1995, Starting as a Criminal Investigation Expert

Peng Rong listened attentively to Li Shu's explanation of this encoding method.

After tasting it for a while, he nodded and said, "It's quite interesting."

Tan Guoxiong, standing beside him, once again showed a surprised expression, looking at Li Shu strangely.

Did you come up with this yourself?

Li Shudao asked, "Senior brother, do you think it can be done?"

Since the bureau doesn't have AFIS now, everything is done manually, so we can only try to improve the comparison efficiency.

Since this method is feasible and can improve efficiency, it is worth doing.

I don't dare to hope to surpass the machine, but it can't be too far behind either.

The teachers at school introduced the AFIS system, saying that it is five to seven thousand times more efficient than manual comparison.

Even if changing the encoding method only reduces the difference to a thousand or two thousand times, that's still a huge improvement.

Peng Rong said, "That's feasible, but Li Shu, have you considered a crucial issue? If we reclassify our existing file cards as you suggest, doesn't that mean we have to reread all the file cards?"

"And when I say reread, I don't mean just glancing at it. You have to carefully examine each one and count the features. And here..."

He pointed to the entire archive room, rows of metal cabinets, and said, "But there are over 163,000 fingerprint cards. Just think about how much time and how many people it would take to check them all and then file them."

Li Shu subconsciously thought, "If you're going to do something, why be afraid of hardship or fatigue?"

The revolutionary predecessors shed their blood; what is this little bit of hardship?

But when he looked at the room full of metal cabinets, he swallowed the words back.

As Peng Rong said, this is no small matter; the workload is staggering.

One person can look at four or five hundred fingerprint cards a day, so ten people can only look at five thousand. It would take a month of hard work to barely finish looking at 160,000 fingerprint cards.

This is only the theoretical timeframe.

When it comes to actually carrying out the task, people get exhausted, and no one can withstand working for a whole month straight.

But Li Shu was still somewhat unwilling and said, "Senior brother, someone has to do it eventually."

Peng Rong, both amused and exasperated, playfully punched Li Shu, laughing, "You little rascal, you're putting value on me now. It's not that I don't want to do it, or that I don't know how beneficial this would be for our fingerprint matching work, the problem is we don't have the manpower."

Are these few people all focused on this and neglecting their jobs?

At this moment, Tan Guoxiong suddenly said, "Li Shu, I understand your method. I think it's similar to AFIS encoding technology?"

The fingerprint matching technology originated from Francis Galton and Edward Henry.

Henry, in particular, established the Henry classification system, which remains the core foundation of the current AFIS system classification and coding.

When I taught fingerprinting at school, they introduced the AFIS system quite a bit.

Due to limitations in storage technology, this system does not store fingerprint images individually and then directly overlay and compare them.

It also performs classification coding.

As Li Shu said, a multi-level fingerprint database should be established.

The final level is similar to what Li Shu said: a certain number of feature points are extracted from each fingerprint, and then the type, direction, and adjacency relationship are confirmed.

Finally, a binary code of several hundred bytes is formed.

This method can save a lot of storage space; tens of megabytes of storage space can store hundreds of thousands of fingerprints.

Tan Guoxiong continued, "So Li Shu, I think your method is very good, but we are short-handed right now. We can wait until we get to the AFIS system and establish a fingerprint database before using your method."

Implementing the AFIS system also requires inputting all existing fingerprint cards into the system.

At that time, optimizing the code according to Li Shu's method would be a win-win situation, saving a lot of effort.

Peng Rong nodded hurriedly and said, "Guo Xiong's meaning is my meaning. If you do it now, it's like you're doing something useless."

Li Shu understood what the two meant and added, "The key is that we still don't know when we'll be able to access the AFIS system."

Can something worth millions be bought so easily?

Peng Rong said, "Don't be discouraged, there's still hope. Instructor Cao went to Anjing to inspect the domestic system, right? The domestic system is much worse than the imported one, but it's cheaper. And I heard that the domestic system can also be used, so there's hope. Once it's deployed, things will be much easier for us."

The work of the trace evidence investigation team involves much more than just fingerprint comparison.

Footprints, teeth marks, and other human traces.

