Friday, October 12, 2007

Resident Evil - Raccoon Police Department

The Raccoon Police Department (R.P.D.) is a fictional law-enforcement agency that appears in Capcom's Resident Evil survival horror franchise. The police station is situated in the heart of Raccoon City.

History

Formerly Raccoon City's prestigious art museum, the building was purchased in the late 1980s by the local government and converted for use by the R.P.D. due to its ample parking space and centralized location near Raccoon City's central business district.

Although the artworks within the building were removed and relocated, it was once again lavishly decorated by Raccoon City's Chief of Police, Brian Irons, a known art and sculpture enthusiast. Irons' inability to refrain from constantly purchasing newer and more grandiose pieces also lead to many of the building's storage rooms being filled with neglected and replaced artworks no longer appreciated by the fickle Chief. The building contained two entrances to the city's sewer system; one through the kennels, and one through a secret room connected to Chief Irons' office. The latter designed and installed by the Umbrella Corporation to better facilitate Irons' duties within their clandestine research operations, as these sewer entrances allowed access to Umbrella's secret underground laboratories.


Arklay mountains incident

On July 23rd 1998, the Special Tactics And Rescue Service (S.T.A.R.S.) Bravo Team (later followed by Alpha) was dispatched into the Arklay Mountains to investigate a series of bizarre cannibalistic murders in the region. After the Spencer Mansion incident, surviving S.T.A.R.S. members led by Chris Redfield, demanded a full-scale investigation of Umbrella's activities. However, this was promptly denied by Chief Irons, who later officially disbanded S.T.A.R.S., having realised that the surviving member's inquiries could possibly lead to the discovery of his position within Umbrella's secret structure. Utilising the assistance of another of Umbrella's most esteemed lackeys, Raccoon City Mayor Michael Warren, the two succeeded in tarnishing the S.T.A.R.S. unit's reputation and largely suppressing much of their account of the Arklay incident through manipulation of the media.

Suspecting Irons' of collusion with the Umbrella Corporation, Redfield then had several media sources, began a subtle inquiry into the Chief's personal activities, which were then uncovered by Ben Bertolucci. Redfield also requested that the Federal police conduct an investigation into Irons' background, which faxed a report to the S.T.A.R.S. office on September 29th, albeit too late to spare the city from Umbrella's atrocities.


Raccoon City Outbreak

During the T-Virus outbreak in Raccoon City in September of 1998, many of the series' central characters sought refuge within the precinct, including Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield. One day before them, S.T.A.R.S. Alpha Team operatives Brad Vickers and Jill Valentine sought the safety of the precinct whilst being pursued by one of Umbrella's deadly Bio-Organic Weapons, the "Nemesis," with Vickers being brutally killed by the creature at the precinct entrance.


The R.P.D. precinct was temporarily used as a rallying point and temporary shelter for surviving citizens during the incident, including the survivors of Resident Evil Outbreak: File 2. The "Desperate Times" scenario details the escape of a handful of officers and survivors the day before the arrival of Jill Valentine and Brad Vickers. However, there is considerable evidence which suggests that Marvin Branagh and the survivors were not the last group of officers to seek shelter within the precinct. Resident Evil 2 shows that many windows previously intact and unprotected have been barricaded haphazardly with wooden planks. Several rooms, including the "Interrogation room" and "2nd floor reception office" have been cleaned up. The two prisoners incarcerated within the basement holding area have been released and Ben Burtolucci has been given the key to his cell. The west wing, which was previously overrun with zombies, has been cleared and secured. There are the bodies of several police officers strewn around the precinct, including an officer who has been pecked to death by crows on the second floor, and the previously intact windows have been smashed. The SWAT (S.P.F.) van on the parking ramp has been returned to its parking place. Marvin requests that the player character "rescue the survivors in the other rooms," even though he was the only living person left inside the precinct not to escape alongside Rita and the survivors, suggesting that others had arrived afterwards. The police officer who signals the rescue helicopter on the precinct roof during "Scenario B" is not a member of Marvin's original team and, most importantly, the four officers who leave diary entries detailing an attempted escape through the sewers are not members of the survivors' group, as none of the officers in "Desperate Times" are murdered by Chief Irons.


Eventually, the building suffered the same fate as the rest of Raccoon City when it was annihilated during "Operation: Mission Code XX," when the United States government ordered the destruction of the region in order to prevent the spread of the T-Virus across the country.


Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raccoon_Police_Department

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