Paragon City Police Department

The Paragon City Police Department is the main law enforcement branch of Paragon City in the City of Heroes MMO.

Background

The Paragon Police Department, or the “blue shield” as they are colloquially known, is a long established institution of Paragon City. Although its origins trace back to the turn of the century, it has gone through several evolutions as the needs of the city have changed.

Up until the end of the 20th century, the PPD felt confident in their ability to “serve and protect.” They did not see themselves as heroes, but rather as ordinary men and women striving to do the right thing, and trying to give back to the city that they called home.

They worked with numerous heroes to quell gang and super-powered criminal activity. The most noted of such heroes was one of their own, the shield-slinging supercop known as Blue Steel.

But when the city was devastated by the Rikti War, the PPD struggled to keep functioning at even a basic level.

In the post-war years the organization found itself habitually under-funded, short-staffed, and over-worked. The once proud blue shield was forced to cordon off the Hazard Zones rather than rebuild them, and could barely contain even the most flagrant criminal activities in its goal to keep Paragon’s citizens safe.

Under Chief Conrad Bochco, several new divisions were developed, including:

• Powered Armor Cops: Officers strap themselves into mechanical combat exoskeletons, known as the PPD Shells, which are armed with heavy machineguns and provide strength and reflex enhancements. Lieutenants normally gear up in a fully encased suit of power armor, or a PPD Hard Suit, armed with a mounted heavy laser. In the most dire of circumstances, a PPD Assault Armor unit will be deployed, where an officer sits nestled inside the best armor technology can provide, loaded up with a deadly pulse cannon. Positron of the Freedom Phalanx was a key consultant in preparing these advanced technologies with and for the PPD. His expertise and extensive field work has been invaluable as the force prepares to confront new terrors.

• Psi-Division: A more controvercial division which utilizes psychic officers.

• Awakened Division: An equally controvercial and radical division of the PPD in which trained police officers are merged with Kheldians to create superpowered Peacebringers. One such officer was Dreadlaw.

• Hero Shield: An experimental program designed to rapidly train and prepare large numbers of recruits in a short period of time. Inspired by Blue Steel, and designed to ultimately replace him on duty, these trained officers would essentially be PPD superheroes. Unfortunately the only successful member of this program to date has been Captain Paragonna. This program was under the supervision of Deputy Chief Glen McMillan and was discontinued following his death.

Unfortunately, Chief Bochco was also known for some of the more darker corners of law enforcement, such as the "Blind Unit", which served as his personal "enforcers", and the "Blue Dog Squad", which started as an anti-drug unit in Kings Row, but later became a protection racket. The abuses of the PPD were exposed by the teamwork of the Libertarian Avenger and Jimmy Hellfighter, and public pressure forced Bochco to retire.

The police department was then put under the leadership of Chief Morton Clayton, who put a greater emphasis to working with the heroes. This did not sit well with many loyal officers, including Thomas Wield, who was the president of the police union and was eventually elevated to Deputy Police Chief.

Additional notes

• According to "Guardians of the Dawn Spotlight" #4, the PPD is currently under control of Chief Morton Clayton.

• According to "Furia and the Guardians" #1, Captain Paragonna was promoted to the rank of Captain and was put in charge of the Awakened Division until she was forced to retire in "Task Force Twilight" #3.

Related Information

(See the in-game background for more information.)