Tan Divo

"Time, time, there's no time for time. A murderer's on the loose and it's my job to find him."

- Tan Divo

Tan Divo was a Human male police inspector in the Coruscant Security Force during the Clone Wars between the Galactic Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems. His rigid and sometimes pompous attitude allowed him to climb in the CSF hierarchy, attaining the rank of lieutenant by 21 BBY. Divo was assigned to several notable cases including the kidnapping of the two daughters of Pantoran Chairman Papanoida. Though Divo made assurances of his ultimate success in the investigation, in a scan of the apartment, the police droids had missed blood on the bottom of Papanoida's Icon of the Moon Goddess. This prevented Divo from receiving a vital clue in the identity of the kidnappers and the case from Divo's perspective went cold.

Divo was also called to investigate the homicide of Senator Onaconda Farr and later the related homicide of Senator Mee Deechi. Though Divo had made headway in the investigation, his dismissal of opinions from Senator Padmé Amidala led her to pursue the investigation on her own with the assistance of Senator Bail Organa. After an attempt on the lives of Amidala and Organa at the Coruscant docks, the body of Senator Deechi was discovered. As Farr had been killed with a poison from Kamino, Divo arrested Kaminoan Senator Halle Burtoni. However, the killer was revealed to be Lolo Purs, Senator Farr's assistant. She revealed herself and, after intervention by Divo and Senator Amidala, was taken into custody.

The Papanoida kidnappings
"We are in complete control of the situation."

- Tan Divo to Chairman Papanoida

The Human male Tan Divo was born on the planet Coruscant and entered the field of law enforcement as a police officer with the Coruscant Security Force. Divo's confidence and by-the-book handling of cases allowed him to reach the rank of lieutenant. When the two daughters of Pantoran Chairman Papanoida were kidnapped in 21 BBY, Divo was sent as the investigating inspector.

Divo arrived at Papnoida's apartment with several police droids but they were unable to find any clues that would lead them to the kidnappers. Though Divo made assurances of a continued investigation to Papanoida and his son, Ion Papanoida, the case largely became cold with no evidence. Unknown to the CSF, an Icon of the Moon Goddess had been moved from its original position. Under the icon was a small sample of blood left by one of the kidnappers, Greedo. This eventually led Papnoida, without the help of CSF, to rescue his daughters.

Initial investigation
"What makes you think it was murder?''" "''Poison, of course. The politicians' preferred method. Found a chemical in his bloodstream, killed him right away. It's an obvious case. Politicians always have something to hide, and it always comes back to haunt them, am I right? Oh, look who I'm asking. Room full of politicians."

- Padmé Amidala and Tan Divo

As the Clone Wars continued between the Confederacy of Independent Systems and the Galactic Republic, the Galactic Senate debated a bill to decrease military spending thereby halting the production of clone troopers. After a speech by Senator Padmé Amidala promoting the bill, the proponents of the legislation, including Senators Onaconda Farr, Mon Mothma, Bail Organa and Farr's assistant, Lolo Purs, withdrew to Amidala's office. While enjoying refreshments, Senator Farr chocked and died. The CSF responded to investigate the suspicious death, bypassing the Senate Guard. Lieutenant Divo was assigned as the inspector on the case and was assisted by his LEP servant droid. Samples were taken of the drinks and the Forensics Unit concluded that a funeral, the Rodian senator's political allies were summoned to the Supreme Chancellor's office.

There, Divo revealed that Farr had not died of natural causes but had in fact been murdered. Divo questioned the senators if they knew of anyone who hated Farr and suggested that something from his past was the reason he was killed. The senators responded that Farr had been loved and Amidala suggested that Farr was killed because of someone who was angry over the proposed military spending reduction bill. Divo was dismissive of this idea and told the senators to stay out of his investigation.

