Kessia City Police Department

The **Kessia City Police Department**, or **KCPD** for short, is an organization in *Magical Girl Policy*. As the name implies, it is the police force in Kessia City. The KCPD also appears in two vignettes: "Monster Insurance" and "Officer Hester".

## Description

The KCPD is notable in its handling of the Spirit Guard and monsters, strange phenomena unique to Kessia City. Officially, they are referred to as "vigilantes" and "entities" respectively, terms deemed unsensational by Commissioner Mitchell. This, along with many of Mitchell's orders, is fueled by his fixation on the force's public image over all else. After a failed investigation into the Spirit Guard, the police's efforts toward the heroes and monsters are purely reactive: they secure an area where a monster attack is confirmed, help civilians evacuate, interview witnesses, perform a rote investigation of the scene, and if any Spirit Guards are present, attempt to take them into custody. The police mistake the unnatural sluggishness of monster attack victims drained of Investiture as a symptom of a strange sickness that monsters can seemingly inflict. In general, officers' attitudes toward the existence of superheroes and monsters are relatively nonchalant, like most Kessia City residents, due to the perception filter of the Standridge Hill Stone Circle. Larger interest in pursuing this mystery is associated with younger, less experienced officers, while older ones are content to simply follow the basic procedure laid out to them. Officers have made attempts at combatting monsters themselves, but the creatures' superhuman abilities and resistance to mundane attacks like bullets invariably lead to police injury.

The KCPD is currently partnered with Siekert Security, a private security firm that Nick and Will Siekert work at. The firm handles technical work that the KCPD lacks specialized expertise in, such as hacking and video analysis. In addition to the legitimate aid the Siekert twins give to the KCPD, their purview over security footage from monster attacks lets them easily modify it as part of their Hush Corps work without falling under scrutiny. Due to this, the police see only select, doctored recordings of the Spirit Guards and monsters, and are convinced that they're somehow resistant to video. The Spirit Guard makes efforts to limit how much the police are exposed to them, because repeat witnesses like police officers are the most likely to build a resistance to the Disconnection Effect, so the heroes try to leave a battle before the cops arrive or have a Spirit Guard distract them so the others may escape unseen.

The KCPD is on poor terms with the ConSpiriters, a Spirit Guard investigation group made up of concerned Kessia City civilians. Police are generally uncooperative with the group, and it's said that they hide monster attack witnesses that the ConSpiriters would like to interview. ConSpiriters believe this attitude was adopted to save face for the police's own Spirit Guard investigation that failed.

## History

### Background

After monsters and the Spirit Guard began appearing throughout Kessia City, the KCPD started a formal investigation into the mysterious figures. The attempt bore no fruit, however, so it was eventually called off, and the police settle to perform only basic investigative duties at monster attacks. In response to the KCPD's failed Spirit Guard investigation, a grassroots group popularly nicknamed the ConSpiriters formed to look into the matter itself. The force is not on good terms with the group, however, and will often obstruct ConSpiriters from interviewing monster attack witnesses and the like. It is believed that this behavior is to save face, Commissioner Mitchell's in particular, for the KCPD's failed investigation.

One encounter saw Spirit Guards Valor and Tenacity fighting a monster while police cars were at the scene. One car is too close to the action, however, and gets fried as collateral damage by one of Tenacity's electric attacks. This prompts the cops to fire their guns at the heroes, but the barrage is completely ineffective. This is when the heroes learn that while they are in Spirit Guard form, the empathokinetic defense provided by their auras is strong enough to block attacks as powerful as bullets.

Another encounter had an officer attempt to combat a monster himself. He found that his gun had little effect, and as a result of the attack was hospitalized for four months.

At an unknown point in the past, the KCPD began a partnership with Siekert Security for aid in specialized tasks, such as analysis of security footage and hacking. An example of a case the firm was instrumental to solving was that of a phishing ring a few months ago. Siekert Security is also secretly a front for the Hush Corps, the Spirit Guard's obfuscation team. Since the firm is tasked with matters relating to security footage at monster attacks, it is able to control what the police see of the heroes.

