There is corruption (and apathy) here, but it really boiled down to the detective finding out that the victim is getting dealt with out of court. The medical bills are being handled, the Hebert's can't sue the only 'official' people involved and all that's left is finding out the person that pulled the nasty prank. He would probably not care if he did catch them, but he's already seen that the school and students are blocking him out.
And as far as he can tell, it was just a nasty prank.
That would work, it is not however what you wrote. You wrote:
"Not much to it. No one admitted to seeing anything and other than a few scratches and a bumped head, no injuries,"
"Who told you to drop the case?" Armsmaster asked.
Lance raised an eyebrow, because this was starting to sound a bit more than just a prank. He stood up and went to a filing cabinet and searched for a folder. "Found it. Looks like it was a Mr. Parks. Assistant Principal."
So the crooked cop in question is either unaware, or lying about the extent of the injuries suffered and was ordered to coverup the case by a civilian who might have some very good reasons for the coverup.
If you changed it to what you wrote above, possibly with the added point that he was told the victim was refusing to name her attackers, much less press charges the conversation would then fit the tone you seem to be aiming at.
There's no relationship between the Hebert's civil settlement against the school and the police criminal investigation into the direct perpetrators.
He's being too busy forcing them to actually get the information he needs. Unfortunately, Armsmaster can't really directly handle the situation, because that would possibly out one or the other of his newest Wards.
That makes sense, but I never suggested Armsmaster handle things himself. Reporting the idiot to Internal affairs, or the police commissioner, or District Attorney, etc... would simultaneously get a much more massive and through investigation than any he could compel out of the lazy idiot and provide much better cover for the Wards since the official reason for Armsmaster's involvement would be him discovering police corruption and reporting it.
That really boils down to the fact that it is not Armsmaster's job to fix the local Police Department.
No, but it is his duty to report that corruption when he sees it to the people whose job it is. What you have Armsmaster doing is like having an FBI agent knowingly working with a criminal on their own authority and not reporting the fact that the guy is a criminal simply because none of his crimes crossed state lines and thus aren't under FBI juristiction. A case could be made that cops who do not report other cops for being corrupt are accessories after the fact. If you want Armsmaster to observe some code of silence that's fine, but if the protectorate follows that sort of rule I'd expect Jarvis to discover it and report that to Tony.
He needs the investigation reopened for his own reasons, so he's using his own powers as leader of the local Protectorate to kick them into motion. He might send a report though the PRT to internal investigations, but in the greater scheme of the hell hole known as Brockton Bay, the investigation dropping through the cracks is (on a bureaucratic scale) pretty small in scope.
Agreed. However a High school assistant principal being able to order an investigation officially closed is a VERY big deal.
From the police's point of view, it was a pretty bad prank, but the 'system' seemed to deal with victim in getting her treatment. They have no idea that there has been systematic abuse being 'condoned' by the school. Heck, the officer would probably feel bad if he did discover it, but he's basically done his half of the job.
You're missing the point. If you had the cops not do any work investigating that would be fine. If you had them drop the case because Taylor refused to name names that would be fine. If you had them drop the case simply because they felt like it that would be...not fine, but minor corruption and quite believable.
Instead you had them ordered to drop the case by the school, and that is very much NOT fine and indicates a major corruption issue.
As for "he's basically done his half of the job." No, he hasn't. He has failed to do any of his actual work as investigating officer (collecting initial statements of potential witnesses is not part of that job, although may be done by him depending on local regulations and various other details).