CEO -- "Why do you not have any guns??"
"We don't need them."
CEO -- "How do you stop criminals??"
"We have special firearms that shoot out discs that latch onto the body and cause > the person to faint, safely, no matter the species. This way no one gets hurt and we can capture the prisoner unharmed."
CEO aghast "That's so... SOFT! They'll re-offend!"
"Not often, not once we're done with them." -- Anon Guest
CEO's touring Alliance facilities always have culture clash issues when witnessing what the Alliance really does in society. CEO Boudewijn boggled at his security escort, who was small, and slight, and of dubious gender.
His first question was a highly predictable, "What are you?"
"A human bean," said Security Officer Gray. "I'm one of them Theys." They smirked at their own joke. "Any rude questions about my private body parts?"
"Ah. No." Boudewijn had the decency to blush. "It's just... You're tiny, you have no armour, and you don't have a gun."
Gray did their best not to be condescending at Boudewijn. They simply smiled and said, "We're from different realities. I don't need armour or a gun. There are low-powered firearms that will fling a projectile at a fleeing perpetrator, but those criminals are rare."
"You don't ever shoot to kill?"
"People don't learn if they're dead," breezed Gray, and showed him a Stunner Chip. "Our firearms fling these at those who try to run. For most incidents, close contact is already underway, so all we need to do is tag a perpetrator with one and they're safely down with minimal harm."
"And the recidivism?"
"Not possible. After we're done with therapy, remedial education, public help? There's little reason to do crime ever again."
"But those are SOFT," objected Boudewijn. "How do you punish them when they lose their morals like that?"
"Bold of you to presume that crime is a moral failure. A vast portion of crimes are the results of desperation. Of the remainder, it's a simple misunderstanding of the rules or a failure of societal structure at some point. We interview, review, restructure as necessary and generally improve the way things go."
Boudewijn pointed out a graffiti spot, "You have rampant vandalism. That's a societal failure right there."
Gray sighed, rolling their eyes. "That's a designated graffiti zone. People have an innate desire to leave a mark. It's better to--" they stopped just short of saying the R-word that would immediately raise Deregger ire[1], "--give them somewhere that it's legal to do that."
"That's insane."
"That's what works. We've eliminated homelessness, theft, and abuse, minimised dangerous drug use, and eased the presence of property damage to near zero."
Boudewijn frowned at this news. "With a hard hand and strictly enforced morals?"
"By providing what people need. Including help."
"How's that work again?" said Boudewijn.
[1] "Regulate".
[Photo by Joseph Gonzalez on Unsplash]
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