Insect Spirit Hive, who ya gonna call? Options

[Moon-Hawk]

Say for whatever reason I suspect my neighbor is actually an insect shaman. Naturally, it would seem, I call Lone Star and inform them of my suspicions.
What, exactly, does LS do now? This isn't exactly a report of some stolen bicycles, here. Do they send one guy with a flashlight, or roll out the APCs? Do they "outsource" to the military, or maybe even private specialists? Even sending an astral mage to check things out is extremely risky, but they can't call in the national guard everytime someone cries wolf. They can send in spirits, but AFAIK spectral evidence is not sufficient for a search warrant, should one be needed.
How do you imagine their SOP and escalation process goes, and how does it vary by neighborhood?

[Demerzel]

I imagine that one would utilize the investigative techniques that are applied to missing persons. As any hive would be a hotbed of missing persons. Things like stakeouts would be useful. Basicaly, I imagine, there would be a slow response to a report of an insect hive.

My intuition is, if you have reason suspect your neighbor is an insect shaman and you're not dead then you're probably wrong. :P

[BishopMcQ]

I'd say the follow up and escalation is going to depend on a lot of things, ranging from the evidence you bring up in your suspicions, your qualifications, the neighborhood you are living in etc.

If you are Joe Average who doesn't know an insect spirit from the trid projection of a 50' tall beetle, then Lonestar's response is going to be a little different than if you were a MIT&T parazoology professor.

I think the basic first step would be to have a local officer confirm the tip. This can be accomplished by having a patrol officer go to the house and talk to the neighbor, if his cop instinct is triggered, elevate for follow-up, and an Astral fly-by. If not, log the complaint and move on.

[knasser]

I think UCAS would have several laws on the books by which they can supercede any normal rights such as search warrants, due process, inadmissability of evidence, use of force. And like "terrorism" today, the UCAS public would probably hand over such power willingly.

In fact, if UCAS in 2070 doesn't have a Dept. of Homeland Security sort of agency tasked with tackling threats like this, (or obstensibly like this), then I'd be very surprised. I mean forget terrorists - at least we all have brown skin (v. v. heavy sarcasm, for those who didn't spot it), and forget communists cause although you can't spot them, at least you know they can't convert you. Insect spirits are where it's at.

I'm not saying that this means some agency is going to go in all guns blazing. They're going to want to do surveillance to make sure they get all of the nymphs in the hive. Or maybe, they're doing surveillance on you already. Just in case...

[NightmareX]