Questionable Content 10: La Li Lu Le Lo

[AvatarVecna]

Ok, time out.
You are a cop. Someone tells you a crime is being commited right there, right now.
Do you :
1) take your time thinking about the exact meaning of the sentence you just heard, wondering why someone obviously complicit in whatever is going on would ever tell that to a cop ?
2) rush in, pulling whatever gun you have on your person out, and shout something like "Police ! Put your hands where I can see them!" ?
She didn't think about it, she reacted in a hurry. That tend to cause mistakes of judgement. It's still better than letting someone dying through inaction.

My response mostly depends on whether I think I'm being punked or not. Deciding my feelings on this should - assuming I've had decent training - take at most a full second. But I would spend that second taking in the circumstances on an instinctive level, taking into account the trustworthiness of both the information and the person delivering it. It's not a long drawn-out process, but it still takes place. The speed at which this scene progressed flew past implying (both to me and apparently a few others) that this happened almost instantaneously, indicating to me that the cop involved was expecting something like this to happen and was ready to move when necessary...but we haven't seen anything that would warrant "I need to be ready to bust in at a moment's notice just in case" style preparedness; the only quasi-illegal thing that we know goes on here, we were told was small fry stuff.

Now, assuming that I take both the information and the person delivering it seriously in this situation, and I'm positive enough that this place has something shady going on that I'm willing to trust this crime report automatically, my first response is...not to charge into enemy territory you know to contain a military death-bot. Instead, step 1 is "call for backup", or even just "reporting in that I'm checking out a reported crime". Only after I've ensured that somebody not in the immediate vicinity of the criminals is aware of the possibility of a crime that would I potentially charge in while drawing my weapon. Now, maybe if I had reason to believe there was something a lot more seriously harmful going on, I might just charge in without reporting it. Like, if somebody walked up to Cop!Me and said "don't mind us, we're just peeling peoples faces off in here", I would probably bust in because face-peeling isn't exactly harmless in real life, and I think somebody's in immediate danger. But the cop lady here indicated her concern was for the AI, who is not even potentially harmed by the face removal except possibly emotional. In real life, I would be responding to a mutilation/assault/battery/whatever, but in QC world, the lady cop is responding to theft. It's been awhile since I saw Home Alone, but I coulda swore the response to "thief!" wasn't "draw your gun and threaten the perp" in that movie, the cop chased after Kevin. Now, when it was just the previous comic, I figured maybe she thought they were peeling people faces, which might warrant her reaction, but this comic establishes that she thought robo-faces were being peeled, which isn't significant enough of a crime to warrant "charge in guns ready to fire".

Is that aimed at me?
Because that post was made before this scene - doing anything without proper license could be "dirt" she can use to extort "better" info (or just shut the place down immediately, depending on the exact regulations).

Of course, it does not explain "run in with a gun" and CW would probably not have baited her inside if they were currently doing anything illegal, so that theory has been disproven now.

No, it was addressed at somebody who's actually posted since these comics went up.

[Flickerdart]

Cop has probable cause to believe that a crime is being crimed. Cop is legally justified to pull a gun. The end.

[Morquard]

sidenote: Obviously I have no idea about QC laws but secret face transplant surgery might be illegal because, you know, people can change their faces. Like, AIs in probation for fraud. Who you might not want to just change faces...

Well, I doubt that. It was no problem for Momo to change her entire body. They went into the store, bought a new chassis and she walked out in it. If that's allowed, I doubt facial replacement is a big issue.

Also, since those chassis aren't very individual, they're mass produced, they all look the same, within their respective line. So facial recognition is probably the worst way to identify an AI. A wirelessly transmitted serial number of the chassis or the AI itself would do that job far more reliably, kinda like an ID for a person. Faking that signal most likely is a felony. As is faking an ID.

Of course the part where May says "I'm even paying this time" could bite them in the ass. They get paid for a service and don't pay taxes on it.

[AvatarVecna]

Cop has probable cause to believe that a crime is being crimed. Cop is legally justified to pull a gun. The end.

Obviously true, in the same way that it's obviously true that I was never calling into question the legality of the cop drawing their weapon, but rather calling into question the complete lack of thought behind the actions she's taken, including the drawing of said weapon. Definitely not questioning the legality, though.

[AvatarVecna]

Well, I doubt that. It was no problem for Momo to change her entire body. They went into the store, bought a new chassis and she walked out in it. If that's allowed, I doubt facial replacement is a big issue.

Also, since those chassis aren't very individual, they're mass produced, they all look the same, within their respective line. So facial recognition is probably the worst way to identify an AI. A wirelessly transmitted serial number of the chassis or the AI itself would do that job far more reliably, kinda like an ID for a person. Faking that signal most likely is a felony. As is faking an ID.

Of course the part where May says "I'm even paying this time" could bite them in the ass. They get paid for a service and don't pay taxes on it.

...I'm not sure how to feel about the possibility that the "bigger fish to fry" the agent previous referred to was tax evasion.

[Morquard]

Also another thing might be the whole "probable cause" issue. She can't just walk in there and look around etc. But now she got told there's a face-peeling happening. She can easily use that as probable cause to enter and investigate. Of course she had also just been invited inside, so she could have done that anyway...

Edit: Ohj just saw the whole probable cause angle has already been mentioned ;)

[Morquard]

...I'm not sure how to feel about the possibility that the "bigger fish to fry" the agent previous referred to was tax evasion.

Consenting AIs beating each other without any risk to any of them (tripple shielded AI cores etc) or not paying taxes...

[AvatarVecna]

Consenting AIs beating each other without any risk to any of them (tripple shielded AI cores etc) or not paying taxes...

