09:03. Friday, December 1st, 2023. HPD Community Room.
HPD headquarters was a lot smaller than the Town Hall, but Alexis had to admit it was a lot nicer. She had booked the community room for this training. Her stomach was already in knots. Lex it’s fine! You are just doing your job. The notion that this was the same defense used at Nuremberg did not escape her, though she did her best to quiet that part of her brain down.
Nobody was here yet. The administrator she talked to told her that she wouldn’t be able to use her own laptop if she wanted to use the projector. She set her messenger bag on the table and went to find the administrator who helped her log into the desktop connected to the projector.
She confirmed that she wouldn’t need to use the speakers since her presentation didn’t have any sound, then thanked her for helping with the setup. With a few more pleasantries exchanged, the admin turned on the projector and left to return to her desk.
She seems like a nice lady, wonder what made her want to work for the cops?
It was the part of her job Alexis most struggled with. People in Hermon were just fine with dealing with the police. She knew that her problems with cops weren’t even necessarily rational. That isn’t to say they weren’t based on facts, just that facts didn’t exactly apply to someone like her.
Ugh, I hate thinking about this. At least if I can get through this they probably won’t ask me to do another training for a while. Just gotta stay focused.
She logged into her account, pulled out her presentation, set it to full screen and waited. Eventually officers started to file in. The HPD weren’t exactly diverse, there were only two female officers in the whole department. A patrol officer and one of the school resource officers. There was also only one female sergeant.
They were slightly more diverse on racial lines, but not by much.
Of course better hiring practices aren't some magic solution. Not like training is gonna be the magic fix either though.
In attendance there were five patrol officers, two sergeants, a detective, the chief, and the two school resource officers. Of course Selector Goodman was also here like he said he would be.
Even though she was fairly certain that Selector Goodman wasn’t familiar with any of the cops on a personal level besides the chief, he didn’t exactly seem uncomfortable. He made his way through the room, shaking people’s hands. Some of the cops he exchanged a little bit more small talk with than the others.
Guess it makes sense that the HPD probably has more than a few townies in it.
It was like Town Hall in that regard. It is was easier to get a job in the local government if your family has been here a while.
In comparison to Selector Goodman, Alexis was not as smooth an operator. She did her best to greet people as they had walked in, but that was the furthest she could push herself. Instead she just checked her notes while periodically scanning the room.
They were 5 minutes past the start time, but just as she was about to ask people to take their seats, one more person walked through the door.
Selectman Ivan Sobol was a tall man and more than a little lanky. He wore a simple leather jacket, dark brown. There weren’t any patches on it, but there was an american flag pin on one of the lapels. Underneath his jacket was a white button down shirt and red tie.
“Guess they’ll let anyone walk in here now!” One of the lieutenants shouted.
“Hey mister, if you're here to report your missing toupee wait out front and someone will take your statement.” Another officer said, who himself had a combover.
“No, he must be looking for his client and got lost. Sharks don’t tend to navigate land that well.” A cop who had been speaking to Selector Goodman quipped. At this everyone in the room laughed.
Selectman Sobol held out his hands in mock protest. “Yes, yes. Just remember who controls your budget. Few more jabs like and you lot would be lucky to afford a new coffee maker.” Then he made his way to the back of the room to join his brother, Chief of Police Borris Sobol.
Contrary to what the previous jokes about him might have you believe, Selectman Sobol was not in fact a defense attorney--though his hair was a little thin. Rather, he had a law-firm in town, Gosling & Sobol, which specializes in employer-side labor relations and business law.
Alexis only knew that because every union in town hated him, including hers. Though Alexis had a guess that the police union probably didn’t feel the same way since they did endorse him last election.
I wish I knew if he was invited by Selector Goodman or Chief Sobol. If it was Selector Goodman then that means he is here as a show of support. Could even be a political favor to Goodman for help on some other piece of legislation. But if it was Chief Sobol…
If Selectman Sobol was invited by his brother that meant he was here to do the opposite. To ensure the HPD not to take any of this training seriously.
