Judge Niles - Head of PSU

Head of PSU

In 2122 Niles handed new Chief Judge Hershey evidence which implicated Judge Edgar, the head of the PSU, in serious crimes. 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 the PSU, where Niles remained in charge for the next ten years. Invited by Hershey to nominate his successor as head of SJS, Niles chose Judge Buell, and his recommendation was accepted.

By 2122 Niles was the longest-serving incumbent member of the Council, and thus presumably the most senior judge after the chief judge. (However it was never stated in the comic strip whether he was appointed deputy chief judge.) As head of the Public Surveillance Unit he was one of the most powerful men in Mega-City One, as he had detailed information on everyone in the city and almost everything that happened. Fortunately, he was always loyal to the chief judge, and Judge Dredd has usually been able to count on him for support, to the extent that when Dredd threatened to resign unless the Council voted to abolish mutant apartheid, Niles voted against his conscience to keep Dredd on the force.

The change in the city's policy towards mutants was to cost Niles his seat on the Council, however. In 2131 Chief Judge Hershey was voted out of office as a result of widespread opposition to mutant rights, and new Chief Judge Francisco requested the resignation of the entire Council. In the following year his successor, Chief Judge Sinfield, removed Niles from the PSU. Niles responded by recruiting Dredd to run against Sinfield in another election and running Dredd's campaign, albeit on a platform of lesser mutant rights than Dredd had originally supported. When the election was aborted and Francisco returned to office, Francisco reappointed Niles to the Council and to the PSU.

Niles was killed in 2134 when the PSU headquarters was destroyed during the story Day of Chaos (2012).