National Forensic Doctor
Chapter 649 - 593 Typical

Chapter 649: Chapter 593 Typical

Zoumadao Police Station is a suburban police station of Ningtai County, and its jurisdiction includes old apartment buildings that haven’t been demolished, newly built residential areas, as well as places like Jiangcun Residential Area that are still under development. Not to mention, there are also a number of small factories making aluminum alloy doors and windows, along with more complex areas around the national and county roads.

In fact, aside from a particular scarcity in commerce, the range of management tasks at Zoumadao Police Station is incredibly broad. The complexity within its jurisdiction goes without saying—there are all sorts of police dispatch tasks 24 hours a day. Occasionally, when a criminal case arises, it’s handed over to the criminal police team. Overall, they’re not under substantial pressure to solve cases.

However, the accumulation of petty cases still adds up to a considerable amount over time.

Similar to the Litang Township Police Station, the cases that worry Zoumadao Police Station are those that teeter between administrative penalties and criminal detention.

Such cases are easily solved by the criminal police team as well,, considered as taking people in when their number comes up. If the suspect can be found and the case can be solved, they are notified to come in and report themselves.

Those with some experience in counter-surveillance, however,, occasionally manage to escape punishment—not that they always can, but they possess some legal knowledge and aren’t genuinely fearful of detention centers. Instead, they commit crimes with the least possible repercussions.

For the police station, such slippery characters are the source of an array of public security pressures.

At least a tenth to a fifth of disputes within the jurisdiction are created by these individuals.

There wasn’t much that could be done in the past: just keep working day after day, as the cases would never end. For police officers, it’s unheard of to have no cases on hand.

Director Tan had been at Zoumadao for quite some time, just going about his daily work, until he heard the story from Litang Township.

Under normal circumstances, Director Tan would have felt uncomfortable seeking out Jiang Yuan.

But with the current summer security crackdown not yet completely over, and since Jiang Yuan had already helped Litang Township, it seemed quite reasonable for Director Tan to make a bold move and seek help for his own hometown police station.

Moreover, as a member of the Ningtai County Bureau, Director Tan also knew that Jiang Yuan was currently in a lull period.

If Director Chai were to leave or things otherwise stabilized, Jiang Yuan certainly wouldn’t have time to linger in a small place like a police station anymore.

All things considered, in Director Tan’s view, this was a convergence of the right timing, right place, and right people.

He even specifically brought Zhou Ta, who had dealt with Jiang Yuan before, and asked Jiang Yongxin, the most successful businessman from Jiangcun Residential Area, to mediate.

Jiang Yuan indeed showed a contemplative expression.

"If Captain Jiang is available, you could first come for an inspection visit at our station," Tan Jing cordially invited.

Zhou Ta gave a signal with his eyes, and Jiang Yongxin smiled and said, "Brother, right next to Zoumadao Police Station is the xiaolongbao shop. Let’s head over and have something hot to eat."

He knew Jiang Yuan well.

Jiang Yuan hesitated for a moment, then said, "I’ll call my father first."

He indeed had no other matters to attend to.

Jiang Yongxin immediately waved down an Alphard.

Tan Jing, in uniform, and Zhou Ta didn’t get in but resumed their journey in the police car, leading the way. Shortly after, they arrived at... Li Qiang’s Xiaolongbao Store.

Ningtai is a small county town, with a limited number and variety of shops, and in terms of categories, it’s incomparable to big cities.

However, small shops that manage to operate for a long time in a small town usually have some unique secrets.

Like this xiaolongbao shop, for example, it was originally named "Hangzhou Xiaolongbao," but now it’s modestly bearing the owner’s name.

And their xiaolongbaos are quite delicious; perhaps because of frequent consumption, Jiang Yuan has come to like their slightly translucent but not fully transparent soup skins.

Naturally, to enjoy this taste, one must dine in at the shop; takeout would only result in greasy buns at home, which is completely unappealing.

Jiang Yuan hadn’t had these for a while, so he ordered several baskets at once, savoring them with chili oil and vinegar dip, truly enjoying himself.

Tan Jing had already learned about Jiang Yuan’s preferences on the way here, and now he said with a smile, "I’ve been coming to this shop for breakfast ever since I started working at the police station. I even conducted several surprise inspections of the owner’s kitchen back then. He uses good meat, it’s pretty good."