There are also traces of objects, tools used in the crime, bullets, and even vehicles, textiles, and traces of explosions—there's a lot more to it than meets the eye.

On the contrary, it was because fingerprint comparison was too tedious and consumed a lot of energy.

Having an AFIS system frees up energy to focus on other aspects of trace evidence examination.

"Alright, let's get back to work. Tingyang is still waiting for the results." Peng Rong patted Li Shu on the shoulder and turned to move the fingerprint card.

Li Shu had no choice but to temporarily abandon the idea and focus on the work at hand.

Three and a half fingerprints, one for each person.

After Li Shu received the thumb and confirmed its features, he immediately began the comparison process.

With a locator, efficiency can be greatly improved.

Meanwhile, the system gradually gains experience by comparing fingerprints one by one.

In just one morning, you can gain more than 200 experience points.

At this rate, it might take a month to reach the maximum level.

But Li Shu knew it wouldn't be that easy.

The next step is to tackle the more difficult and complex fingerprints, as this is where we can gain more experience.

The goal of developing this skill is to make Li Shu a fingerprint comparison expert.

Can someone who can only compare simple fingerprints be called an expert?

Although the locator improved efficiency, the fatigue was still just as intense.

Lying on your back all day, even the youngest back can't take it.

During lunch, Peng Rong was still complaining that after working for several years, his back had started to ache.

As he spoke, he waved the chopsticks in front of Li Shu's eyes and asked Li Shu what he was thinking about, as he had been staring blankly.

"It's nothing."

Li Shu shook his head, vaguely feeling that he had overlooked something, but he couldn't remember what it was.

Peng Rong said, "Alright, look at you, you look so preoccupied. Anyone who didn't know better would think you were the team leader. You've just arrived at the bureau, don't think so much. Just do your job well."

Even the team leader wasn't as worried as Li Shu.

Li Shu forced a smile, understanding Peng Rong's meaning, but still couldn't help thinking about the case in the High-tech Zone.

The fingerprint comparison continued in the afternoon.

The progress is okay, but the comparison still hasn't been completed.

Unlike the sales team, the technical team doesn't have a concept of leaving get off work once there's a case. They can leave at six o'clock sharp.

But considering that he would just lie around in his dorm and do nothing anyway, Li Shu decided to work overtime for a while.

Tan Guoxiong naturally wouldn't leave work alone; he would accompany him.

"I won't stay with you any longer. Don't stay too long, and leave work early too. There's always work to be done."

Peng Rong had made plans with his girlfriend, so he had to leave work first.

Some people in the team are still working overtime.

Li Shu focused intently on comparing fingerprints. He worked until after eight o'clock, only stopping when the last person left.

He stretched his back and told Tan Guoxiong to leave work.

Passing by the brigade, the lights were still on, and everyone was busy at work.

Li Shu couldn't help but stop, and said dejectedly, "I feel a little...regretful."

I was assigned to the Criminal Science and Technology major when I enrolled, but I could have easily used my connections to switch majors within the university.

Now that I've graduated, it's too late.

Li Shuzhen was truly envious of how busy they were.

Tan Guoxiong had always been aware of Li Shu's thoughts, and said, "Don't overthink it. And to be honest, even if you really studied criminal investigation and joined the criminal investigation team, it wouldn't make much difference."

Once you join the criminal investigation team, does that mean you can handle big cases right away?

We still have to start from scratch.

Tan Guoxiong said, "You know Jiao Xiaodong, right? He was assigned to the Chongning branch. He told me that after joining the team, he spent every day following people on visits. By the end of the day, the soles of his shoes were almost worn out. In his words, it felt like he was just busy doing nothing."

"You and we are at least genuinely helping to solve cases, but we're doing our work behind the scenes. So if you want to solve cases, it's all the same."

Li Shu understood the reasoning, but he still felt regret.

"Alright, let's go home."

Li Shu stopped thinking about it, went downstairs, pushed his bicycle, and prepared to leave.

As I stepped out of the gate, before I had taken two steps, a middle-aged woman suddenly darted out from the side.

Li Shu slammed on the brakes, almost causing a collision.