to the first few meetings.

But that's on us to organize for differentiation from the force, right?

That's the hope, yeah. The second you want me to butt out, I will, gladly. I really just wanted to let everybody know this was an option.

Thank you, I mean it. I get the feeling we're going to see the good kind of surprises out of people in the wake of this.

I was asking more on your end of things, Officer. After all, if you're going to pursue this legally, you can't be seen to be backing what's in essence vigilantes.

What? No. The exact opposite. The point is to set this up as a legal operation. You wouldn't have the authority to make arrests, like we do, but something to get more organized on the Retrospec threats, to warn people about what is happening in the city.

This- is why we need to do the classes first, to let you know what is and isn't within this level of authority. There's a way to organize to help the city completely legally, so who needs to do this illegally?

You can deputize this many people to organize things? If there's another monster attack, there might be violence again, you know.

It's not a deputization, either.

Nobody's handing over legal authority, at all. Don't need to arrest a fog monster, can't put cuffs on one of those dragons. But how can people get help if nobody knows it's there? People were asking for a way to help in those situations, that's what I was trying to provide.

If you think people will take it too far?

I don't know. I do know in some of my fights, I did end up accidentally causing property damage even if it fixed itself and I'm fairly sure that a friend of mine borrowed some personal firearms to help deal with those dragons. Ultimately, we were protecting ourselves and others around us, but those were crimes, albeit justifiable ones (and in my case, the city fixed itself).

I suppose I'm just worried about your job and ability to make the case more than us.

With adequate planning and organization, would that have helped in those situations? Rather than having to borrow whatever was at hand, would it have been better to call in someone with an ability more suited to the threat?

If not that, then what would have helped? Because ultimately, what's what I want out of this.

No, you're right, those would help. I don't know if weapons can be cached, but at this point enough users have strange things you said were legal as long as they're registered, right? That's easy enough. In the event that there's another situation where people are made small, something might need to be done there, but I'm not sure how to prepare for that or the fog other than just people volunteering what they can.

This is the first step in people volunteering what they can.

I hope.

As for the weapons, anything short of a damn flamethrower or a laser gun should be able to be registered. For some reason the city hasn't been noticing paperwork problems. Example, my personal handgun is a Japanese model. Should have needed import paperwork, the city even confiscated it, but then I got it sent back with a registration.

On that note, if somebody does get a flamethrower, let me know, I've been itching to get them to try to register it anyway just to see what Retrospec does.

Will do.

One of my son's got a monster the size of a bus that's his friend, but I don't know what you'd even do paperwork wise for that.

What

Is this, one of those ones he can summon for a little bit? Or? Is there a bus monster just hanging out in your living room now?

A bus monster that can fit inside something the size of a baseball for some reason.

Oh! Like Modeste! Ah, the friend that Dr. Sycamore has! Another creature like that?

Oh, now you mention it, a lot like that! I only met that man the once and his dragon doesn't look a thing like any of his so I didn't connect it, but the balls are similar, aren't they?

I’ll admit I wasn’t very nice about Modeste when I first met her, but she’s really nice. For a...shark-dragon.

If your son and his friend have the time, I’d love to meet them.

And, on your original question, as I understand it from Augustine, they’re sentient. So, no registration required.

They might, but he is out at college so the choice will be his. He can be skittish around police, sometimes (he was in foster care for a while)

But oh that's good to know.

Believe me, I get it. Recolle's foster care system is more extensive than I realized when I first came here. Everybody that's gone through it is either very wary of us, or joined up.

But, honestly, one more reason why you'd be a good fit for this. Somebody who knows which big creatures are supposed to be here and aren't dangerous? That would help out.

But you've already agreed, so, promise, stopping the hard sell. I'm just excited.

If anything, the excitement is a little bit flattering.

But it really is, a lot of foster children end up in this system, sometimes from surprisingly far away. I've fostered a fair bit through the years and sometimes the stories you encounter really can be tragic. Honestly, it makes me wonder if that's a part of the whole conspiracy that seems to run through the city what with Retrospec but . . . I don't want to think that.

On one hand, I'm glad someone else is thinking along those terms. But on the other, yeah, you're right. I don't want to think that.

We all start second-guessing our reasons for coming here? It's going to drive everyone crazy. Retrospec doesn't have that much control over us.

I've lived here my whole life. I just meant that those foster kids were transferred here likely from other places, right? I don't mean to suggest mind control or something.

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