Rep-Detect, the RDURDU (slang): Serving(slang): Serving
as an official, independent agency of the United Nations since the advent of Replicant technologies, the Replicant Detection Unit is the foremost authority on upholding and enforcing the criminal laws and regulations regarding the domestic use and abuse of Replicants and all other regulated technologies within Earth borders. Though beginning as a specially trained police squad for identifying and retiring trespassing Replicants illegally residing within Earth borders, the RDU has evolved over the decades from a threat-focused law enforcement agency to an intelligence-driven security organization. It is the principal investigative arm of the UN for all Replicant-related matters, with sole jurisdiction to investigate criminal activity or accusations regarding any monitored entities and technologies. The RDU manages all aspects of the enforcement process, with their operations primarily targeting public safety threats, such as criminally accused or charged Replicants, criminally accused or charged humans wanted for unlawful use or abuse of regulated technologies, and criminal obstructions of RDU operations and UN ustice committed by Replicant or human citizens on Earth.
Evolving over time from a threat-focused law enforcement agency to an intelligence-driven security organization, the Replicant-Detection Unit has progressively expanded its jurisdiction and diversified its capabilities. It no longer serves as merely the UN’s principal investigative arm for all regulated entities and technologies. The RDU now also represents UN interests as the foremost authority on the nature of these technologies and the threats they present, both to public safety and the socio-economic stability of the system.
As the UN’s first line of defense, the RDU independently steers its own investigations, while serving as a resource for the LAPD and any outside agency and organization that might require the specialized knowledge and know-how found only among the RDU ranks. The following section provides a brief overview of the many divisions and capabilities within the RDU, all of which may become useful during casework.
With this new breed of Replicant comes a new breed of Blade Runner. Though the Replicant-Detection Unit has kept its name, the UN’s Replicant Reintegration Act has changed the RDU’s mandate, making them an investigative branch with sole jurisdiction over the use and abuse of all monitored entities and technologies. It’s not the Blade Runner’s job to simply detect Replicants. They must now protect them as well.
For the first time, Replicants are entitled to due process, and detectives must investigate if a Replicant deserves to be retired. A case must be made to justify the bullet, even after it’s been fired in the line of duty. We must even defend Replicants now, both in the courts and on the streets, should they be the victims of crimes or conspiracies against them. And there are many. After all, Replicants are the most prized technology in the system, and when are such toys not stolen, broken, or abused in the wrong hands? Not to mention the unsanctioned technologies, the illegal counterfeits, the underground traffickers and chop shops... all the entrenched criminal enterprises unchecked during Prohibition and now exposed. Plus, let’s not forget good old-fashioned hatred. Fueled by the old fears and bigotries of bygone Nexus-6 bogeymen, along with the bullies all too eager to antagonize those who can’t fight back.
But there will be a fight, though perhaps not waged by Reps. Remember, the Reintegration Act is more than a civil rights issue. The city’s economy, and the prosperity and socio-political stability of the entire system, all hinge upon a Nexus workforce. The UN put their jobs on the line when they repealed Prohibition, and countless bottom lines across the colonies couldn’t have been more grateful. Now that big business is back, hell if it’s leaving without a war.
This is most especially true for Wallace Corp, who forever stands in the center of every storm, meticulously tinkering with each investigation like wires in some massive, Machiavellian scheme. After all, Niander Wallace’s vision for humanity is cradled in synthetic arms. And his stockholders have placed their faith in his promises, as much as they now expect the RDU to deliver upon them. One way or another.
In many ways, the fate of Wallace Corp and the RDU are intertwined. Wallace Corp needs the governmental protections and severe legal implications should competitors violate their patents, traffickers steal and sell their clients’ property, counterfeits and chop shops threaten the public’s safety and trust with unsanctioned augmentations or bastardized tech and abominations. One false step and the masses could rise up again to riot and ransack the Replicant industry. And so the UN, Wallace Corp, and the entire economy needs the RDU to keep all that from happening.
