Chapter 173 - 173 166 Practical Combat

173: Chapter 166 Practical Combat 173: Chapter 166 Practical Combat Ningtai County Bureau was exceptionally quiet. By six o’clock in the afternoon, a large number of men and women in shiny trousers had joined the flow of traffic heading home from work. Even the buses were free of pickpockets, quietly carrying people in long trousers and those in shorts toward home. Jiang Yuan rode a joyless pedal motorcycle out of the parking lot like a middle-aged uncle, blending into the crowd as if he were an ordinary social creature of medium-to-large size, heading home. Today was yet another day of cracking only a minor cold case. There was a sense of satisfaction, but not quite enough. It was like eating hot pot with a clear broth and leaving eighty percent full. Tasty, but it always felt like something was missing. In a nutshell, appetites had grown, and these cases that only resulted in two or three years of sentencing seemed unsatisfactory. Other relevant departments likely felt similar. For example, during interrogations of such criminals, police officers at the case-handling center would drag their feet, and prosecutors would merely go through the motions. The enthusiasm once seen in police officers when cracking serious or cold cases was absent; sometimes they even dragged their feet, seemingly hard to find. It was just as well that Jiang Yuan was a technician—otherwise, he would have been driven mad by the tediousness of case handling. This nonchalant posture had defined the criminal police squad for several days. Like a water buffalo, when without work, it would submerge in water, blowing bubbles quietly, doing nothing but exhaling. Jiang Yuan did want to crack another homicide cold case, but after finding two fingerprints and failing to find a match after three days, he could only feel helpless. In the midst of this tranquility, Jiang Yuan seemed to have returned to his early days with the criminal police squad, reading novels and watering his spider plants. The bureau, seemingly noticing the officers’ leisure, soon pulled out some prearranged projects. The first in line was fingerprint analysis training. Each county sent a trace examiner who arrived on time at Qinghe City Bureau. After reaching the dormitories, they were thrown into the conference room, each with a book, and began studying. In a disciplined force, as long as the leadership is willing, training can be taken very seriously. Ningtai County sent two people, Jiang Yuan and Wang Zhong. Wang Zhong was a trace examiner who regularly participated in training—though his growth was slow and limited, it was through this method that Comrade Wang Zhong managed to maintain a level of LV0.9, ensuring the normalization of fingerprint work in Ningtai County. Trace examiners from Yan Ge’s generation rarely participated in training anymore. Employees over the age of 35 were at the prime of their careers, meaning that from this point on, other than salary increases, their skills and proficiency were largely set. Various training activities did not favor such disobedient old hands, and both senders and recipients happily agreed on younger participants. Jiang Yuan, however, was participating in fingerprint analysis training as an instructor. In fact, Jiang Yuan was a major reason for this fingerprint analysis training session. Training requires teachers, and that’s where it starts. In the past, similar training sessions in Qinghe City involved inviting fingerprint experts from outside to teach. Although the expense was not great, finding someone was not easy. In this era, information transparency is ever-increasing, and the pyramid shape of experts becomes more apparent. Lower-level experts were reluctant to embarrass themselves by teaching, while higher-level experts were in too much demand. Qinghe City, just one of the prefecture-level cities of Shannan Province, was not notable in the hierarchy of cities, nor was it flush with funds. Furthermore, the City Bureau’s training was not limited to fingerprinting alone. Over the years, Qinghe City had maintained only the bare minimum of fingerprint training, primarily focused on fingerprint collection. The foundation of fingerprint comparison is fingerprint collection; every county and township collects a certain number of fingerprints each year, which seemingly have no direct use but actually help indirectly stabilize social order. However, the quality of collected fingerprints has always been a problem. The training focus of Qinghe City Bureau remained on this area. The training syllabus Jiang Yuan received was also along these lines. Sitting in the trace examiner’s office at the city bureau, Jiang Yuan looked at the syllabus, somewhat silent. How to improve the quality of fingerprint collection... this topic is more about management than technique. “The textbook is outdated; we haven’t had the chance to change it. You don’t have to follow the textbook,” said Cao Keyang, the trace examiner from Qinghe City Bureau, cautiously. During the fingerprint campaign, he shattered ten homicide cold cases in one fell swoop. That kind of record, wherever you go, is highly respected. Other criminal police could console themselves with the difference in their specialty, but for Cao Keyang, a fellow trace examiner, there were not many ways to vent his emotions. Although younger and from a lower level in Ningtai, Jiang Yuan was more important to Cao Keyang than other experts from the province. Because he was a local officer, given the mobility of the current police force, Jiang Yuan was likely to stay in Ningtai or Qinghe City for life. They would have many chances to interact in the future. Jiang Yuan hadn’t thought that far ahead. Seeing that Cao Keyang’s attitude was positive, he flipped through the textbook, probing, “So, if I don’t follow the textbook, I can talk about whatever I want?” “Our training should still focus on fingerprinting. The attendees are trace examiners from various places,” Cao Keyang quickly defined the scope, fearing that Jiang Yuan might deviate too much. Jiang Yuan was even more puzzled, “Then... do you have other textbooks?” Cao Keyang hesitated for two seconds: “The ready-made textbooks are just those on the market... Maybe you could just go ahead with your lecture? You can talk casually.” At this, Cao Keyang actually became hopeful. Honestly, he was quite interested in hearing about fingerprinting from the trace examiner who earned second-class merit, or perhaps a forensic doctor’s fingerprint teaching. Casual