By: Daiyu Tang
Readers, somewhat old news regarding Officer Bolo and Chief Dale. What with the Hathian PD deciding that giving advertising dollars to the Muskrat, is somehow better than the Observer, we’re a little behind in our coverage. Hopefully however our additional insights and certain other follow-up over the next week or two will help you piece together things, perhaps better than a simple statement from the PD.
So bear with me as we go through a quick recap, cover some points of view and then outline where we plan to take our coverage over the next few weeks… Yes, sorry readers with short attention spans, this is likely to be a two part piece…
Recapping Dale
The Observer was sent an anonymous letter attacking the character of former Chief Dale in January 2024. At the time, we investigated, confirmed (as far as possible) Dale’s link to the Hathian Gang, ‘The King Street Bones’ (KSB) but expressed hope and optimism that in a role critical to life Dale could put aside gang loyalties for the loyalty to life.
So he seemed to be able to do, until it came down to a life or death choice and in the words of two different sources, he choose to preserve gang ties over life.
While we don’t have it pinned down whether he was always a Bone, a tweet reproduced below does seem rather… prophetic that perhaps the veneer of impartiality might crack.
“One day killing a lifesaver and a member of the Fire Department Hathian might unexpectedly bite you. I hope that day is soon”
Dale
Expressions of anger, hurt and a desire for revenge (or justice depending on your point of view) is hardly an uncommon trait in Hathian and perhaps we should read no more into that Tweet than a human response, natural after a loss.
But I have to say it readers… A small part of me kind of wishes there was a reason beyond ‘Helping Zeek out’ for what Dale did… With the Chief not available, the Observer has not been able to find out (yet) any justification from him for his actions, but on a personal note (not that it would excuse the act) it would be easier to write this if Bolo had hurt Andy or someone else close to Dale, given a reason, rather than some stupid colours… That would have been easier to process than just Dale deciding to use his ambulance to kill someone who was fighting a KSB member.
Dale has been a force for good in this city, saving lives through both rescue and prevention tips and regular inspections. But it has all ended…
Recapping Bolo
“RIP Officer Charles Bolo. While upholding the law, he was attacked by Zeek Rookswood. FDH was called at which point the head of the department maliciously killed Officer Bolo, instead of helping him like the oath he took.”
HPD via Twitter
Officer Bolo was not an officer that I had had interaction with in any capacity other than seeing his name appear in lists of officers accused of rape or other crimes and as always, this was in the context of other violence and murder. This hardly makes it reliable, it just makes it Hathian.
Bolo leaves colleagues behind who clearly miss and support him and it appears clear that they, after suffering other losses at the hands of Hathian criminals will be making their point soon.
We as a city should ask, why is any of this acceptable? Both ways.
But while I cannot comment on what Bolo did or didn’t do with regards to crime and this article covering his death really wouldn’t be the place, he did seem to make someone good happy. When people die, when they are taken from others, the impact is broad and the ripples spread out and this hurts. Maybe not you today, but it will, one day.
I spoke with some officers to get their view on the situation…
Officer: “You can tell the public that if the FD already start running over wounded cops when will they come for the citizens. Or other gang members like Rejects when the Bones got beef to grind with anyone. Clearly the FD chief needs to be removed out of his position about the mayor.”
The officer makes a good point; but it does seem the Mayor (or at least the FDH board) has listened for now. Dale has been fired. Is it going to last, or will he try and come back when the heat is over? We’ll be watching.
Officer: “Dale murdered him in cold blood. He saw Zeek go fucking machete on the guy and figured he would fucking finish it.”
I think, beyond reasonable doubt, the charge against Dale is proven, although we will keep trying to dig for more details. As for Bolo, if any reader wants to write in and provide more details on the good (or if you have to, bad) you are welcome to do so. We’ll carry memories or thoughts in the next article in this series.
Social Media Goes Crazy
The response on social media has been uniformly negative about the actions that Dale is alleged to have taken. There are the odd voices of balance that talk to a slightly different message; why is there all this opprobrium against Dale, when the HPD is alleged to do much worse. I, personally,
“This is amazing, I love watching this guy’s life go to shit. Karma is a bitch”
Charlie Bundy on Twitter
Some of the thoughts seemed rather fanciful, “Can confirm! He is a Bone. Killed his wife and ate her liver.” with known chancers and criminals coming out of the woodwork on one side or the other, some of whom the Observer would suggest are just shit stirrers.
There were many more thoughts and while it is fair to say that accusations against the officer also featured heavily, especially in light of the rape and other considerations noted above, there was a certain ‘fuck the world’ attitude to them, i.e. people like mass terrorist Tori saying Dale should get a medal… If that was true then what would they get for taking her out?
Eleri had a balanced view though, this idea that did Dale merited being called out as much as perhaps he has been? I tried to sum up my personal views… whether it is true or not completely, there is enough truth in the view that HPD is the largest gang in Hathian. Bad cop behaviour shouldn’t be tolerated, but dare we say that false citations and so on are tolerated because at the end of the phone, 911 will come and save you? It’s a harder pill to swallow when the paramedic you need decides to end your life rather than save you. Subtly the same, yet different? What do you think Readers?
Thoughts & Next Steps
Firstly, the Observer wishes the best to the family and loved ones of Officer Bolo. Secondly, we also share the feelings of general anger at the potential crimes that can be committed without justice by those very same officers. I am a broken record in advocating for non-violent solutions… Hathian citizens, often with the right idea, are infiltrated by anarchists and those with murder on their minds and the cycle starts again. Who can break it? Surely the Observer doesn’t believe Mayor Boxer can, so who?
“I’m probably number one on that list. Dale hates my guts.”
Chief Administrator of HGH Dr. Simon LeMarchand via Twitter
This kind of hate between our services, HGH, FDH, HPD… even the Observer itself (as the Fourth Estate) shouldn’t continue. Christ, can’t we just employ decent people, pay them a fair wage and drive a wedge between them and gangs, drugs and hate?
We’ll be back in a second part, examining more around this story, but for now… this is Daiyu Tang with the Observer, sending you this story, so you too can be driven to a bottle of wine in sadness at the state of affairs in this city.
I leave you with this image and I know what some of you feel about it, is what sends my hand to the wine glass again. – DT