As part of the UN’s deal to repeal Prohibition, Wallace Corp is required to provide the RDU with generous funding every year, including the unit’s N-9 Blade Runners. This makes it hard to bar Wallace from the office, as much as some might like to do so. But make no mistake, Blade Runners are servants of the people. You don’t answer to anybody but the Chief and your own conscience.
Even so, you’d be a fool to ignore the glaring fact that the RDU, the whole Replicant Reintegration Act and the limited rights it grants Nexuses... all of it protects the megarich and Wallace Corp’s monopoly as much as it does the commonwealth. Otherwise, if there wasn’t due process and Reps and their owners/manufacturers didn’t have rights to protect, what’s stopping the next riot or witch hunt?
Thankfully, the first shots have yet to be fired. Nexus-9s have a clean bill of health and no cases have closed against them thus far. Even so, every day there are new accusations. New hate crimes and conspiracies. All committed against a synthetic race that cannot reasonably defend themselves without risking their own retirement. Risking their entire race. And so it’s up to you, the Blade Runner, to somehow contain this clusterfuck and maintain some semblance of order. Even when every case teeters into uncharted, highly controversial territory. And every verdict can tear the system apart.
Yet even if legitimate charges are brought against a Nexus-9, the UN has made their position clear. If a judge’s gavel ever falls against a Nexus-9, the entire RDU better be willing to stake their lives and livelihoods upon it. If even one N-9 were proven capable of the old N-6 inhumanities, there would be industrial upheavals, riots in the streets, and war across the system. Sound like fun? Well, it’s your job, so when that Code 3 comes and the Chief calls you onto that next case, all you can do is answer. Break cases and faces till the world turns right again. If it’s any consolation, there’s free coffee in the common room and the White Dragon Noodle Bar lets cops cut in line. We even get a two-for-one discount, and in a city this cold, you’ve learned to be grateful for anything warm served with a side of kindness.
Known amongst cops as “the Tower,” the new headquarters for the Los Angeles Police Department Precinct 995 is a hulking monstrosity. Always open. Always overwhelmed. Swarming with cops, crooks, and citizens in need. There’s neither a case nor criminal that doesn’t pass through this building at some point, which would explain why the Tower rivals most megastructures in town. Even still, the lobby floor open to the public often feels like it’s bursting at the seams, with the cacophony and crowds matching the roar of a sports arena during the worst of times.
The new headquarters was constructed in the early 2030s after a major fire nearly took down the old LAPD headquarters back in 2029. Most major LAPD divisions sprinted to the Tower the moment the doors opened. In classic chain of command, the LAPD top brass and UN bureaucrats have exclusively claimed the top floors. They’re normally off-limits, but when a case demands diplomacy or your boss’ boss’ boss needs to shout a few colorful metaphors at you behind closed doors, you’ll take the rare ride up the lift. Among the floors below, you’ll find all a Blade Runner needs for case work, including some RDU advantages found nowhere else, such as the LAPD Mainframe and Denabase, RDU training grounds, V-K and Baseline interrogation rooms, and a reserved Spinner fleet. They even transplanted the infamous Esper Wall from the old HQ.
The LAPD’s armory and facilities are technically at your disposal as well, but Blade Runners rarely take advantage. The RDU’s armory is special equipped with Blade Runner gear and goodies. Plus, any crime lab without Coco (the RDU’s Chief Medical Examiner-Coroner) pales in comparison, as his grasp on the vast complexities of Replicants and other regulated tech is unsurpassed. Customizing the RDU’s Crime Lab like most Blade Runners once tweaked their V-K briefcases, no crime lab in the system can hold a candle to Coco’s kingdom.
Yet truth be told, Blade Runners work and live on the streets, so your time in the Tower is brief and perfunctory at best. Luckily, you can get almost anywhere in the city from the Tower by Spinner in 15 minutes flat. So, while some Blade Runners may aspire to claim one of those top brass corner offices high above, the streets below and the second to last stool at the White Dragon Noodle Bar suit most just fine. And they give extra noodles on the house.