National Forensic Doctor
Chapter 1043 - 976: A Detailed Narrative

Chapter 1043: Chapter 976: A Detailed Narrative

Standing in the internal restroom of the Criminal Police Brigade, Jiang Yuan listened to Cui Qishan’s words and had his suspicions, but still asked, "Just tell me directly."

"Okay." Cui Qishan sighed deeply and said, "I’ll keep it short. Last night, early in the morning, Xiao Si and another young criminal police Wei Changxue were interrogating a suspect. At about two in the morning, the suspect asked to use the restroom and was taken there by Wei Changxue, handcuffed next to the toilet, and allowed to relieve himself on his own. Next thing, the person was gone. By 6 in the morning, they reported that the person had escaped."

In just a few words, Jiang Yuan could detect several irregularities.

Jiang Yuan remained noncommittal and asked, "What do you want from me?"

"Ideally, to catch the person and bring him back." Cui Qishan glanced at Jiang Yuan’s expression, sighed helplessly, and added, "The suspect is involved in a series of housebreaking thefts and has lock-picking skills. Theoretically, he indeed has the capability to escape on his own. As for Xiao Si, although he’s foul-mouthed, I still trust him. At least, I believe he wouldn’t resort to coerced confessions."

Everyone’s in criminal police, so they naturally know where the core issue lies.

Letting a suspect escape and losing the case file are the most embarrassing things for criminal police, and undoubtedly lead to punishment.

But there are differences in punishments too.

Losing a suspect due to sheer stupidity is one thing, but it could be mitigated if the suspects is recaptured.

If the suspect is not found, the irregularities involved will all turn into serious issues.

Was it necessary to continue interrogation at two in the morning?

Was the interrogation procedure and location up to standard? Given Zhengguang Bureau’s conditions for handling cases, it’s astonishing the suspect still managed to escape. Moreover, why did the suspect run? Was there any torture or coerced confessions involved?

If inspector general chases down this point for investigation, how can it be self-proved?

Last, if the thief just escapes and vanishes, that’s one thing, but what if he commits more crimes? What if he, out of desperation, commits robbery or even goes back to housebreaking, leading to a robbery or worse, a home invasion murder?

With over 2,000 police stations and nearly fifty thousand community police stations across the country, not counting the independent criminal police teams, the probability of a suspect escaping does exist. The potential problems and risks that may follow are well known to all police officers.

Jiang Yuan now roughly understood what Cui Qishan wanted, and first asked, "The person escaped at 2 a.m. and it was only reported at 6 a.m., did they conduct their own investigation in those four hours?"

"Yes," replied Cui Qishan candidly. "They checked the surveillance and tracked the suspect, finding that after climbing out the restroom window, he scaled the side wall by climbing a tree and jumped over the perimeter wall. Then, he stole a shared bicycle and rode several kilometers west before disappearing from surveillance."

"Completely disappeared?"

"When Xiao Si reported to me at 6 a.m., Tao had asked people from Image Investigation to help, and they traced him a few more kilometers but then lost him," sighed Cui Qishan, feeling frustrated.

Jiang Yuan then carefully looked at the restroom window and asked, "How big is the case involving this suspect?"

"Housebreaking theft, part of a series of cases, a repeated offender; it’s still unclear whether he’s operating solo or in a group. The total amount stolen exceeds one million. If convicted, he could face at least 7 years," sighed Cui Qishan, adding, "The suspect is in his 30s, has no children, no spouse, doesn’t want to go to jail, he’d rather go on the run or escape."

The communication between policemen includes a lot of mutual understanding, as evidenced by Jiang Yuan’s questions and Cui Qishan’s answers.

An escapee’s life is difficult, and with the advancement of electronic surveillance technology in the country, especially the application of big data, the convenience for fugitives has greatly reduced. Thus, some repeat criminals start discussing whether they should turn themselves in.

