If you ask someone in Night City what they'd think of NCPD, their opinions may vary. From dead-beat cops to being puppets of megacorps, there's one thing that united all of these opinions altogether, NCPD's incapability to serve and protect.
Couple with the fact that NCPD is synonymous with corruption; you're left with either finding protection from corrupt blues in uniforms or aligning yourself with a gang. Both of which aren't quite good, in River's own opinion.
That's where River was two years back: in an organization filled with corruption, red tape, and bribery. For a few years, he toiled laboriously under the strenuous leadership of NCPD. Thankfully, the Investigative Department's filled with people willing to do the right thing. That is before they found themselves dead or murdered. By the start of 2075, the Investigative Department was filled-out with beat cops who'd bribed their way into the department. Only a few remain to those who're willing to do their job.
Then, NCPDs former Commissioner was 'killed' during a shootout between Tyger Claws and Maelstrom. Suspiciously, Investigative Department was prohibited from investigating the former NCPD Commissioner's death by the NCPD's new commissioner, a mook previously belonging to NCPD's Data Term sales executive. The gonk made NCPD worse that day.
Not only did the gonk reduce NCPD's police force by half and reduced patrol on the streets where people desperately needed protection, but he also made beat cops write tickets to make it NCPD's primary revenue. The fact that he created a drones-for-cops replacement program, charging citizens €$5 per minute to make 911 calls, was the spark that cemented NCPD's reputation as an organization akin to that of a gang. It also didn't help that Rhyne privatized the NCPD, allowing corpos to influence Night City's law and order, citing the reason as 'making NCPD's street safe and secure' or something like that.
By that point, River was seriously contemplating whether or not he should leave the force to become a private investigator.
However, it seemed that Night City's blessed by God that day.
Initially, River's first impression of Tom is indifference. For River, most Solo are money-hungry mercs, well-hidden psychopaths, or both. And while Tom had worked with numerous Solo to complete the investigation reports sent to him, he mostly stayed away from hiring their services, relying on his partner to solve cases together.
However, Tom was different.
While most Solo tends to focus on the credits for work, Tom was not, instead focusing on the well-being of his clients instead of the money. That alone made him different compared to the rest of his contemporaries.
Tom was also the leader of a gang. That revelation came a little later when Tom announced on Television that he'd be formally assuming the CEO of Builders Incorporated. The look he'd made that day was buried deep in his psyche, despite Joss and her children poking holes about it.
When Tom made that announcement, a shift had occurred within NC. Suddenly, reports from the media sprung up on NCPD's radios: Maelstroms corpses floating on the riverbanks of Kabuki, Tyger Claws' body parts littering the streets of Little China, Scavs gutted upon Northside Industrial District.
It was as if a specter of death arrived upon the doors of NC's gangoons: permanently eradicating their miserable lives.
Of course, NCPD leaped at the opportunity: proclaiming the reduction of gangoons within Watson as NCPD's works. That was ignoring that NCPD didn't even use swords, as some of the gangers died through a stab to the chest or decapitation. It didn't stop Jerry Fawlter from taking their deaths for his own.
Then the Builders sallied out of their Megatower.
Their descent to the streets of Watson reminded him of stories told to him by the veterans of the Unification Wars, of how soldiers would act when they're in an urban environment. The way Builders raided the hideouts of Maelstroms and Scavs while the NCPD could do nothing but watch and then leave the clean-up to the NCPD ruffled the feathers of the bigwigs in NCPD. That day, the Builders humiliated Jerry Fawlter fierce.
Fawlter's humiliation doubled when Tom announced that Builders Inc. would increase NCPD's budget in conjunction with Night Corp. While usually, this meant that Fawlter and his cronies would benefit from corpos wanting to hide their work from the general public, the same couldn't be said to Builders Inc. They did the reverse: providing NCPD with weapons necessary to reduce crime.
While Night Corp officially's the one responsible for providing funds to the NCPD, unofficially, it's Arasaka and Militech that controls NCPD's wallet. This divided NCPD into two factions: Fawlter and his cronies under Arasaka and Coleridge and his followers under Militech.
Builders Inc.'s sudden appearance had thrown the delicate balance within NCPD into a loop as those who truly believed in badges being a force of security coalesced under River, who was the one who knew Tom the longest.
These days, with almost half of the gangers reduced to insignificance like the Scavs or buried underground like the Maelstroms, NCPD had become emboldened: with plans of setting up patrol routes within Pacifica being the focus of most conversation within the department.
Besides, he's busier with playing with his sister's children rather than focusing on throwing himself back to work.
"Uncle River, can you please stay a little longer? I want to play with you more." Dorian muttered, clinging to his legs quite hard.
River sighed before ruffling Dorian's head, causing the child to pout, "Sorry, Dorian, but I need to talk with your mother. Next time though, we'll play."
Leaving Dorian and Monique to play for themselves, he took a deep breath before opening the door and seeing his sister grimacing at his entrance.
"What do you want, River?" Instead of replying, River sent her €$20,000 eddies, causing Joss to look at him.
"Happy birthday, Joss. And tell Randy that I've sent him a gift." Before he could turn around and leave, Joss stood up and caused River to look at her.
"Stay, River," Joss said, causing River to smile at her.
'At least I'm making progress.'