Well, there’s no way to know. Gotta just put my game face on.
“Now that we are all here let’s get started, shall we?” She clicked the first slide and started to introduce herself.
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The first section mostly served as an introduction. Covering who she was, what the telekinetic affairs commission does, and having them introduce themselves. Then she set some ground rules.
The next few sections covered the basics.
Some of it was criminally basic like what year did psychics start to manifest. Answer: 2018. What terms are most acceptable. Answer: ‘psychic’, ‘talent-user’, ‘telekinetic’, and ‘psychokinetic’ were all acceptable while ‘psycho’ was not (for a number of reasons).
Okay, doing well, just gotta keep up the momentum.
“Now for the misconceptions, while most people can name a lot of examples about what psychics can do, perhaps the three biggest misconceptions relate to what they can’t do. Anyone want to guess what those are?” Alexis then posed the question to the group.
“Telepathy?” Answered Officer Carmen Sanchez. She was one of two school resource officers.
“Yup, that’s one.” Alexis responded.
“Mind control!” Someone from the back shouted. Alexis wasn’t looking in that direction but she assumed since it came from the back that it was one of the lieutenants.
“Okay, that’s two. Anyone know the third?” Alexis asked.
There was an awkward silence. The third one didn’t always come up. “Well that is fine, the third is being able to see the future.” Alexis said.
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“There goes my plan for winning the lottery!” Officer “Doug” McDougal quipped. He was the cop with a combover who had joined in on razzing Selectman Sobol. The room gave him a few chuckles.
I wish he would stop doing that, it’s gonna derail the presentation. Well that is if one of his jokes ends up being funny.
She probably could have said something if it bothered her so much, but she knew that wouldn’t play well in this crowd.
That wouldn’t have mattered to her. In fact, making this as boring as possible for every pig there might have actually lifted her spirits after having to participate in this farce. Even if it meant she would be playing the part of the buzzkill bureaucrat.
But Selector Goodman was there, and he had clearly wanted the presentation to go well. So she had to roll with the punches even if it ate at her.
“What are some other misconceptions about psychics?” She asked the room.
After a beat Selector Goodman said “That they are all violent.”
Even if only a few of them need to be to ruin it for the rest of us.
“Yeah, yeah that’s a good one. Anything else?”
“I got one.” Said Officer McDougal.
Well there is no way this isn’t awful, is there?
“Being psychic doesn’t necessarily make you any smarter than anyone else.”
Alexis felt a little relieved. “That is actually a great example, psychics aren’t better or smarter than anyone else. Psychics are only human after all.”
Officer McDougal nodded sagely at that. “Definitely human, I know because I once saw Officer Nerfgun over there put his phone in the toaster while talking to his bagel.” That got a lot more chuckles than his last joke.
“Hey! I told you I didn’t mix them up! I just dropped it by accident!” Said the officer in question.
This was Officer Riley Clark, the one and only psychic in HPD. The nickname probably game from his talent,
The two officers continued to bicker, as Alexis resigned herself to her fate.
It's weird to think that before awakening his powers he was a manager at a thrift store.
Alexis had actually gone to his swearing in ceremony since all town employees were ‘voluntold’ to attend.
It was there she overheard a few higher ranking officers talking about how good a get he was for the town, since
He apparently felt the urge to don a badge after watching some cop show where a character talked about the good combat oriented psychics can do for their community. She shook her head thinking about it. Just another victim of Comic Book Syndrome.
Comic Book Syndrome was the name the media granted to a tendency that psychics or people close to/obsessed with psychics had to confuse fantasy with reality. It was said to be more potent in those who awakened to their powers earlier than for those who were older. And it usually took the form of trying to act like a superhero, but it could take the form of any genre or media a person tried to map on to the whole ‘psychics are now real’ situation.
This was dangerous, because kids acting like they were invulnerable already made them reckless without the consequence of powers getting involved. Teens also believing they had literal plot armor was a recipe for disaster.
