Milner Report

The Milner Report is an expansive report issued on September 22, 2016 on North American crime fighting operations commissioned for the North American Congress by former detective and prosecutor Mike Milner. The report was largely a scathing rebuke of North American crime fighting efforts at the time, with Milner detailing extensive cases of abuse and neglect among "all levels of law enforcement". Milner's summary of his report stated that he believed that North American crime fighting had "devolved to the point where the entire culture of policing is geared towards law enforcement agents seeing themselves as 'heroes' who would rather serve themselves and seek greater fame and glory than serve who they are supposed to- the public."

Background

In 1930, Bruce Wayne became the first Spitzenkrieger to effectively operate outside of the Vandal Kingdom. Wayne's successes in restoring order to the Depression-era Las Vegas soon captured the public imagination, giving rise to the "superhero" genre of entertainment. Because of Wayne's successes, many called upon him and his company, Wayne Enterprises, to help set up a superhero division in their jurisdiction, but Wayne and his descendants steadfastly refused, insisting that doing so would give rise to "vigilantism".

Nevertheless, interest remained and, after World War II, numerous entrepreneurs sought to create "superhero factories" of their own. The most successful of these was Stark Industries, started by Tony Stark in 1958 and grew to becoming the top supplier of superheroes worldwide by 1970 (gaining a virtual monopoly in the 1990s), his company bolstered by the fact he employed actual Spitzenkrieger as trainers and saw that his agents were approved and equipped in their methods.

In North America- particularly in the Canadian Republic, Carolina and the United States of America- these superheroes were often employed in tandem with more conventional law enforcement agents. In Roman territory, superheroes were used periodically, but only in conjunction with conventional law enforcement agents if they were used, as many Roman jurisdictions simply opted for more conventional law enforcement operations. In Northern Mexico, there were a few jurisdictions (particularly Phoenix) which used a hybrid system, but because many jurisdictions lacked funds, police departments typically employed only a handful of superheroes in place of more elaborate police forces.

In Wayne's native California, the Republic opted to create the California Bureau of Investigation in 1951 instead of hire superheroes. This was done largely at the behest of Wayne, who feared if California adopted superheroes it would "normalize" them into society and risk the promotion of vigilantism. The issue did come up from time to time in Californian politics, especially considering the Mojave Desert was often seen as a great training ground for superheroes. Although California did eventually allow the operation of a MLEA company within its borers- The Honor Guard, in Barstow- no jurisdictions ever hired a superhero.

The result of this superhero expansion was that, to Wayne's chagrin, "superhero culture" became entrenched in North American culture, although its association with conventional police forces meant that superheroes did not get associated with vigilantism. Nevertheless, the rise of superheroes did lead to commentary that bemoaned the loss of conventional police forces, and abuses by the superheroes on the population would tend to revive public debate concerning their usage, with some believing they could become vigilantes.

The Third World War wound up gutting many MLEA companies and police agencies in North America and Europe, creating a debate about what to do in the aftermath. Wayne Enterprises, here, was successful at convincing many North American politicians to forgo superheroes- many of whom wouldn't be available for years due to their training requirements- with Bruce Wayne, Jr. himself even stating that his company would fund these revived operations if they had to. The centrepiece of this program were the Crime Scene Investigators (CSIs) which Wayne created for his native Las Vegas in 1997 as well as the Behavioural Analysis Unit, which Wayne saved from extinction in 2003.

Commentators praised Wayne Enterprises for their efforts, noting that while superheroes were more decisive they "often got things wrong", whereas more elaborate police units were more dedicated to thoroughness and "getting things right". Detractors countered that the judicial process was too slow, creating a backlog of cases that soon meant many crimes would not get solved. A few critics even noted that since these units would still employ humans, it was inevitable that human error would crop up and thus mistakes would get made anyway.

Death of Ted Bundy and Allegations made by Elle Greenaway

In July 2014, the body of notorious serial killer Ted Bundy was found in a ravine near Tulsa, Oklahoma. The discovery of the body sent further shockwaves through the law enforcement community, since Bundy had been known to law enforcement agencies since the early 1980s. Questions began to surface about how Bundy could have eluded capture for so long, since, at the time the body was found, Bundy had only been dead for several weeks. The Oklahoma Bureau of Investigation (OBI) opened an investigation into Bundy's death and found that local authorities knew Bundy was around but failed to do anything about it, believing that his crimes would be "too difficult" to investigate. In this case, the OBI noted that several police complaints made against Bundy were made by a one Hayden Myers in several different Oklahoma jurisdictions weeks before Bundy had died. It was later found, at the trial of Ingrid Fjallsdottir for human trafficking, that Myers had been kidnapped by Bundy for this ring and was later kept as his slave, with Myers soon being recaptured by Bundy after the police failed to come to her aid. Myers then later killed Bundy with a poison which allowed her to escape, fleeing authorities for many years until the trial of Fjallsdottir exonerated her.

On November 6, 2015, Elle Greenaway gave a candid interview to CNN's Wolf Blitzer detailing her experiences in law enforcement. During the interview, Greenaway spoke freely about frequent episodes of sexual harassment within the FBI, and how her work was consistently undermined because she was "the girl". She also explained that she quit the Bureau after being raped by a criminal she was pursuing, and related that the FBI provided little support. The interview came on the ninth year anniversary of her resignation from the FBI's Behavioural Analysis Unit (BAU) and two days after Haylie Modine announced her candidacy for the NAU Presidency, a candidacy Greenaway supported.

The Report

Noting the similarities of the cases of Myers and Greenaway, Roman Caesar Valerius IV ordered an investigation, hiring Mike Milner to investigate. Milner had made a name for himself as a distinguished and fair investigator and later prosecutor in Savannah who worked frequently with NAU officials and thus had their respect. 

