Judge Niles

Judge Rog Niles is a fictional character in the "Judge Dredd" comic strip in British comic "2000 AD". He first appeared in "2000 AD" prog 706 (1990). He is the current head of the Public Surveillance Unit (PSU). Before that he was head of the Special Judicial Squad (SJS) for ten years.

Head of SJS

Judge Niles was already an experienced judge by the time he was appointed head of the SJS - Justice Department's internal affairs department - by Chief Judge McGruder in 2112. ["2000 AD" #706] In that role he was responsible for ensuring that all of Mega-City One's judges met the highest standards of behaviour, competence and judgement. Yet when the Chief Judge herself began to exhibit increasingly poor judgement and erratic behaviour, he was powerless to intervene by himself, as by abolishing the Council of Five in 2112 she had removed the only constitutional way of holding her to account. Instead he was forced to resort to underhand means. In 2116 he conspired with Judge Hershey and others to remove McGruder from office by force. ["2000 AD" #891] However when the conspirators tried to recruit Judge Dredd's support, Dredd refused to cooperate, firmly declaring that he would not support a "coup d'etat." Anticipating Dredd's reluctance, Niles had come prepared: he informed Dredd of the location of a secret research facility in which McGruder was covertly developing a new production line of robot judges. Niles knew that Dredd believed the robot judge programme to be strong evidence of McGruder's deteriorating judgement, and that Dredd thought that the programme had been discontinued. Once Dredd had discovered the truth, Dredd agreed to join Niles and the others in a delegation to demand the Chief Judge's resignation. ["Judge Dredd Megazine" vol. 2 no. 57] Although this step failed badly, it nevertheless set in motion a long chain of events which eventually did result in McGruder's resignation. In this indirect way Niles was therefore instrumental in bringing about McGruder's departure from office.

Council of Five

When McGruder resigned there was no Council of Five to choose a new chief judge. She therefore appointed an Interim Council of three judges to oversee the transition of power. Niles was a member of this council, and when the new chief judge was elected he appointed Niles to the new Council of Five. Niles himself had declined to run for the city's highest office. ["2000 AD" #915-916]

In the following year (2117) Niles was the only judge on the Council to vote against Chief Judge Volt's sweeping political reforms. However Volt kept him on the Council. ["2000 AD" #957]

Head of PSU

In 2122 Niles handed new Chief Judge Hershey evidence which implicated Judge Edgar, the head of the PSU, in serious crimes. ["2000 AD" #1178-79] Hershey immediately had Edgar arrested, and appointed Niles to replace her as head of PSU. However after the Council of Five heard Edgar speak in her defence, Niles joined the majority in voting for her acquittal. Nevertheless, she was not reinstated as head of PSU, where Niles remains in charge to this day (as of 2008/2130).

Invited by Hershey to nominate his successor as head of SJS, Niles chose Judge Buell, and his recommendation was accepted. Since 2122 Niles has been the longest-serving incumbent member of the Council, and thus presumably the most senior judge after Hershey. (However it has never been stated in the comic strip whether he has been appointed deputy chief judge.) As head of the Public Surveillance Unit he is one of the most powerful men in Mega-City One, as he has detailed information on everyone in the city and almost everything that happens. Fortunately, he has always been loyal to the chief judge, and Judge Dredd has usually been able to count on him for support.

Trivia

*Niles is the third black man in the comic strip to gain a seat on the Council of Five, the others being Judge Quimby (2101-2104) and Chief Judge Silver (2108-2112).

References