talk might better showcase his thoughts and ideas. “Casual talk, eh.” Jiang Yuan wasn’t shy, and after some thought, he said, “Then, I might just talk about practical fingerprinting?” The skills he had acquired were inherently geared towards practical application, something he was most familiar with during his working period. “Practical application is good,” Cao Keyang nodded repeatedly and said, “Then shall I go ahead and post this on the official WeChat account? Our Qinghe City Bureau’s official account has agreed to give us a spot where we can publish an article.” Jiang Yuan said “okay.” Cao Keyang then confirmed, “What aspect of practical application would you like to talk about, for instance, current cases, cold cases, or a certain type of crime scene...?” “Let’s go with cold cases. It might not be easy to find current cases on the spot,” Jiang Yuan replied after some thought. Cao Keyang responded once more and quickly sent out the message. At that moment, he was still far from realizing the specific implications of what Jiang Yuan had just said. The next day. Jiang Yuan arrived at the small lecture hall of the city bureau. In China, the ministry and provincial levels do not handle cases and are purely administrative. There are two types of city bureaus, one type handles cases, which is the trend in recent years, in line with the requirements of pushing police forces downward. However, a considerable number of city bureaus, like Qinghe City Bureau, still don’t handle specific cases. As for the actual cases that occur within the jurisdiction of Qinghe City, those are handled by the district and county bureaus. Those that do not deal in practical matters naturally focus on theoretical ones. Institutions like Qinghe City Bureau are more active in organizing training and other activities. The bureau also has a specially built small lecture hall, like a mini auditorium classroom, with corresponding teaching facilities, and it can also be used for meetings and social gatherings. Jiang Yuan was led to the lectern to sit down, and Cao Keyang approached to ask, “Do you need a PPT?” “Just project the computer screen,” Jiang Yuan, who had brought his own laptop, placed it on the table. This laptop was also an old high-performance version provided by the criminal police team. Cao Keyang helped sort out the wires and then stepped back. There were already around forty people in the small lecture hall. Some were from the county bureau, some from the district bureau, and some were crime scene techs from the city bureau itself. Besides that, some places had also dispatched regular police officers for training. In fact, training regular police officers is a major focus of the city bureau. Officers from local police stations, for example, often handle a large amount of fingerprint collection work. Before taking on this role, they might only know how to collect fingerprints with tape. Jiang Yuan also noticed the slightly larger number of attendees and said softly, “Are there non-specialist officers here?” Understanding his concern, Cao Keyang reassured him, “It’s fine, there are several classes. It’s great that you’re discussing practical application; it will show the other officers what actual crime scene investigation looks like.” Cao Keyang imagined that Jiang Yuan would use real-world cases he had worked on for his lecture. This piqued his interest even more. Fingerprint experts all nurture the aspiration that one day, they’ll match fingerprints to a major unsolved case. Crime scene techs like Wang Zhong who rate at LV0.9 spend their days comparing fingerprints, hoping for this very thing. He only resorted to library searches because he knew he lacked sufficient skills. To someone like Jiang Yuan, who has actually matched fingerprints from cold cases sourced from deep within the system’s database, this achievement is practically a professional dream for crime scene techs. If this profession were to have a dream, it could only be this. Jiang Yuan was already seated at the lectern. It wouldn’t be easy to adjust his lecture plan at this point. Once Cao Keyang left, Jiang Yuan cleared his throat and said, “Let’s get started then.” The audience obediently started to applaud. Jiang Yuan smiled and then, speaking into the microphone and looking at the screen, said, “Since this is my first time teaching, I thought I’d start with something practical. As we do it, let’s discuss any problems we encounter.” As he spoke, Jiang Yuan initiated the software and the internal network and said, “I think fingerprints are like solving problems, like doing math problems. Let’s start with a typical example to test...” During his talk, he selected a fingerprint. Crime scene techs with experience in fingerprint work started to realize what was coming. Was this guy going to match fingerprints on the spot? Cao Keyang was utterly confused; didn’t we agree on “practical application”? The difference between “practical application” and “actual combat” might be just one word, but the meaning could vary significantly. Furthermore, what if the fingerprint doesn’t match on the spot? What if the fingerprint database doesn’t have it at all? Had he considered these problems? While Cao Keyang internally cried out in alarm, Jiang Yuan slowly articulated: “First, let me talk about fingerprint selection techniques, such as why I chose this particular fingerprint. First off, it’s a somewhat challenging fingerprint. If it’s completely without difficulty, there’s no need to bother—it certainly won’t match any fingerprints in the database...” “Secondly, selecting a fingerprint that pushes your own limits is also a good choice. This helps with personal improvement and maximizes the likelihood of a match.” Jiang Yuan wasn’t just talking off the top of his head; since acquiring the fingerprint skill, he had frankly experienced an improvement in proficiency. Although it was much slower compared to the system’s enhancement, he believed he would make significant progress with several years of persistence. Indeed, Jiang Yuan felt that pushing himself to his limits in fingerprint analysis was the most useful approach. The police officers in the small lecture hall listened with composed expressions since mere words lacked significant impact. At that moment, Jiang Yuan began to mark characteristic points. “Let’s do a trial run and see,” Jiang Yuan casually marked over a dozen characteristic points in just a minute or two. In the lecture hall, even the whispers that had been present at first had now vanished.