### Week 1

The police arrive at Loose Change not long after the Spirit Guard has defeated Polygal. They enter the arcade shortly after the heroes escape, and interview Robert, Cory, and Eli, the witnesses who had stayed behind. The three give their accounts of the attack, though they refrain from mentioning the strange glow Robert had in response to Polygal, and go home several hours later.

The MGP Vignettes add more details to the police at the arcade. In "Monster Insurance", the officers perform a rudimentary investigation of the place and speak to Mr. Parker, the arcade's owner. One of them tells Parker that Overwatch Insurance agent Ms. Chamis is here to meet with him, and then the police leave. "Officer Hester" reveals that the police were able to speak to some of the boys that fled the arcade; an officer called Woodson was told about Robert glowing, albeit no name was given. The police assume the children are mistaken.

Four days later, the police quickly show up outside Rale Valley Mall when Day LaMode appears, directing the fleeing civilians and interviewing witnesses. Noriko deems it unsafe for Cory and Eli to be questioned, as the pair now know the Spirit Guard's secrets and would be conspicuous as witnesses to two consecutive monster attacks. She has the two leave through an unmonitored emergency exit and meet with Nick and Will in the HushMobile. After LaMode is defeated, Spirit Guard Felicity goes outside and distracts the officers with a display of flames, allowing Valor and herself to escape, and for Charity to begin operating on Tenacity uninterrupted. A group of officers enter the mall and one comes to the food court, though he does not see the heroes since Serenity's Placid Mist makes them invisible. He finds LaMode's corpse and alerts the rest of the squad over radio. After the operation is done, the three Spirit Guards, still invisible, walk past the police and leave the mall. Noriko, after disposing of evidence inconvenient for the Spirit Guard, stays behind and poses as a witness. She then drives Cory's car back to his dorm at SAU. Thanks to Nick and Will's work, Serenity makes few appearances in security footage and has inconsistent features like hair and costume color, which makes the KCPD unsure about what she looks like. The police statement issued to the press says there is evidence that a new, fifth Spirit Guard was at the scene, but the photos are not released to the public.

"Officer Hester" shows more of the KCPD's actions during the Day LaMode attack. Officer Hester and Lieutenant Sanders are among the officers left outside the mall. One witness tells them she saw a group of boys (Robert, Cory, and Eli) being chased by LaMode's mannequins, but the group could not be found. The pair finishes interviewing witnesses and are finally allowed to enter the building, while Mitchell speaks with media outlets covering the attack. Inside, they find Devin Dante and his forensics team standing around, having done an apparently meager amount of work. Frustrated at the force's lack of effort towards investigating the Spirit Guard and monsters, Hester is about to lecture the group, but Sanders dissuades him.

During the night, Trace returns to Rale Valley Mall, which is still cordoned off by police, to retrieve Day LaMode's collected Investiture. While normally she can do her work without issue thanks to her stealth band hiding her from sight, this time it is out of power, so she has to sneak past the police, distract them by breaking a window with a thrown rock to sound a security alarm, then take an unmanned entrance. She finds LaMode's empathic capacitor and uses some of its Investiture to recharge her stealth band, allowing her to leave the premises without incident.

### Week 5

When the Spirit Guard defeat Cell-celia, the police have surrounded Buy Bright. Serenity is designated the decoy so Valor and Charity can escape unnoticed. She exits the front door to a large group of officers and ignores the demand to come along for questioning, leading several police cars and a helicopter on a chase around the city. She gets away from the cars, and once out of the helicopter's sights, uses Placid Mist to become undetectable to it and makes her getaway to a warp stone, leaving the helicopter to futilely circle the general area. Serenity's display distracts the police long enough to give the Hush Corps ample time for their work. The police interview the first eyewitnesses to see Serenity, but they are given inconsistent descriptions.

Later that day, Trace uses her stealth band to walk past the police at Buy Bright and retrieve Cell-celia's Investiture yield.

## Known members

* **Devin Dante:** Head of forensic investigation.
* **Officer Hester:** A young officer who wishes the police did more to handle the Spirit Guard and monsters. Partnered with Sanders.
* **Commissioner Mitchell:** Head of the KCPD concerned more with public perception than actual work.
* **Lieutenant Sanders:** An older, laid-back officer partnered with Hester.
* **Woodson:** An unseen officer who was at the Loose Change investigation and spoke to some of the victims.