Psi Division

Psi-Division is a fictional organisation in the Judge Dredd and Anderson: Psi-Division comic strips in 2000 AD and Judge Dredd: The Megazine. It is the branch of Mega-City One's Justice Department that deals in supernatural phenomena, using Judges with psychic abilities. Psi-Judges are often highly-strung and eccentric as a result of the strain of their abilities. While Judge Anderson is its most famous operative, Psi-Judges Janus, Karyn and Corey have also proved notable. The current head of Psi-Division is Judge Shenker.

Psi-Judges fulfill many roles on behalf of the Justice Department, including reading the minds of prisoners unwilling to disclose information, providing for warning of great events to affect Mega-City One and others, and providing a skilled force of specialist Judges to counter supernatural threats to the city, such as the Dark Judges.^[1] During the time when the Dark Judges were imprisoned in a vault beneath the Hall of Justice, a team of Psi-Judges were on hand to provide a constant watch over the malignant spirits, suppressing any psychic activity should they become restless.

While Psi-Division was once a well-respected and influential division, it has since lost much of its prestige due to its failure to predict several major disasters, the most recent being the destruction of most of Mega-City One in the story Day of Chaos.^[2] As a result, the division is no longer represented on the Council of Five^[3] (its place being taken by the Wally Squad division) and in the story After The Bombs it was seen going to extreme lengths to salvage its reputation.

Like the rest of the Justice Department, Psi-Division contains several smaller sub-divisions. These include the Exorcist Judges, who deal with exorcising demonic activity; the Department of Magic who were tasked with examining magic and how best to judge it; and the Dream Police.^[4]

The Division was set up in 2057, and was publicly announced on the day that Chief Judge Solomon resigned and was replaced by Chief Judge Goodman.^[5]

Psi-Judges

Because of the Psi-Judges' special status within the Justice Department, they are entitled to more specialised equipment and procedures, such as the ability to carry silver boot knives (though Dredd was seen equipped with one and was considering recommending them as standard issue) and special silver tipped rounds for their firearms.^[6]

Like most other specialist Judges (i.e. Tek and Med), Psi-Judges do not wear badges with their surnames imprinted on them. Instead their badges simply read 'PSI'. This has been apparent in several comic strips featuring the Psi-Judges (although not in all of them, with some artists simply depicting the Judge's surname instead). However, their badges do have their surname imprinted in very small letters on the reverse.^[7]

Psi-Division also uses civilian auxiliaries and even prisoners to supplement its contingent of Judges, as anyone with psychic powers is potentially useful to Justice Department.^[8]

According to the Judge Anderson story "Lock In", Psi-Judges cannot use the same anti-aging treatments as street Judges do, due to its effects on psionic abilities. This is inconsistent with the artwork, however, which still depicts Anderson as if she is in her mid-twenties, when in reality she would be at least 48 years old.^[9]

List of Psi Division personnel

Name	Abilities	Position	Current Status
Judge Agee	Telepath	Standard operative	Killed during Necropolis, 2112
Judge Anderson	Multiple	Department legend; veteran operative	Active
Judge Corey	Empath	Standard operative	Committed suicide due to her disagreeing with Justice Department methods
Judge Ecks	Unknown	Former head of division	Killed in Apocalypse War, 2104
Judge Fauster	Witchcraft	Dept. of Magic head; traitor	Imprisoned
Judge Feyy	Pre-Cog	Veteran operative	Deceased
Judge Gistane	Extispicist	Dept. of Magic operative	Deceased
Gaia Innocenti	Pre-Cog	Prisoner, forced into service	Active, heavily drugged
Judge Janus	Pre-Cog/Telepath	Standard operative	Active
Judge Karyn	Pre-Cog/Telepath	Veteran operative	Possessed by superspook[10]
Judge Lamia	Exorcist	Standard operative	Active
Juliet November	Pyrokinetic	Prisoner, used when needed	Imprisoned
Judge Omar	Unknown	Former Head of Division	Killed due to use of Psi-Amplifier in an attempt to stop the Seven Samuarai, 2108
Dr Rickard	Unknown	Head of Research	Killed in action, 2112
Judge Shakta	Telepath	Standard operative	Active, blinded during Half Life mission
Judge Shenker	Unknown	Current Head of Division	Active

Foreign equivalents

Many other Judge forces possess a Psi-Division. The ones depicted have worked for Vatican City, East-Meg Two, the Sino Block, Brit-Cit and Cal-Hab, Casablanca, and Delhi-Cit. The latter two had Psi Judges sent on exchange visits to Mega-City One (in the stories Inferno and Darkside). Due to a smaller population, Brit-Cit often has to resort to using psis that suffer from severe psychiatric disorders.

East-Meg Two calls them PsiKops^[11] and Brit-Cit has a Psyk-Division.^[12] In the Sino Block, they're overseen by the Ministry of Paranormal Activities.

See also

• The Medusa Seed

References

1. 2000 AD #150
2. 2000 AD #1743 and #1789
3. 2000 AD #1178
4. Daily Star newspaper comic strip, dated 20th November 1982.
5. 2000 AD #1515
6. Judge Dredd: Asylum, Judge Dredd Megazine Vol. 4 #5
7. In Necropolis, Judge Kraken, in his assumed role as the replacement Judge Dredd, discovers he is responsible for the attack on Mega-City One when he finds Psi-Judge Agee's badge on his person. It clearly has her name embossed on the reverse.
8. Juliet November: Phoenix Falling, Judge Dredd Megazine #202-4
9. Assuming Anderson was 20 (the usual minimum age for a Cadet to become a full Judge, although Psi-Division may have different rules) at the time of her first appearance in 2102, she would be at least 52 in 2134.
10. 2000 AD #1436
11. Prog 700: "Shamballa"
12. "Psyk-Division" used in Dave Stone's Armitage strips