Later, Divo responded to the Coruscant docks after CSF forces had responded to an attempt on the lives of Senators Amidala and Organa. Not convinced by Divo's assuarances, Amidala had decided to pursue her own theory. She began by questioning Farr's political enemies, Senators Mee Deechi and Halle Burtoni. Deechi revealed that he had had Farr followed to dig up dirt on the senator and that the night before his death, Farr had gone to the docks for a clandestine meeting. Though reminded by her friends that Divo had ordered them to stay out of the investigation, Amidala went to the docks with Senator Organa. There, they were ambushed and shot at though they did not know the identity of the attacker. The disturbance alerted CSF forces and police droids secured the crime scene. After arriving on the scene with his LEP droid, the inspector expressed his annoyance at Amidala's actions. Not only had she failed to inform him of her lead at the docks and had gone to investigate herself, but, she had made his job more difficult by alerting the killer to the fact that the investigation was closing in on them.

A second murder
"Senator Amidala, is possible you may be going deaf?''" "Lieutenant?" "Because when I said I didn't want you to interfere with my investigation, I can only assume that you didn't hear me." "I had some information about a lead here at the docks." "''Which you naturally brought to me straight away so I could investigate it, only, no wait, you did the exact opposite of that!"

- Tan Divo sarcastically lectures Padmé Amidala

In a show of a cop's frustration, the Divo told them that they had generated a great deal of paper work for him to file. Divo also lectured Amidala that he firmly believed in the importance of rules as without them, there would be chaos; thus they were essential to the maintenance of order. During the conversation, Amidala came to believe that Senator Deechi may have been responsible for the attempt on her life as he had been the one to tell her about the docks. Though Divo tried to tell her to slow down she ignored him and the frustrated inspector followed her to Deechi's office. There they found Deechi stabbed to death in his chair.

In order to secure the life of the other senators, Divo told them they would be placed under the protection of CSF and Senate Guard forces, but Lolo Purs refused and left the room. Divo questioned the remaining persons about who else was aware that Amidala and Organa were going to the docks. In response, Amidala stated that the only other person who knew was Senator Burtoni. Though Divo tried to locate Burtoni, she was nowhere to be found. He returned to the senators in time for Purs to burst in and claim that Burtoni had attacked her. Ordering the Guards and CSF droids to chase Burtoni, they eventually captured her and brought her to the Chancellor's office. Initial questioning by Divo led Burtoni to deny any involvement in both Farr's murder and the attack on Purs. Divo revealed then that a forensics report indicated that the poison used to kill Farr was Kaminoan-made and afflicted only Rodians. With this evidence in hand, Divo ordered Burtoni taken away.

However, at that point, Amidala noticed that since the poison must have been in everyone's drink, Purs should have died as well as she was also Rodian. Amidala then remembered that Purs had not drunk anything. Purs, feeling revealed and exposed, pulled a small blaster and took Amidala hostage. When asked why by Amidala, Purs answered that she had killed Farr because of the war he had brought to Rodia and that a new and morally stronger leader was needed. As Deechi had known about the meeting, Purs had felt that he had to be removed as well. Her confession, ironically, proved Amidala's theory wrong and Divo right as it had been a mistake from Farr's past that had lead to his murder. During the conversation and unnoticed by Purs, Divo activated the police droids outside of the Chancellor's office. They surprised Purs at the door allowing Amidala to overwhelm Purs after which Divo took Purs into custody.

Personality and traits
"After all, I'm the inspector, you're the senator, so I'll handle the inspecting, and you can stick to the&hellip; the senating."

- Tan Divo to Padmé Amidala

Tan Divo had a short squared body, gray hair, red eyes, and a comlink ear implant. He was armed with a A43 Hushabye blaster and a small baton. He carried these as well as other equipment on his utility belt. Divo was a competent police officer though he subscribed to an old-school of thought in police investigations that only the police could collect evidence and solve crimes. Consequently, his ideas on means, motives, and opportunity had to fit within the evidence he discovered.

