Police officer Chen Shu

Chapter 68 Police Academy Training
For grassroots police stations, especially those units where officers take turns on duty every three or four days, the rank promotion training for police officers is actually a benefit.

This means that, excluding annual leave, they finally have a regular seven-day work-rest schedule within the 365 days of the year.

In his seventh year of formal employment, Chen Shu also ushered in his promotion to First-Class Superintendent (one-third rank).

Before reaching the rank of Police Commissioner, police rank is unrelated to position. Police officers automatically advance one rank once they reach the required service period. Generally speaking, the vast majority of police officers will stop at the rank of Two Bars Three, which is equivalent to a First-Class Police Inspector.

Chen Shu, dressed neatly, stood on the school playground, where he and other police officers who had come for training at the same time stood in their designated positions according to their assigned teams.

This is his second time attending police rank training at Dongzhou Police Academy. The last time he came for promotion, he was still in the Special Police Detachment of the Municipal Public Security Bureau.

"Chen Shu! Didn't your institute give you an extension for your training this time?"

A familiar voice came from the back of the group. Chen Shu turned around and saw his old classmate Chen Chuan: "Hey, I just wanted to see you. How could I dare to postpone it?"

The lack of police manpower in police stations often leads to the postponement of training for police rank promotion by leaders, citing the unit's busy work schedule, and the training is eventually abandoned.

Chen Chuan squeezed behind Chen Shu and gave the police officer who had been pushed aside an apologetic smile: "Brother, sorry."

"It's nothing, it's nothing," the police officer said dismissively.

Chen Chuan said, "Zhang Wei and Li Meng are here too. Let's get together tonight."

Chen Shu nodded: "The same old place. We've been craving their farmhouse chicken soup for three years now."

Chen Chuan frowned and said, "This time I must drink Li Meng under the table. This kid is a big shot now. If he climbs a few more steps in the future, it will be hard to even get him to drink with me."

Chen Shu recalled the time when the four of them were inseparable at the provincial police academy.

He chuckled and patted Chen Chuan on the shoulder, teasingly saying, "Even if he won't drink with us, he wouldn't dare leave you behind. Give him a good thrashing at the technical investigation department, and let him know what it means to be a troublesome brat!"

Chen Chuan, who works in the Technical Investigation Detachment of the Municipal Public Security Bureau, immediately beamed with joy: "Haha, that's right. You're the one who comes up with the ideas."

Chen Chuan's statement made him seem like a petty person, and the other police officers standing nearby also frequently cast strange glances at him.

Chen Shu looked utterly helpless.

"stand at attention!"

A command came from the front of the group, and everyone perked up; a week of police academy training had begun.

……

After finishing their daytime studies, Chen Shu, Chen Chuan, Li Meng, and Zhang Wei made plans to have dinner together and walked to a farmhouse restaurant near the police academy.

As the four chatted and laughed, they arrived at a large courtyard, where they saw the five-character name of the shop, "Neighbor's Farmhouse," written on the main gate.

Chen Shu thought to himself, "This really is like being next door to the police academy."

The Dongzhou Police Academy is located in the suburbs, just a few kilometers west of the county seat. Although the area has been well-developed in recent years, some farmhouses still remain nearby. The farmhouse Chen Shu chose is famous at the police academy for its free-range chicken stew. Every time a new batch of police officers attends the promotion training, their family's restaurant is always a hot topic.

Freshly killed roosters are stewed together in a large pot with carrots, dried wood ear mushrooms, dried red peppers, and other ingredients, and a steaming, fragrant chicken stew is ready.

Along with braised pork ribs, stir-fried pig intestines, and a platter of braised dishes, the four of them enjoyed their meal immensely.

Chen Chuan raised his glass: "I'd like to toast Li Da, who has become nearsighted for the noble cause of the police. Come on, Li Da, bottoms up!" Before Li Meng could reply, he downed his glass in one gulp.

Li Meng became nearsighted as a child. In order to apply for the provincial police academy, she underwent refractive surgery in her senior year of high school. Since then, although her vision has recovered to the normal 5.1, she has retained the habit of wearing frameless non-prescription glasses.

Knowing he was playing games, Li Meng didn't say much. He picked up his glass and downed it in one gulp. Putting down his glass, he laughed and said, "Chen Chuan is just talking nonsense. Today, we're all university classmates; there's no such thing as Li being superior to Chen Chuan."

Chen Chuan chuckled: "I was just talking nonsense, you don't really think you're something special, do you?"

Li Meng, who is usually considered a big shot at work, was speechless after being rebuked by Chen Chuan. She could only pick up her glass again and drink a full glass with him.

The two were inseparable friends in college, and now they were reminiscing about the past, drinking and having a great time.

Chen Shu raised his glass and clinked it with Zhang Wei, who was nicknamed "Good Guy" in college: "Have you been busy lately?"

Zhang Wei took a small sip and said with a smile, "It's alright. It's just that lately I've been mainly cracking down on non-motorized vehicle violations, and I keep getting yelled at."

Chen Shu said, "Yes, I understand. A while ago, many people came to our office to register their electric bikes, and they really had a lot of resentment towards those wearing white hats."

Since traffic police spend most of their time on duty on highways, their hats are white to make them easier to identify.

Zhang Wei picked up a piece of food and said, "In the past, you had to get a license to ride a motorcycle, which was a barrier. Now, anyone can just ride an electric scooter around. How can there not be problems? Seven out of ten traffic accidents reported are related to electric scooters."

Chen Shu laughed and said, "Chen Chuan told me that when you first started cracking down on electric bikes, you were the one issuing the tickets and paying for them yourself?"

Zhang Wei picked up his glass and took a sip: "Back then, I was naive. I felt that people were already struggling to make a living by driving electric scooters. If we fined them, they would have worked for nothing all day, and I couldn't bear that. But we also had to meet the team's targets, so I had to pay for it myself."

Chen Shu nodded without speaking; everyone should have their own moral compass.

Ordinary people have a hard life, and every police officer enforcing the law at the grassroots level sees and understands this. However, if every police officer were like Zhang Wei, it would be difficult to establish traffic order, which would lead to a large number of traffic accidents, and even fatalities.

According to the data, the accident rate and fatality rate of electric bicycles have dropped significantly after the traffic police detachment cracked down on traffic violations such as non-motorized vehicle drivers not wearing helmets and illegally occupying lanes.

So Zhang Wei's first words were an admission of his ignorance. However, in practice, he encountered a lot of abuse and doubt.

He was even once verbally abused by a driver who called him a "robber" and a "bandit" when he was penalizing an electric scooter for repeatedly changing lanes in the motor vehicle lane.

As frontline law enforcement officers, Chen Shu and Zhang Wei certainly had countless grievances to share. In contrast, Li Meng and Chen Chuan, one in technical investigation and the other in criminal investigation, both directly confronted criminals, and felt no burden whatsoever in their roles.

According to Chen Chuan, "Just do it! By the way, Chen Shu, I heard from Li Meng that you were the one who arrested the Lamborghini kidnapper last time?"

(End of this chapter)