For this suspect, the prospect of a long-term escape is not realistic. The simplest way, having Zhengguang Bureau post his information online for a manhunt—with just facial recognition from different regions, he’d find it hard to evade capture. Using any kind of public service would be even harder.

So, for some fugitives whose crimes are not too severe, although not caught, their lives become increasingly difficult, and eventually, some of them may even prefer living in prison and choose to surrender voluntarily.

When it comes to suspects, those who are sentenced to 3 or 4 years in prison shouldn’t really consider escaping as it’s not worth it. Being sentenced to 7 years is indeed quite a long time, but escaping from the police station, one would know that they will be put on the wanted list. When caught again, the sentence will be even heavier, making the escape not so worthwhile.

However, for Cui Qishan’s brigade, especially for Xiao Si and Wei Changxue, the two officers on duty, it is quite a disaster.

Jiang Yuan slowly shook his head, he had just carefully examined the windowsill and the forced handcuffs, and shook his head again saying, "There indeed are traces of self-picking locks, but these don’t prove much..."

"We are now worried that this suspect might flee the country," said Cui Qishan helplessly, "It’s almost the end of the year, and this incident falling into place now, if it’s not resolved in the next couple of days, Xiao Si will be ruined."

The first two days are the most crucial in catching an escapee. The suspect definitely has neither money nor possessions, making eating, fleeing, and lodging problematic. Once they show up, they might be caught right away.

But if these couple of days go by, the difficulty of recruiting people will certainly double.

"Alright, I’ll join you in searching for the person. Shall I ask Commissioner Huang and Tao to talk?" Jiang Yuan clearly was not just going to take on the case like that.

"Good, very good..." Cui Qishan gripped Jiang Yuan’s hand sincerely, saying, "Captain Jiang, on behalf of the whole team, I thank you... Once this case is over, I will find you a few bodies..."

"No need to be so polite." Jiang Yuan stopped the eager Cui Qishan and asked, "Where’s Xiao Si?"

"I’ll take you there." Cui Qishan led Jiang Yuan out of the room.

Outside the door, Wang Chuanxing and Mu Zhiyang together with others were staring with the expression of criminal police officers.

"Meet the person first." Jiang Yuan did not explain much and called Huang Qiangmin first.

They didn’t walk far before they entered a small room, and the door opened to reveal Xiao Si and another young criminal police officer sitting face to face.

Upon seeing Cui Qishan come in, the young officer’s eyes immediately reddened.

Cui Qishan chuckled twice: "Look who I have brought for you. Now that Captain Jiang is here, even if the suspect becomes ash, we can still sweep him back!"

While speaking, Cui Qishan then said to Jiang Yuan, "Wei Changxue is a newly recruited criminal officer in our brigade, a very honest young man; Xiao Si is his mentor. Xiao Wei, haven’t you always been saying that you’ve never met Captain Jiang? Captain Jiang has flown here especially this time."

Wei Changxue looked disheartened: "But it might already be too late."

"Who told you it’s too late? The criminal has only run away for 12 hours, we still have plenty of time," Cui Qishan needed to correct Wei Changxue’s attitude.

Wei Changxue looked at Xiao Si and murmured, "That’s what my master said."

"Old Xiao!" Cui Qishan looked at Xiao Si indignantly.

"I didn’t say much." Xiao Si’s mood wasn’t exactly great, and he even frowned a bit.

"You didn’t say much, yet you scared Xiao Wei like this!" Cui Qishan spoke sternly: "Just admit what you said."

Xiao Si sighed and said, "Xiao Wei asked me if I had ever encountered something similar before. I told him I hadn’t, but we indeed had suspects who ran away before, so I introduced each of these cases and their situations to him from newest to oldest, including the outcomes of these predecessors."

"No good outcomes." Wei Changxue’s tone was filled with resignation.

"You think I’m telling you a love story?" Xiao Si scoffed, "For such matters, to be recorded in the file is already considered a good outcome."