Police officer Chen Shu

Chapter 385 Past Events

While waiting for the steak to be served, Chen Shu unloaded his police equipment and casually chatted about his past work experience after graduating from police academy.

At that time, a group of about 20 graduates returned to Dongzhou from the provincial police academy (for most graduates, the policy of the police academy was to return to their place of origin to work). Except for a very few students with connections who were selected to work in the municipal bureau and branch bureau, most of them were assigned to the special police detachment for a year of rotational training.

Upon hearing "a very small number of students," Chen Chuan calmly sipped his tea. As a police officer in the city's technical investigation branch, it's said in exaggerated terms within the industry that people would rather not be a leader at the grassroots level than not try every possible means to become a police officer in the technical investigation unit.

This is a point of consensus among those who work in criminal investigation.

Chen Chuan's technical investigation unit's daily work involves cooperating with frontline criminal police in combating crime. Arrest operations are handled by rank-and-file officers, while the technical investigation police provide scientific and technological support from the back end, ensuring their safety. Because criminal investigation deals primarily with criminal cases, it has long been a department within the Public Security Bureau that easily achieves results, and consequently, receives the most credit.

Therefore, in the later stages of a case's resolution, when reporting achievements, the criminal investigation department, hoping to secure technical support for future cases, will deliberately allocate some credit to the technical investigation police. This is an unspoken cooperation between the two.

"The Special Police Detachment!" Jiang Hai raised an eyebrow, his eyes shining. "Last summer vacation, a few classmates and I visited the Municipal Public Security Bureau's Special Police Detachment for their 'Open Day,' and they were so cool! Those special police officers instantly won over the huge crowd of fans!"
"I remember there was a live demonstration of SWAT team's hand-to-hand combat skills, it was so cool! Wow, that bomb disposal robot's arm was longer than me, and its six fingers moved more nimbly than mine! It was worth a house in Dongzhou! Oh, and there was also a giant drone, which I heard wasn't cheap either! I even tried on their bomb suit once, it was so awesome!"

The drone, it seems, fell into the river and was swept away last week. Chen Shu was momentarily distracted.

Jiang Hai became more and more excited as he talked, gesturing wildly. It seemed that the police profession indeed held a very important place in his mind.

Chen Shu couldn't bear to shatter his hopes, so he patiently waited for Jiang Hai to finish speaking and rest before slowly recounting his past.

When their batch of new police officers first joined the Special Police Detachment, the team leaders arranged for two veteran officers to lead them to the Dongzhou Police Academy for a three-month closed training program.

It's said that the training was shortened to three months only because of the severe shortage of young police officers in the branch. Normal new police training usually starts at six months, and some even involve a year of intensive training. During this period, it's basically all training, from six in the morning to nine at night, with occasional emergency drills in the middle of the night.

For modern people, the mobile phone, which they rely on as their lifeline, has essentially become just a communication tool for the special police officers undergoing intensive training. Moreover, it's the kind of communication tool that, apart from the end of training, results in a 100% delayed response.

After the training camp ends, each person will be assigned to one of the directly subordinate brigades under the brigade based on their overall qualities. The brigades will be divided into three categories based on their different tasks.

First, there's the patrol unit, which makes up the largest proportion of personnel. Their job is similar to the PTU in Hong Kong movies: carrying weapons and equipment to conduct armed patrols of the streets and key areas within their jurisdiction, and arriving at the scene as soon as possible to handle emergencies or "110" calls.

Those with poor physical fitness and tactical skills are generally assigned to this brigade. In other words, the special police officers who are seen on the streets are those with relatively poor performance within the unit, which is somewhat different from the general public's perception.

Next is the Riot Control and Disaster Response Team (Mobile Team). Their duties include suppressing riots, handling highly confrontational mass incidents, large-scale disturbances, and providing security for major events.

Rookie officers with average grades will be assigned to this unit. They have relatively little free time, spending their time either training physical fitness in the gym or practicing group response procedures on the training ground. Finally, there's the counter-terrorism assault unit, the core and elite department of the special police force. Only a select few with exceptional talent are assigned here to truly become special police officers. Their job is to participate in handling serious violent crimes, such as hostage situations and riots.

The brigade is composed of assault squadrons, sniper squadrons, bomb disposal squadrons, etc., much like the Flying Tigers in the movies.

Chen Shu described the special police detachment in great detail, which made Jiang Hai, who already longed to be a policeman, even more excited. He wished he could rush to the police academy in the provincial capital right now to start studying and wait to graduate to become a policeman, a special policeman!
“Shu, don’t just say nice things, tell me something practical.” Chen Chuan glanced at Jiang Hai’s excited expression and said deliberately, “Tell us about your time at the police station, after all, that’s where most new police officers end up.”

Jiang Hai's eyes widened as he looked at Chen Shu with anticipation and longing. In his mind, his initial acquaintance with Chen Shu was based on cracking a campus gang-related case and a notorious chain internet cafe case in Dongzhou. He had only ever thought that the police officers handling the cases at the police station were quite impressive.

At this moment, the waiter brought out several bowls of bread for the meal. Chen Shu used a fork to distribute them to the group one by one, and said with a smile, "The steak at this restaurant is quite oily, so have some bread first. In short, I would summarize the work of the special police in one sentence: not much to do, and no need to stay up all night."

When the topic of "staying up late" came up, Chen Shu glanced at Jiang Hai, who was listening intently, and knew that the young man didn't take it seriously at all.

Back when he was 18, he would sneak out of his school dormitory in the middle of the night to surf the internet all night. When he returned to school the next day, he would just go to the toilet to wash his face and go to class without missing a beat.

However, this vigorous energy will gradually diminish with age, causing great suffering to veteran police officers who have spent years working on the front lines.

Chen Shu didn't mention this, knowing that Jiang Hai, a spirited young man, definitely wouldn't listen.

Because of his relationship with Yan Chenxi, Chen Shu didn't treat Jiang Hai as an outsider and naturally regarded him as his younger brother, so he prepared to have some heartfelt words with him.

After eating a few bites of bread, they started talking about the first time they cried since graduating from the police academy.

"Brother Shu, you cry too?"

Jiang Hai was extremely surprised and could not believe that a tough guy known as a "workaholic" in Dongzhou City had ever cried. The contrast was hard for him to accept.

Back when they were arresting criminals involved in organized crime on campus, Jiang Hai personally witnessed Chen Shu fighting a knife-wielding murderer with his bare hands. Chen Shu had been stabbed in the abdomen, bleeding profusely, but he didn't seem to care at all, laughing as he passed out.

At this moment, Yan Chenxi, who was sitting on the side, was also surprised. She opened her beautiful eyes and gazed at the man in front of her who was smiling easily. For some reason, she felt a ripple of heartache.

(End of this chapter)