To put it simply, I suggest that NPCs who've been attacked can recall the basic/short description of whoever attacked, robbed, or pickpocketed (if seen) them. How would it work? Codedly, I don't know, but the dialogue would be simple.
Q: "Who hit you?" or "What happened?" etc
A: "An average mona carrying a blade attacked me." or "A shrouded average playa attacked me."
Tack on the usual pubSIC callouts such as "looked like Sinners/Snakes/Arteries" for gang violence, even.
Thoughts? Pros and cons? Theme issues?
I think this will help with people not seeing NPCs as easy targets as much, if there are people who care that they were attacked. It would potentially generate RP and maybe get the data market going a bit. This mostly goes for gang violence, but could aid in TERRA investigations/enforcement I'd think. The downside is that it may feed some "white knight" issues, if I were to guess.