Judge Shenker

Judge Shenker is a fictional supporting character in the "Judge Dredd" and "Anderson, Psi Division" comic strips in British comics "2000 AD" and "Judge Dredd Megazine". He is the head of Psi Division. He first appeared in "2000 AD" prog 457 (1986).

He was appointed head of division by Chief Judge McGruder in 2108, following the death in action of his predecessor, Judge Omar. As head of division Shenker took Omar's seat on the Council of Five, Mega-City One's highest government body. His first council meeting was eventful: blaming herself for Omar's death, McGruder decided to resign. Three other members of the Council urged her to stay, insisting that she was not at fault. Only Shenker spoke in favour of her decision to resign. His opinion was greeted with derision by his three colleagues, but McGruder dismissed them from office and from the Council. Her final act as chief judge was to appoint four new councillors, at a stroke promoting Shenker from the Council's most junior member to its most senior. In this exalted position Shenker was influential in deciding the outcome of the new Council's choice of Judge Silver to succeed McGruder as chief judge. This was to be the last occasion on which the Council of Five would choose a chief judge. ["2000 AD" #457]

McGruder later returned to office for a second term, resigning again in 2116. Since she had previously suspended the Council of Five, and her successor had not yet been chosen, she appointed an Interim Council of three judges to run the city until a new chief judge could be sworn in. By now the city's most senior judge, Shenker was an obvious choice for this ruling body. When the new chief judge re-established the Council of Five, Shenker regained his old seat. ["2000 AD" #915]

However Psi Division's performance was declining, and it was no longer getting the results it had once boasted of. In the past, psi judges with precognitive abilities had been able to predict future crimes and catastrophes, enabling Justice Department to take pre-emptive action to avoid disaster. But Shenker's people conspicuously failed to foresee the calamitous Second Robot War which wreaked massive devastation across the city and almost resulted in the end of the Judges' rule. After fourteen years on the Council of Five, Chief Judge Hershey asked Shenker to resign from his position on the Council to focus on improving his division's performance, a development that Shenker had not needed precognitive powers to expect. ["2000 AD" #1178]

Shenker continues to serve as head of Psi Division, but is under considerable pressure to turn the division around and achieve better results. ["2000 AD" #1422] The problem is that Psi Division has always relied on a few star operators, many of whom have died or been incapacitated over the past ten or so years. ["ibid."] Without them and with the number of powerful psis apparently in decline (perhaps due to falling radiation levelsFact|date=April 2008), Psi Division will be hard pressed to regain its effectiveness, especially since their star operator Judge Anderson is nearing fifty and probably on the verge of forced retirement.

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