In the course of the investigation, Milner toured North America, thoroughly investigating every aspect of every law enforcement agency on the continent. His investigation lasted well over a year, eventually submitting a lengthy report to the Caesar and the NAU Congress on September 22, 2016. 

Milner made extensive observations about the lack of resources and funding that was present in many North American jurisdictions, specifically calling out the NAU Congress for withholding funding and expecting Wayne Enterprises to foot the bill for each law enforcement agency, which Milner concluded was implausible. Milner also chastised the Roman government for failing to provide funding as well, as Milner believed that the Romans, despite operating the NAU as a protectorate, often ignored the continent's true needs in favour of their own. 

However, the part of the Report that made the biggest impact was Milner's often repeated assertions that North American police culture had become too entrenched in heroism and glory and often ignored the needs of the public. Here, Milner noted the following: 

1. Since superhero culture was already embedded within North American culture, it easily embedded itself within police culture as well. Although the police are trained to be logical, because society was used to heroes and many officers revered those same heroes, many still fell to their "heroic impulses". 
2. Public impatience over the length of time it took to close cases made police departments decide to cut corners and make simplistic decisions over investigative thoroughness, this soon evolved into a practice of police departments "just finding someone to pin the blame on" instead of ensuring they had, indeed, caught the right suspect. 
3. The rise of TV shows glorifying and honouring law enforcement officers and their work led to a mentality among law enforcement officers that they, too, had to be heroes so they could see themselves as fit to stand beside their TV counterparts. This caused jurisdictions to pursue cases that would net them the preferred attention in the press, often ignoring less glamourous cases.
   1. More to this point, Milner often noted that there were many jurisdictions that slashed or outright cut out funding to departments that enforced things like parking or noise violations because they were not seen as "glamour" positions. 
4. Because of the massive caseload and the lack of resources to pursue them all, jurisdictions often decided to pursue the "easiest" cases as opposed to the cases of highest importance.
   1. Milner blamed here equally the lack of funding and public pressure to close cases, although he still criticized what he saw as a "culture of laziness". 
5. Due to Points 2-4, policing eventually evolved into a system where law enforcement agencies determined their case selection based on a combination of these points, rejecting cases that were either too hard, not "attractive" enough and/or would not generate the appropriate attention for the police agencies in question. 
6. Milner did note, somewhat ironically, that investigations into police mischief were often pursued, since the investigating officer would often gain the glory of "taking down his corrupt colleagues". Often, Milner reported, this devolved into police officers merely investigating colleagues they did not like. 

Reaction

Public perception soon turned on law enforcement agencies, turning especially on Wayne Enterprises. Although Milner was careful not to assign blame to Wayne Enterprises- in fact, Milner often praised Wayne, stating that the corporation did the "honourable thing" in trying to maintain American institutions following the country's collapse, even though it feasibly could not do so due to the enormity of the cost- since Wayne was seen as the figure behind the campaign to prop up the police forces in North America, public opinion soured on him. Ratings for the CSI TV series- which Wayne produced- fell sharply after the Report came out, causing it to be cancelled after 16 seasons in early 2017. Other Wayne products faced boycotts and declining sales of their own, with Las Vegas' casino and resort industry- all owned and operated by Wayne- took several hits in revenue in 2016 and 2017. Even within Las Vegas Wayne's image was not immune- a March 2017 favourability poll among Las Vegans by Gallup saw Wayne's favourability rating drop below 65% for the first time in the company's history, and polling since then has seen Wayne's ratings fall as far as 59% in September 2017.

Valerius expressed praise for the Report and increased funding for law enforcement services in North America. However, he faced extensive criticism for his inaction in North America and received particular condemnation for keeping FBI Director Lucius Black in power despite Milner's criticism of him in the Report. Valerius received further criticism when his reforms to the policing system resulted in an uptick in crime in 2016, severely impacting the continent's overall security. As a result of the chaos, many nations withdrew from the NAU, with one nation- Quebec- joining Rome's rivals the Virtue Federation in late 2016, citing the Report as a reason. In 2017, Erasmus based his campaign on Valerius' failures in North America, quoting from the Report extensively. This eventually allowed him to win a resounding victory over Valerius in the 2017 Cesarean Election, becoming the first to become Caesar despite not winning the Roman Republic. One of his first acts was to replace Black with Decius Carus (who was named "Prefect of the Northern Watch") and rebranding the FBI as the "FBII", or the "Foederatio Borealis Indagatores Imperiale" (Federation of Northern Imperial Investigators), reorganizing it under Roman lines.

Virtue saw the Report as proof of Rome's "ineptitude in North America" and used it to again call for "the end of Roman imperialism in North America". The North American states started to view Virtue more favourably, and, in late 2016, the NAU dissolved itself voluntarily in favour of the American Confederacy, backed by Virtue. However, machinations by Virtue and Haylie Modine soured North America on Virtue, causing Ontario and New York to ally themselves with each other and a group of states, Canada, to split away from the Confederacy in protest. In 2018, the NAU re-established itself after a coup against Modine.

Finally, Stark saw the Report as a form of "vindication", stating that it is proof that "conventional law enforcement agents are not the angels Wayne would like us to think they are". He used the opportunity to promote his business once again to beleaguered North American jurisdictions, many of whom snapped up Stark's services in lieu of having a police department. Since Stark had managed to employ many of the superheroes laid off by dissolved companies, he could quickly offer jurisdictions trained and qualified superheroes, so they jumped at the chance. Stark Industries' revenue increased by 10,000% in 2017, and profits have continued to grow since then.