My concern there is less about it making sense as a "bigger crime" and more that I'm not sure how interesting a conclusion that would be to the arc.

[Traab]

My concern there is less about it making sense as a "bigger crime" and more that I'm not sure how interesting a conclusion that would be to the arc.

Hey, it brought down al capone, dont knock tax evasion!

[Lethologica]

Hey, it brought down al capone, dont knock tax evasion!

But emphatically not as the 'bigger crime'.

[AvatarVecna]

Hey, it brought down al capone, dont knock tax evasion!

I understand the importance of tax evasion as a crime, but tax evasion isn't the reason that story is interesting. The story is interesting because Al Capone was so good at avoiding getting caught, they had to pin him with tax evasion. But ultimately, they were using that "lesser crime" as an opportunity to throw the book at him for the things they couldn't really prove he did even though everybody knew he did them.

If the "greater crime" going on here was tax evasion, and it wasn't just something lady cop was using to pin them for all the greater crimes she knows but can't prove they committed, that would be less interesting a conclusion.

[Morquard]

But so far the only crimes we know are being commited are actually only tax evasion...

[AvatarVecna]

But so far the only crimes we know are being commited are actually only tax evasion...

Other than the illegal bot fights, you mean?

A bit more seriously, I think it would be hard to make tax evasion stick to May's facelifts: the first one didn't involve money at all, it was essentially a free service; as for the second one (the current one that she's paying money for), I'm pretty sure you can't charge somebody with tax evasion because you think they're not going to report the earnings you just witnessed on their taxes next year. Granted, I have no reason to believe one way or the other that this business wasn't committing tax evasion this year by falsely reporting revenue from last year, but unless I'm grossly misundstanding how tax evasion works, you can't be charged for evading taxes until you actually reach the point where you're failing to report your income on your taxes (which they don't need to report this for until next April).

...maybe. Admittedly I'm not too familiar with those laws.

[Traab]

It also might be a hard one to prove as this is a cash only transaction and is likely small enough to be a rounding error in a legit company's tax returns. I was just kidding about the tax evasion thing anyways, im sticking to my theory that she is new to the force, gung ho about getting a big case right off the bat, and is acting like an inexperienced rookie.

[halfeye]

I like that Bubbles calls her a racoon. I hope that's not a general codeword for cop in this milieu.

[AvatarVecna]

I like that Bubbles calls her a racoon. I hope that's not a general codeword for cop in this milieu.

It's a reference to an earlier comic.

[John Cribati]

... Did Corpse Witch just admit to some kind of government corruption?

[mythmonster2]

I officially have no idea what to think of Corpse Witch.

[eee]

Is this the first time we've learned that Corpse Witch's name actually is Corpse Witch, or does the little statement under the strip troll us?

Anyway, she's good at manipulation when she's in the groove.

[Morquard]

Is this the first time we've learned that Corpse Witch's name actually is Corpse Witch, or does the little statement under the strip troll us?

Her Name Is CORPSE WITCH (title)

And yes, I think she pretty much implied there, that she has Roko's superiors paid off, and if she's not careful that investigation will backfire on her.

[Traab]

Ok so I think my theory on cop lass is the right one at this point. She is a gung ho rookie out to crack a big case and is doing this on her own. If corpse witch is right, then she never would have been assigned this case outright. That explains her total lack of backup, her amateurish actions, etc etc etc.

[halfeye]

It's a reference to an earlier comic.

Yes, but it's funnier that she keeps it up when she knows it's not an animal (which she clearly already does in that earlier strip).

[memnarch]

Well that's quite the cliffhanger.

[Cikomyr]

I think it's worth a "that escalated quickly" meme

[Mith]

Faye has a problem where crime ring is now mad at her.

[Windscion]

Well, it's pretty clear that CW crossed the line (in Faye's opinion) by threatening May. And, I have to say I agree with Faye. Moreover, this is not a good situation for CW, since Faye (and Bubbles) know her operation pretty well. As has been discussed, if the authorities think you've done something really bad and they cannot prove it, they can -- and will -- nail you for the things they can prove.

And what they can prove is pretty damning. IANAL, but threatening May not to contradict what she said to that cop? That smells like some form of obstruction of justice.

[Knaight]

And what they can prove is pretty damning. IANAL, but threatening May not to contradict what she said to that cop? That smells like some form of obstruction of justice.

They can't prove that either unless May gives them that information. That's probably not happening.

[Windscion]

Why? Faye (and Bubbles) witnessed the same things, and CW has no hold on Faye. And unlike May (who, I agree, has reason to be shy of police involvement), the authorities have nothing against Faye.

(As an aside, Faye can get very powerful legal representation if Hannelore has her mother hire a legal team. But it is not at all clear that CW knows this.)

[Gnoman]

The question occupying my mind is what made Faye snap like this. Was it just the casual way Corpse Witch slipped from a fairly reasonable explanation to a rather nasty threat, her escalating the situation by pulling the cop in in the first place, or is it that this represents a final "click" in a pattern of Corpse Witch's behavior that Faye doesn't like. All three are reasonable, but which motive is correct will be a major determiner of where the story goes from here.


Also, punching a (presumably metal-boned) robot with your bare hand that hard? OUCH.

[Admiral Squish]

Also, punching a (presumably metal-boned) robot with your bare hand that hard? OUCH.

I dunno, QC bots seem to involve a lot of polymers, plastics, synthetic muscles, and the like. I imagine a non-combat robot like CW is significantly more plastic than metal. Still wouldn't be pleasant, but you can break your hand on a person just as easy.

Also, hells yeah. This might be stupid as hell, but it feels so right.