Seattle insecurity Providers

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Seattle Insecurity Providers

Alicia Dunn, 08/29/2080

The Bellevue Post

Two male metahumans have been found dead today and several others wounded in what is suspected to be a gang-related shootout in Puyallup. The location in question was an apartment block, long considered by locals to be a nest for Yellow Lotus Triads. One such local, speaking only on condition of anonymity, mentioned that the area is known to be a location for illicit drug deals; they said that they were sleeping in their apartment at the time of the incident but had woken up when they heard a loud exchange of gunfire, followed by the sound of several individuals fleeing the scene.

Many other alleged members of the Triad organization have been found deceased over the past several months, fueling rumors of revenge killings, psychotic vigilantes and assassinations from rival crime syndicates.

However while criminal violence is not uncommon by any stretch of the imagination in the ash-strewn district, or even the Seattle sprawl in general, these deaths are merely the latest in what seems like a city-wide rising tide of gang warfare.

In the past month and a half, security and healthcare providers have seen a massive upswing in public violence on the streets. Knight Errant has refused to release the latest figures on crime statistics, citing ongoing investigations and privacy laws, but data gathered from DocWagon, the Seattle department of Health & Metahuman Services and several social media platforms puts even the most conservative estimates at an 80% increase in homicide and grievous bodily harm.

“If the current projections continue to rise over the next two months as they have been already, we’ll see a level of street violence not seen since the Crash of 2.0.” reports George Campbell of the District Attorney’s office, Downtown "I cannot emphasize highly enough how important it is that local law enforcement step up their efforts to fight local criminal elements."

According to unconfirmed rumors from the Governor's office, Special Agents from the local office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation have stopped sharing information over the past month with the Organized Crime division of Knight Errant. If true, this would represent a massive loss of trust in the Ares subsidiary.

All of this begs the question: are Knight Errant and Seattle’s other security corporations truly doing all they can to enforce the law and maintain public safety in the Seattle sprawl, or is it time to switch to a new security provider?

“I just don’t think I can trust KE anymore,” says Jennifer Harris, a Redmond small business owner “I think it’s time we give the city contract back to the Star. When I signed up several months ago for Lone Star’s private security contract, they immediately raced out here to the barrens to offer me any assistance I might need. Barely half an hour later, one of the Knight Errant officers processing the local SINless camp negligently discharged his weapon in the middle of the street, right across from my shop. As if that didn’t make it clear enough I’d made the right decision, the Lone Star sergeant dressed the KE officer down right there in the middle of the street over it.”

Harris isn’t alone in her lack of confidence in KE. A recent poll conducted by the district government of Renton has an enormous 47% of voters saying that they would like to see Seattle law enforcement provider changed from Knight Errant, with 36% content to see the corporation remain, and 17% undecided. Among the majority who would like to see change, various alternatives have been suggested; from Seattle’s previous security provider Lone Star Security Services, the AGS-based Sternschutz, France’s Esprit Industries, the Australian-based True Blue Security and Seattle’s very own home-grown Emerald City Security.

Perhaps sensing their opportunity, Lone Star Security Services have been offering generous initial sign-up deals lately to Seattle business owners like Harris. If the local discontent rises any further, it’s not out of the question that the Star may one day soon regain the government contract for the entire sprawl. Whether they will prove worthy of that contract is open to question, but one thing more and more citizens of the Emerald City are already convinced of is that the situation is spiraling downwards, and no one is certain when we’ll hit the bottom.