The Forensic Sciences division is responsible for the collection, identification, preservation, comparison, and interpretation of physical, medical, and digital evidence found at crime scenes or collected from suspects and victims. Data junkies and research monkeys, they are also the stewards and caretakers of the crime labs, the morgue, and the many data centers and LAPD-exclusive technologies all crucial to your investigations.
Commonly known within the LAPD as the Replicant Intelligence & Technology division, the RIT is the famous research & development division of the RDU and the custodians of its world-class crime lab. Unlike other LAPD divisions, the RIT is mostly staffed with outside recruits from biotech companies, top universities, and the private sector. Known throughout the system as one of the foremost authorities on synthetic technologies, the RIT boasts a depth of education and specialized training that goes far beyond standard police protocol.
The RIT chiefly provides two levels of support: technical and logistical. Technicians are world-class forensic specialists and pathologists who oversee the RDU’s famous Crime Lab and spearhead the division’s R&D efforts, designing countermeasures (e.g., weapons, equipment, upgrades, etc.) that maximize effectiveness in the field. Most technicians refuse to leave their fancy toys and crime labs, though some do become gifted field operatives known for working crime scenes with uncanny analytical skills.
Meanwhile, Logistics officers ceaselessly research and monitor all known entities, technologies, and threats. They are solely responsible for maintaining the RDU’s data centers – the LAPD Mainframe, the Esper Network, and the Denabase – that mine and catalogue data to help investigations with greater certainty and safety. Logistics specialists rarely enter the field, but their encyclopedic knowledge can meaningfully aid investigations and tactical planning.
Many investigations begin and end with a cotton swab or corpse on a cold slab, and this is where those happen. Due to the complexities and confidentiality of the work, the RDU maintains its own crime lab, morgue, and medical services unit – all equipped with advanced technologies leagues above LAPD standards and staffed by world-class physicians and forensic pathologists beyond the standard crime lab’s wildest dreams. Most notably, the keen and cold eyes of Coco, the RDU’s King of the Crime Lab and Chief Medical Examiner-Coroner.
This is where the magic happens. This is also where most of the annual budget goes. The RDU Crime Lab is one of the most advanced forensics labs in the system, attracting the brightest minds from academia and the tech industry to play in a UN-sanctioned sandbox with the shiniest toys and bleeding-edge tech.
This world-renowned think tank is at your disposal, boasting an army of insatiably curious minds that dive down every rabbit hole, obsess over every detail, and inexhaustibly collect, analyze, and deliver physical, medical, and digital evidence that identifies leads, proves theories, and closes cases more than you care to admit.
A vital part of any investigation, Coco and his team offer 24/7 support to perform forensic studies, on-site crime scene analysis and trace evidence scans, and postmortem autopsies; helping detectives to collect/assess evidence and ascertain the cause, manner, and circumstances of any natural, sudden, violent, or unusual deaths. The Crime Lab is available for a wide range of lab work, including chemistry, pathology, serology, ballistics, criminology, microbiology, toxicology, morphology, DNA analysis, photography, videography, scientific research, hazardous materials, and trace evidence. They also provide specialized medical services to injured officers or maintenance repairs for N-9 officers or humans with synthetic augmentations.
The know-how of any Crime Lab technician boggles the mind. Better to assume they can do it than the opposite. Even if it defies the laws of nature, you’d be shocked by the miracles they make happen. Some lab analysts even serve as field operatives, particularly for crime scene investigations and cases where forensic science is central to the casework.
Coco and the crime lab team are antisocial workaholics, so you can find them tinkering or experimenting on something or someone at any given time of day or night. While they don’t make the greatest company, it’s worth noting that the crime lab is also the home of Biscuits, the unofficial office cat of the RDU. So the story goes, the animoid calico cat was submitted as evidence as the sole synthetic witness to a crime. One day someone in the crime lab unwisely let her out of her evidence locker, and Biscuits has been running free in the RDU halls ever since. Years later, not even the most seasoned Blade Runner has managed to catch her. Taking a shining to the equally aloof Chief Coroner, Biscuits and Coco are often found brooding side-by-side in the late hours.