Evidence, Methods and Resources
The First EncounterDC Lyons, DS Shaw, PC Lovett and PC Scott were investigating an incident in the early hours of Saturday morning. On the way to the scene they saw a man drag a woman into an alley-way. All officers rushed to help. They saw a Sabbat vampire feeding on the woman and attempted to restrain it. The vampire broke free and DS Shaw opened fire as it seemed likely to attack PC Scott. The thing crashed to the ground and lay still. There was no sign of a pulse, breathing or any blood. As PC Scott watched she saw the bloodless wounds begin to close. At this moment the first feeble rays of the sun rose over the houses behind. When sunlight hit the creature it burst into flame. Before long there was nothing left but a black shadow on the tarmac. The woman whom they rescued provided further evidence that she had been attacked by a vampire. She had fang marks on her neck and had lost a lot of blood. She described the creature as extremely strong. She was unaware of its presence until it grabbed her. The officers concerned did not feel that they could report this incident as it happened. They were sure that they would not be believed. This was because of an officer who reported a similar incident several years earlier. He had insisted that what he saw was a vampire. His senior officers tried to convince him otherwise but he wouldn't back down. In the end the officer was sacked for insubordination and behaviour likely to bring the force into disrepute. Investigative methodsThey don't really know how to 'find' Vampires. Obviously, just wandering around hoping to bump into one is a bit unlikely to work. Therefore, their first line of enquiry will be Police records. This is a safe method of searching unlikely to attract attention. They will start with the most recent and work backwards. They will also keep an eye out in the course of their duties for anything suspicious. They may try to get assigned to any cases which they think are suspicious. Canteen conversation will be discreetly trawled for hints. These tactics carry a very small degree of risk of detection. Once they find a Vampire, Nicola will want to move in as soon as possible. However, Jane will prefer to wait and watch the Vampire, hoping it will lead them to other vampires or mortal contacts. Jane's real desire is not to kill Vampires but to find out how powerful they are. She is especially interested in mortal connections; amongst the Police in particular. Jane will probably be able to carry her view. Nicola will agree because Jane has convinced her that the evil of the Vampires' hold over the Police outweighs the evil of individual acts. They intend to destroy the whole vampire society. They will not risk this enterprise for the sake of the destruction of a single vampire. They will record all the information they find carefully and may pass some of it to the SoL. As Jane and Alex suspect some sort of Police cover-up surrounding Vampire activity, they will do their best to keep their searches away from official channels. This restricts the hunters' freedom to use their police powers. On the one hand, their official powers would allow them to question people more easily but on the other hand, it could lead to 'the enemy' discovering their identities. I therefore propose that they will use the following strategy:- Whenever possible, they will pursue their investigation in civilian clothes. When they are asking questions on duty, they will try to disguise the thrust of the questions as much as possible. When they need to ask very obvious questions and have to be in uniform to do so (ie. questioning the nightclub manager and getting hold of the tape) then they will use some subtle disguise, give a false name and make slight mistakes in proceedure which would be picked up by any expert asking questions. Hopefully, this will lay a false trail for anyone in the Police force trying to find them. Remember that with the exception of Alex, they are all trained police officers. Therefore, their investigations will prodeed methodically and they will want an large amout of evidence before they take action. They are well aware of the consequences of breaking the law and that killing vampires will probably result in murder investigations. Resources
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