"Running a shop across from the police station demands some extra attentiveness," said Li Qiang, the owner who clearly recognized Tan Jing, even without a police uniform, and specifically came over to offer several bowls of seaweed and egg drop soup.

Tan Jing was reluctant to accept them and declined twice, then said with a smile, "Alright, thanks for the soup, could you send 20 baskets of buns over to the station, just say the station chief is treating everyone today..."

He paid for them on the spot.

Jiang Yuan, sitting still, was used to eating the buyer’s food.

The four of them devoured five baskets of buns in no time, followed by another five, and then five more.

After finishing these, Jiang Yuan wiped his mouth, showing a look of satisfaction.

"Li Qiang’s xiaolongbao, you’d say it’s simple, and it really is delicious. Saying it’s a delicacy might be a bit much, it’s just an ordinary bun shop, but making buns day in, day out for ten years...he’s done it until now," Tan Jing chimed in as he saw that Jiang Yuan was almost done, starting his preamble.

Jiang Yuan nodded in agreement, then added, "Actually, it surpassed the level of an ordinary bun shop right from the start..."

"Right, I remember when Li Qiang first started his business, he was still a young fellow..." Tan Jing said, continuing, "The first time we greeted them was when there was a disturbance in his shop caused by someone drinking alcohol."

"Drinking at a breakfast shop?"

"They came in drunk from the night before, wanted something to eat in the morning, and then wanted to keep drinking," said Tan Jing with a laugh, "I had just arrived at the police station at the time, and I remember this case quite clearly. The owner would often want to send me xiaolongbao afterwards, and it took several serious talks before he stopped."

"How did the case end up?" Jiang Yongxin was actually a bit curious.

Tan Jing laughed and said, "There’s not much to say about the case. We brought the person back to the station to sober up, gave him a lecture once he was awake, paid the owner for the food, and that was that."

Hearing this, Jiang Yuan chuckled. Compared to the public security cases in Litang Township, the cases at Zoumadao Police Station were more typical of a city.

"Actually, the most troublesome cases are the various property-related ones. Nowadays, people really go to extreme lengths to make money. Like that time we concentrated our efforts to specifically crack down on fake alcohol solicitors—we had great results, but just the investigation phase took over two months, wearing everyone at the station down."

Listening to Station Tan’s words, Jiang Yuan thought for a moment, then asked directly, "What kind of case do you want me to work on now?"

Director Tan immediately perked up. He didn’t actually have any specific case in mind. If it was a big case, one with a sentence of a few years, it would have gone to the criminal police team.

But, the police station had many cases. Director Tan had sought out Jiang Yuan on the spur of the moment, but immediately as though he had given it deep thought, he said, "You know about the parking lot near the foot of Siningshan, where many scam guides specifically target tourists?"

"Of course, our Jiang Village is right at the foot of Siningshan," Jiang Yuan said, looking up at Director Tan, "The situation with those people must be complicated. Many of them are probably from out of town."

"Mainly, we’re just too busy to keep up," Director Tan sighed, "Now people always suspect that these scam guides have some kind of protection or something. Honestly, Ningtai County is only so big, and the valuable tourist areas are just Siningshan and Tai River. If there were any protection, it wouldn’t fall to our station."

Jiang Yuan nodded. He had also looked into these types of cases, and indeed, it wasn’t just a problem for the Zoumadao Police Station.

"However, this problem does need to be dealt with. Our current trouble is, on one hand, we’re short-staffed at the station, making it hard to gather evidence. On the other hand, these scam guides are transient, constantly changing personnel, not to mention some rental car drivers with fake plates, photographers, fake goods sellers, they all come and go with the tourist seasons. Not only is evidence hard to obtain, but if we only book them for ten days or half a month, I really can’t cope."

Jiang Yuan nodded slowly, understanding that more complex cases required several hours of work from the officers at least, and if the sentencing was short, the effects of the crackdown were hard to see.

"My thought is to catch a few typical cases, with solid evidence, and harshly sentence a few of them..." Director Tan shared his idea.

Jiang Yuan instinctively said, "That might not be necessary."

"What?"

Jiang Yuan said, "Let’s look at the cases first. But I think, making an example isn’t always effective. The lesson hits harder when it lands on yourself."