Comic Book Syndrome wasn’t an official diagnosis and some even denied it existed but Alexis believed it existed. She believed it with her whole heart.
In fact, she believed it applied to way more people than society pretended it did. It was just that in cases like Officer Clark’s, society benefited from his delusion that he could be a super cop. Because he was a super cop now. Alexis sometimes wondered if certain media was constructed to give people those delusions deliberately.
Alexis wished she could talk about that in the training. She couldn’t, Comic Book Syndrome was blatantly an anti-psychic sentiment ever since its origins in the reactionary rags that first coined it. But at least she would get to talk about something interesting.
After the room died down, instead of asking for any more misconceptions she just moved on.
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“I think that wraps up the presentation. Now is the time for q&a. I can’t promise I will be able to answer everything, but I should know where to find the answer depending on what it is.”
She had gone over a lot. Her least favorite part being the state police’s guidance for dealing with psychics who are actively resisting arrest using their talent. She actually felt a little queasy at that part. But thankfully it was over and she could get out of here soon.
“You mentioned that some people may consider it rude to point blank ask if they are a psychic. What if they are a student who recently awakened their talent? What would be the best way to get them resources they could use if you can’t ask them about it.” Asked Officer Sanchez.
Out of anyone in the room Officer Sanchez was probably the most engaged throughout the presentation, probably because she worked in the highschool where a lot of freshmen would just start awakening their talent. She also seemed to be pretty studious about the subject since even the other SRO there didn’t seem to care half as much.
It sucks she is the only one who seems to be getting anything out of this. She reminds me of a lot of teachers who I have given this training to. Wish she had a job that didn’t just exist because of the school to prison pipeline.
“It is good that you would want to get them resources. Newly awakened talent-users are actually at their most vulnerable. Especially younger ones. Even something as simple as a pamphlet about what they can expect might be crucial.”
Sure wish they had those when I first got my powers!
“But it's that same vulnerability that means it is important to be all the more careful. In addition to everything else they are grappling with, talent-users may have all sorts of preconceived notions they have to work through, and singling them out could make the situation worse.”
“What I suggest is to make sure every student is made aware of the resources available. That way they are always informed in case they themselves awaken their powers.”
Normally she would have also said to make sure students always know that they can talk to you if they want to open up about their powers themselves, but she just couldn't say it in good conscience.
She really didn’t think the first person any kid should go to when they have such a sensitive issue is the same person who could arrest that kid if they accidentally admit to doing anything illicit with their new powers.
“What about if they are a suspect in an investigation?” Asked Detective Shin. It was the first time he had engaged with the presentation the entire time outside of introducing himself. Alexis was starting to get a pit in her stomach.
“If they are registered you should get that information anyway if their employer provides you with payroll information.”
They didn’t have to, and very much in Alexis’s opinion shouldn’t.
“That is assuming they employ their talent for commercial use. Otherwise they aren’t required to register but asking them directly would definitely open you up to accusations of discrimination.”
The Detective nodded and looked satisfied at her answer.
Fuck I really hope his question was a hypothetical. This training was supposed to teach the HPD why it is wrong to discriminate, not make them more effective at it.
“I have a question!” Said Officer Class Clown. She was really getting sick of Officer McDougal’s shit.
“If it is another jab about Officer Clark, I am not gonna answer it.”
“I was just gonna ask if you knew anything about psychic brain sizes.” There was a decent chance he was asking a legit question, it wasn’t like that neuroscientists haven’t been curious about the difference between psychic brains and non-psychic ones. But whatever chance it was, the real question had gone down considerably over the course of this presentation.
“I don’t know, maybe consult a doctor if you are worried about not measuring up.” Alexis replied.
The room burst out in laughter and it took her a second to realize exactly what words left her mouth. Fuck, even if it makes officer funny man shut up, making this crowd laugh actually somehow feels worse than giving them tips for how to find a psychic’s weakness.
As the HPD laughed, and the knot in her stomach started to grow, a voice in the back cut through the noise.
“The Costume Game.” It was Chief Boris Sobol. As he said those words the room fell silent.