| From: | ANGLISS BRIAN EDWARD <angliss@****.Colorado.EDU> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | More discussion |
| Date: | Tue, 26 Mar 1996 00:14:01 -0700 (MST) |
>>>>>[Good evening, Mr. Lynch. I'm very sorry that I have taken so long
in returning to our conversation, but my job takes much greater
precedence over a conversation, or debate if you prefer.
You said that InterPol supports the actions of corporations when we are
forced to sign non-disclosure agreements in order to acquire evidence. I
suppose that is one way of looking at it, yet I ask you to try and see it
from a different perspective. For InterPol to function, it has to have
the freedom to investigate crimes that occur on or from corporate
facilities. For Special Branch especially, we face the daunting task of
having most of the individuals we pursue commiting crimes in on
jurisdiction, traveling through another, possibly stopping to rest in a
third, and living or training in a fourth or fifth. Matrix and magical
crimes are the worst, as I'm sure you can understand. Yet each
jurisdiction could have polarly opposing legal systems and structures.
Faced with a task of this magnitude, InterPol must have some way to cut
through the red tape, and in a legal manner. The way that was decided
upon was to educate our agents as to the most likely legal structures
they would encounter on any given assignment, and to require that certain
documents be signed.
With so much of the crime in this world commited on corporate property,
InterPol must have a means that will not be threatening to the
corporations who approach us with arrest and extradition warrants. Those
very same crimes on corporate property are crimes elsewhere as well, Mr.
Lynch. Matrix theft is Matrix theft, regardless of whether it is from a
corporation or a private bank account.
Documents like non-disclosure agreements are a necessary evil, Mr. Lynch,
if InterPol is to continue to perform the duties that it and it alone is
capable of peforming. Thre isn't another law enforcement agency on the
planet that has the scope, responsiblity, or problems that InterPol has.
I don't have to like the rules by which Special Branch, and InterPol in
general, operate, but in order to do my job effectively, I must follow
them. The threat, and the responsiblity, is too great not to.
InterPol does not "serve the corps by harassing our agents", as you
said. Yes, we do harass you and your agents, and that is simply because
the UCAS, as every national and corporate government in the world,
maintains a double-standard: Our laws are the best, but sometimes they
need to be broken to acheive our goals. I cannot, and will not, condone
the abandonment of laws based on convenience, whether they be national or
corporate in nature. The only difference between nations breaking their
laws when they feel it is necessary and corporations is that the
corporations are at least honest about changing thier laws retroactively
and blatantly. Nations have to hide thier illegalities behind closed
doors and deniable assets since the laws themselves are not so easily
altered to fit the circumstances.
So yes, InterPol harasses the agents of national governments, and perhaps
we serve the corps in the process. But InterPol also serves someone more
important than the corps, or even the nations. We serve the human race,
and the human race demands order rather than anarchy. The only way to
provide order is to enforce the laws, even if that means throwing every
spy, fixer, decker, rigger, terrorist, or shadowrunner in jail.
You also commented about blind obedience in the face of laws. I do not
do what I do blindly, Mr. Lynch, nor do any of my agents. I always
follow my conscience. Had I been in a position of power in Abeline, I
would not have commited the crimes which cost you some of your family,
even if it meant the loss of position, or even my life. There are things
worth dying for, Mr. Lynch, and my humanity is one of them. There are
things that my superiors know would force me to turn in my badge and gun
because I will not compromise on some personal ethical issues. But
civilization is built on compromise, and without it and the rules of law
that enforce order, there would be utter chaos and humanity would suffer
a far worse fate than it does currently.
As you said, no one is above or outside the law. But you do pursue
individuals who use the law to cover thier actions, justify them. In
this respect only our methods differ. You resort to the direct approach,
but in the process break the very laws you are trying to save. What does
more damage, Mr. Lynch, allowing a guilty man hide for a short time
behind his lawyers, or shattering the law while bringing the guilty to
your particular brand of justice? Your method produces results, but you
become the very thing you dispise in the process. As you said, the abyss
looks also into you. Yet with the power of the law behind me, if a
guilty man hides long enough and sufficient attention is brought to bear,
the laws get changed to expedite similar situations in the future. I
could bore you for years with stories about InterPol lawyers. It is a
long, evolutionary process, Mr. Lynch, and there are no quick and easy
answers any more than there are quick and easy fixes. Your method
provides some form of quick, but illegal, "justice" while mine takes far
longer but produces longer lasting results as well.
Mr. Lynch, in some ways I envy you. You have a freedom of action that I
do not, and cannot, have. But I also pity you, for you have sacraficed
some of the very humanity that you hope to help and save by way of
acquiring that freedom. I have sacraficed my family and my body, and
nearly my life on several occasions, but none of my humanity.
You might find it surprising to know that I have been on the other side
of the law, even as the commander of Special Branch. But unlike you, I
have always offered myself to my superior officers. Every time, I
present myself for disciplinary action, but it has only happened once.
That was the time that I tendered my resignation for commiting third
degree homocide. It was refused.]<<<<<
-- Commander Drake, InterPol <00:13:41/03-26-57>
