The Pokemon League vs. Law Enforcement

[Oryx]

So, in the Pokemon universe there are some police, as evidenced by Officer Jenny all over the place. However, as seen by all the constant evil teams, they're not...very effective. On the other hand, the Pokemon League has been shown in many games (not sure about the anime on this one) as stopping the evil teams and in general being the law enforcement in the game.

Is the lack of law enforcement just a convenient tool in the world so the kids can always stop the evil team? Do you think the Pokemon League is part of the law enforcement, or something like vigilante superheroes? Feel free to discuss anything along those veins :)

 

[Overlord Drakow]

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I think of the "evil teams" as like the Mafia or the Chinese Triads etc. Regular law enforcers aren't really up to the task of taking on such organisations. In the same manner, the regular police department of Officer Jenny and Co, aren't that capable of handling the "evil teams".

Although, the above analogy seems pretty ridiculous when you consider the fact that in Pokemon, you have these ten year old kids walking all over the "evil teams". But then, it's Pokemon. Being ridiculous is one of its' fortes.

As far as the League is concerned, I think of them as allies of justice. They'll step in if they're really needed or if it directly affects themselves or whatever, but I wouldn't consider them part of the law.

 

[Mr Cat Dog]

For the most part, beat police - your Officer Jennys of the Pokemon world - don't really deal with Mafioso types like evil teams, or even criminal organisations in general. Normally there are special types of police dedicated to that no matter where you are in the world. So while the lack of a constant police presence may seem on its face to be lacking, there's probably not much that one could do about it. People like Looker, for example, are more likely to be the ones in the police/defence force tasked with ending the rule of the evil teams. And they mostly remain hidden from sight, so as not to alert the teams to their presence.

As for the Pokemon League, I guess I've always seen them as a quasi-governmental body. They have some form of 'power' but it's probably not kept in check by any legislature or executive; they'll have a budget and maybe part of that will go to 'helping the populace' or something. But these are presumably the strongest Pokemon trainers in the world, so even if they were to be 'supressed' by government, there's probably not a lot a government could do to stop them. Vigilante is probably too loose a term, but maybe they just feel a sense of obligation to protect people, given their status in society?

 

[Blade_of_darkness]

Though I'll give it to them that the law enforcement in the Pokémon world are very enthusiastic about their positions, they pale in comparison to the law enforcement in the real world, especially when it comes to the more shadier aspects of crime.

Thus, most Pokémon trainers have to take it upon themselves to make sure that the evil teams get burnt at the stake, like those medieval witches.

 

[psyanic]

I've always thought it was sensible that the Pokemon League could help stop the evil Teams because of how strong they are. Pokemon are practically the weapons, though I'm sure there are guns/knives/etc., and they're one of the biggest factors in determining how strong a person or an organization is. But the problem is that they don't have that many strong trainers dedicated to ending the Teams, as they'd only have the Elite Four and the Champion.

There are more forms of law enforcement, such as the Pokemon Rangers or those regular park rangers seen in the anime, and many trainers seem to take it upon themselves to stop any evil-doers, also evidenced in the anime. Even so, they're not dedicated to completely taking down an organization, but they're more like stopping one incident wherever they are. The regular police force is only dedicated to stopping single crimes as well. Gym Leaders also probably do the same, seeing as their jurisdiction would be their city.

And I agree that whatever organization Looker is in, along with other possible like organizations, are tasked with taking down teams.

 

[Chaos Dragon]

So, in the Pokemon universe there are some police, as evidenced by Officer Jenny all over the place. However, as seen by all the constant evil teams, they're not...very effective. On the other hand, the Pokemon League has been shown in many games (not sure about the anime on this one) as stopping the evil teams and in general being the law enforcement in the game.

Is the lack of law enforcement just a convenient tool in the world so the kids can always stop the evil team? Do you think the Pokemon League is part of the law enforcement, or something like vigilante superheroes? Feel free to discuss anything along those veins :)

Not really.

Most law enforcement units are rarely if ever effective, especially the less corrupt they are unless you want a tyrannical state, but that's a discussion for another time.

 

[Elite Overlord LeSabre™]

Prepare for a long rant...

Law enforcement in Pokemon is ineffective at best and nonexistent at worst. Even Looker just has your character do the hard work of tracking down culprits like Charon and the sages, then swoops in when the time is right to easily take them into custody. Of course it's all a plot point to make your character the hero... if Pokemon was at all based in reality, Team Rocket would be using assault rifles and machine guns instead of Rattatas and Zubats. And they'd be much more successful, too. I wouldn't imagine some 10-13 year old would last long against a hail of bullets from an AK-47.

But for a series where you basically take the law into your own hands, Pokemon does very little with the idea... you just battle the heck out of the bad guys and that's it. Why not have your character actively investigate them? Wiretaps, collecting DNA, comparing fingerprints and footprints found at a crime scene... surely these would be much more engaging "minigames" than dressing up your Pokemon or making them play sports. And they'd actually tie in with the plot. Pokemon essentially makes your character judge, jury, and executioner instead of actual law enforcement, but fails to run with the idea.