As an inspector, Divo had a conflicting reputation on being able to solve crimes. His methodology allowed him to rise through the ranks to lieutenant, yet had the effect of making him somewhat self-important and over-confident resulting in an overall low rate of success. While investigating the disappearance of Papanoida's daughters, Divo missed the fact that the icon of the moon goddess had blood underneath it. Reasonably, Divo could not have been expected to find blood underneath the icon as he had no reason to suspect it. Yet, he failed to notice that the icon was a part of a group of religious icons and also failed to question why it was separate. Papnoida's son, Ion, made the observation that Divo was useless, however, at the same time, the Papanoidas had failed to inform Divo of the discrepancy in their apartment and thereby did not provide Divo a vital clue that could have helped him solve the case.

As a dedicated, by-the-book law officer, Divo believed that without rules, order could not exist. He continually emphasized this while investigating the homicides in the Senate. His confidence in knowing what was right and wrong and his strong belief in rules, resulted in sometimes slow but methodical investigations. As the investigation continued, Divo displayed both the calmness and cynicism of a typical police officer though this frustrated others such as Amidala who felt he did not instil confidence. In dealing with other persons, Divo was the opposite of a politician. He voiced his opinion regardless of who was listening, including the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic, and was frequently sarcastic in his responses. After the incident at the docks, the suggestion by Amidala that she felt she could ignore the rules floored Divo and he lectured her sarcastically about her stupidity. Though he had been written off as incompetent by Amidala, in the end Divo was correct as Amidala's actions and failure to inform him of the lead caused the death of Senator Deechi.

When first beginning his investigation of the homicide of Farr, Divo felt that the murder was for personal reasons from Farr's past as a poison, an intimate weapons preferred by politicians, had been used. This thought showed that even if Divo did not care for the politics or had the ability to skillfully manuvar the halls of power, he had a keen sense for motive. For though dismissed by the senators around him, Divo's initial theory turned out to be correct and he was vindicated as Purs had murdered Farr for his past mistakes and moral weakness. Likewise, Divo's interrogation of Burtoni showed that he had completed a fairly through investigation based on the evidence collected and on the information that everyone had provided him. It was only when Amidala remembered a forgotten detail that the true killer was revealed. It was also Divo who saved the day when Purs took Amidala hostage. Keeping calm and focused while everyone else was distracted, Divo activated the police droids who surprised Purs allowing Amidala to free herself. This demonstrated that while Divo may have conducted slower investigations than others would have liked, he was also capable of taking quick and decisive action. Though he seemed incompetent, Divo's actions proved he was also underestimated.

Behind the scenes
Tan Divo was created for the Star Wars: The Clone Wars TV series and was voiced by actor Tom Kenny. Divo initially appeared in the episode "Senate Murders" which aired on March 19, 2010. The online Encyclopedia states that Divo had a low rate of success and that "he often jumps to conclusions of guilt before a thorough investigation is conducted" and that his attitude "...forces others to seek clues without his help." However, this directly conflicts with the "Senate Murders" episode where it was Amidala who jumped to conclusions and some of her false assumptions led Divo in false directions. Also, Divo's initial theory which was dismissed by everyone, turned out to be correct.

The entry also conflicts with several statements by Tom Kenny and Director Dave Filoni published on StarWars.com as to Divo's abilities. Divo was described by Filoni in the episode commentary as an old school detective who thought that rules were very important yet was competent and underestimated. Similarly, Kenny stated that Divo, while not on the level of the Jedi, was written to be good at his job and good at getting into the mind of the criminals, even if he was also a little too proud of it. Kenny stated that he played the character with this mind and added, "...he's not shy about advertising the fact that he's good at it and has a good track record."

Divo briefly also briefly appeared in the episode "Sphere of Influence" which aired on October 1, 2010. In the episode, Divo is dismissed as useless by the characters and blamed for failing to notice a clue though it had been the characters who had failed to point out the fact the icon had been moved which Divo and his droids would have had no reason to notice. It should be noted that chronologically "Sphere of Influence" occurs before "Senate Murders." Divo received entries in Star Wars: The Clone Wars Character Encyclopedia published on June 21, 2010 and in Star Wars: The Clone Wars: New Battlefronts: The Visual Guide, published on August 30, 2010.