S01E19: Why didn't Elias' men threaten the policemen's family?

In Person of interest episode S01E19, it is seen that Elias' men are following the families of police people of the HR group. It is suggested that they will threaten the families if they will not work for Elias.

Finch talks to officer Simmons that he the HR group should leave everything alone and not support Elias. In view of the threat (Finch also shows Simmons photos from it!), this makes no sense to me. If I was Elias, I would gave the order to do something with the families as soon as Elias gets arrested, killed or is missing.

Can someone explain to me what was the reason the HR group did not support Elias anymore and why was there no immediate counterstrike by Elias' men against the police people's families?

plot-explanation person-of-interest

Best Answer

The reasoning is simple and comes from Simmons' "HR works for nobody. We only work with somebody when it's beneficial" (or something along those lines). They consider themselves an independent henchmen organization, and they do not accept being bullied.

Further, once they're aware of their families' surveillance, they are quite capable of taking care of it (which, if I remember correctly, we never see happen, so presumably the surveillance stopped on its own).

When HR pulled away, Elias was busy trying to get to Carter, Fusco, and three dons, so he wasn't aware of it.

Afterwards, he is arrested and all but one don are dead. At that point, there is no reason for Elias to go after the HR. He's a practical guy and targeting the HR's families, especially with HR aware of that and Elias within their reach, would gain him no profit, but would likely get him killed in prison, which is more than enough of a reason for him to leave them alone.