And as for the Pokemon League? I get the idea that they're too content sitting in their comfy chambers to get up off their fat behinds and do anything about the crime that plagues their region (with Lorelei (FR/LG) and Lance (G/S/C) being "kinda" exceptions... they at least get up and get out to investigate, but leave most of the hard work to you). It's like they have tunnel vision...they're only focused on the next challenger who comes walking through their doors. The Gym Leaders in B/W were somewhat better about this, but still...

As someone who is very interested in how law enforcement investigations in real life happen, I am disappointed by the lack of effective law enforcement in Pokemon games. Especially since dealing with organized crime is a key plot point in the games. Even if your character is supposed to stop them by their lonesome, at least have them do ballistics testing or witness interrogation - something that even remotely resembles a real law enforcement investigation.

But hey, we can start by actually arresting the kingpins of the evil crime organizations and making them face justice! Giovanni? Ran off, appeared at some tourney thing in Unova. Archie and Maxie? Ran off, who knows where they are now. Cyrus? Stuck in the Distortion World. Ghetsis? "Butterfingers" Alder and Cheren let him escape, allowing him to regroup, resurrect his gang, and strike again. Note that none of these include "serving life without parole in a correctional facility."

Oh yeah, and adding a few Ford Crown Victoria police cruisers into the game would be a great idea, too.

 

[droomph]

Just like how there's gangs in the real world, there's a good reason Jenny can't handle everything.

And the Pokémon Anime isn't Pokémon Life Today, and it focuses on Ash, a boy who doesn't have any interest in law other than helping out strangers, so you can't just assume that only Officer Jenny cares about law enforcement - just like we don't see detectives looking for the Cripps just by walking down the street to get a Cinnabon. You don't see the Supreme Court Justice ruling in a Brown v. State-type case when going to the gym, and you can't see the Congress walking down to get a Dunkin' Donuts. The only law enforcement you can actually see by just living your life are the cops in cop cars, who are like the Officer Jenny of the irl.

And in the fifth movie, in the credits, we do see that criminals go to jail (why the hell else would Annie be there?) and it seems that with their institutions being so clean and well-planned (they have a classroom for god's sake), their law system works even better than the Americans'.

@Elite Hey, you do realize that in the real world, many crime leaders don't get arrested, right? They die. They get shot. They die from syphilis. And the few that do are tiny in comparison to the ones who are still roaming out there. And hey - we're talking about a country, a world, we've only seen like, five counties of...they already have six large organizations. It would make sense that some of them don't get arrested - six gangs in five counties - how many are out there in the hundred-and-fifty full countries out there, and you can assume that at least some of them have been arrested!

 

[Elite Overlord LeSabre™]

@Elite Hey, you do realize that in the real world, many crime leaders don't get arrested, right? They die. They get shot. They die from syphilis. And the few that do are tiny in comparison to the ones who are still roaming out there. And hey - we're talking about a country, a world, we've only seen like, five counties of...they already have six large organizations. It would make sense that some of them don't get arrested - six gangs in five counties - how many are out there in the hundred-and-fifty full countries out there, and you can assume that at least some of them have been arrested!

LOLWUT?

I have no idea what point you're trying to make, but right now. factoring in main-stream Pokemon games, the batting average for criminal leaders is ZERO. (Charon in Platinum was only a subordinate) And that's not even mentioning all the grunts and lower admins who also disappear. No, not everyone can be captured, but the arrest percentages in the Pokemon world are horrendous. And maybe I'm the only one who feels this way, but I don't get any satisfaction knowing that this criminal organization I've battled all game long isn't going to pay for their crimes. Where's the justice in that? Where's the satisfaction of a successful mission in that?

But there I go again, assuming the Pokemon world has any basis in reality.

 

[Chaos Dragon]

LOLWUT?

I have no idea what point you're trying to make, but right now. factoring in main-stream Pokemon games, the batting average for criminal leaders is ZERO. (Charon in Platinum was only a subordinate) And that's not even mentioning all the grunts and lower admins who also disappear. No, not everyone can be captured, but the arrest percentages in the Pokemon world are horrendous. And maybe I'm the only one who feels this way, but I don't get any satisfaction knowing that this criminal organization I've battled all game long isn't going to pay for their crimes. Where's the justice in that? Where's the satisfaction of a successful mission in that?

But there I go again, assuming the Pokemon world has any basis in reality.

I guess I'll be the first to ask, how is beating this criminal organization a central plot in the game to the point it dissatisfies you for the whole game? (I'm assuming that's what you're saying, my apologies if you don't mean you're dissatisfied of the whole game because of that.)

 

[Rivvon]

Pokemon leaves a lot of societal aspects incredibly vague. Not even just societal aspects--just everyday things.
For example, in BW Fennel says that she and Juniper were friends in college. The closest things to educational facilities in any of the games are the small "Pokemon Academies" that teach the most basic battle elements.

It's almost a tradition for RPG's to have something bad happen on such a major scale that only a select few can make things right again. In these cases there is nothing law enforcement can do--this makes them unnecessary. While they could possibly be included for depth of background characters, when RG were made, Game Freak had to make sure to only include necessary details due to the storage limitations of the Game Boy cartridges. And Pokemon, being a series which relies heavily upon tradition, has not included a law enforcement group since--because Game Freak has not deemed them necessary.

Because there's no law enforcement present, only people who are willing to step up and oppose the villainous teams do so. Since the Pokemon League tends to consist of good-hearted people (silly Giovanni) it only makes sense that they assist in taking down the bad guys.
In addition to the Pokemon League, rivals may also try to help with defeating an evil team (the best examples being Bianca and Cheren, but also Silver). This is, again, because there is no law enforcement agency, but simply good-hearted people who are willing to help.

Granted, Looker has stated that he is part of Interpol, so there is something somewhere. But as I've stated before, it's very vague simply because it does not yet need to be a main plot point. He was introduced in Platinum as a way to really drive home the idea that Team Galactic is so dangerous that Interpol actually needs to get a secretive agent there to assist in bringing them down--it's important to the plot, but not so important that it needs to be fleshed out.

So basically, there is no law enforcement agency besides Interpol, and the Pokemon League only helps out because they're nice and like to help others.

 

[droomph]

LOLWUT?

I have no idea what point you're trying to make, but right now. factoring in main-stream Pokemon games, the batting average for criminal leaders is ZERO. (Charon in Platinum was only a subordinate) And that's not even mentioning all the grunts and lower admins who also disappear. No, not everyone can be captured, but the arrest percentages in the Pokemon world are horrendous. And maybe I'm the only one who feels this way, but I don't get any satisfaction knowing that this criminal organization I've battled all game long isn't going to pay for their crimes. Where's the justice in that? Where's the satisfaction of a successful mission in that?

But there I go again, assuming the Pokemon world has any basis in reality.

Saturn, Mars, and Jupiter all got arrested in the anime - so do the grunts in real gangs. However, the Cripps leader isn't arrested yet - he's either replaced or he dies and then is replaced. The same should go with all organized criminals in the Pokémon world, with a couple arrested that haven't been significant enough to make it into our particular story arc.

And as Rivvon and I have both stated, the Pokémon series isn't Pokémon World Today - it's just like how in the Big Bang Theory nobody really cares about armed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan; it's a story about a child who sets out to be recognized, not the Pokémon version of News at 11.

 

[Elite Overlord LeSabre™]

Alright, fine... I suppose we as players have just had the unfortunate luck to have games take place in five consecutive regions with ineffective police forces... hopefully 6th gen breaks this trend.

I guess I'll be the first to ask, how is beating this criminal organization a central plot in the game to the point it dissatisfies you for the whole game? (I'm assuming that's what you're saying, my apologies if you don't mean you're dissatisfied of the whole game because of that.)

I didn't *not* enjoy them overall, but it certainly would have helped me enjoy them more if there was some sort of justice and closure. And really, the villains play a VERY major part of the plot - perhaps just as important as the quest to become Champion.

Forget it... I'll fall back on Forensic Files if I want to see something where some semblance of justice is being served.

 

[droomph]

Alright, fine... I suppose we as players have just had the unfortunate luck to have games take place in five consecutive regions with ineffective police forces... hopefully 6th gen breaks this trend.

Ineffective? They arrest people all the time - remember the fifth movie? The credits? The prison classroom was filled with criminals, not just Annie.

And in the Anime, they arrested all three Galactic leaders. So I wouldn't say ineffective, more like unnoticed by Ash.

 

[Elite Overlord LeSabre™]

various anime related stuff

No, actually I don't remember. I gave up on that disaster of a show less than halfway through the second season, so these events are unknown to me. How would I know something that happened in a show I don't even watch?

All I know is that in the games, cops don't do their job. Unless they're off arresting people not connected to the evil team that your character never meets or something...

And I'd like this to be my final word on the subject.

 

[Poke-roogs]

Interesting discussion. Hmm.

Pokemon leaves a lot to the imagination when it comes to how an advanced civilization manages to function with no clear governing body, (effective)law enforcement, or proper educational facilities.
Like others have said, the story isn't about a criminal investigation or bringing down eight mob bosses who run dog fights (the story could easily be misconstrued that way), its about a kid having adventures with Pokemon! Its light-hearted stuff, to be sure.

That doesn't mean Gamefreak should skip on the heavy narrative (Black and White improve on this, or so I've heard), its just things like how the Pokemon judicial system works and where the bad guys go once we've beaten them aren't questions relevant to the main quest. Granted, the Pokemon series is long overdue for some serious world-building, but...

okay, there are no buts, the Pokemon series is long overdue for some serious world-building

 

[droomph]

the Pokemon series is long overdue for some serious world-building

Well, the Anime does this a bit, and the Manga does this even more so.

We know from the Electric Tales of Pikachu, that they don't just "quit school"; rather, they have a small summer vacation-type thing when they get their Trainer's License. That's some world building, if I have to say.