1995, Starting as a Criminal Investigation Expert

Although Duan Chengyan has been retired for several years, he still enjoys great prestige in 803.

The illustrious reputation of 803 was earned by him.

No one dared to disregard his opinions.

Zhang Shenghua said, "That's right, I think what Master said makes a lot of sense. We can definitely go to Zhangxi to compare and try it out."

Regarding the business aspect, everyone nodded in agreement.

Zhou Xuewen said, "Old Zhang, Old Duan, it's not that I disagree, but there's a practical problem."

“Pingzhou, for example, has a good economy. It started implementing the AFIS system last year and also required all cities in the province to collect fingerprint files and build a fingerprint database.”

"But Zhangxi is not an option. Zhangxi is poor, and there is no AFIS system in the entire province."

"There's another point. It's said that there should be three levels of archiving, but as we all know, in practice, it usually only goes up to the city level. The provincial archives may not be complete."

"In that case, we not only have to do manual comparison, but we also have to compare all the fingerprints in all 11 cities of Zhangxi province. This... this is no small matter."

Manual fingerprint comparison is not only prone to errors, but it is also a time-consuming and laborious task.

Let alone someone like Matsuura who has absolutely no connection to the government, even if the ministry issues an order, the implementation below might still be perfunctory, with people going through the motions but not putting in the effort.

To ensure there are no problems, we have to send our own people.

The problem is that there are two provinces and dozens of cities, which is a fingerprint database of millions of fingerprints. How many people would it take, and how long would it take to complete the comparison?

This is the most practical problem.

Sure enough, his words made the atmosphere heavy again.

Everyone is passionate about solving cases, but sometimes, human strength is truly limited.

This case is of great significance to 803, and they are willing to do everything in their power to handle it.

But other provinces and cities may not necessarily have this idea.

Zhang Shenghua said, "Old Zhou, why don't you give it a try? I know the provincial department in Zhangxi quite well. They had two cases related to this back then. Don't you think they want to solve them?"

Speaking of which, Matsuura has a case.

No one died in the Pingzhou incident; the deadliest people were in Zhangxi.

Zhou Xuewen thought to himself that even if they wanted to do it, it wouldn't be a small matter; it would require mobilizing a lot of people and taking a lot of time.

They're neglecting their regular work and focusing all their energy on your case?

And what if the comparison doesn't match? Shouldn't we suspect that the comparison was wrong and start another round?

By then, you'll be too embarrassed to even mention it.

At this moment, Li Shu interjected, "Director Zhou, even without the AFIS system, I have a way to improve the efficiency of manual comparison."

Zhou Xuewen felt a chill and asked what it meant.

Li Shu hadn't really thought of that much, but even if it was done manually, he had his own quick positioning method.

This thing is simple and easy to use. What used to be a week's work can now be done in one or two days, making it several times more efficient.

If we define some more conditions, the efficiency will only be higher.

Therefore, despite the staggering workload, there is still a possibility of it being accomplished.

"That's right. We recently got the AFIS system in Nanjiang. Before we had the system, I researched a method that could improve the efficiency of fingerprint comparison by two or three times."

Li Shu got up to look for something.

I found some cardboard, plastic film, and fingerprint cards, and demonstrated them to them directly.

"Director Zhou, look, we're looking for location relationships. This way, we can minimize the initial, ambiguous fingerprint comparison process."

"With practice, one can probably examine a fingerprint in just a few seconds, enabling rapid screening in the initial stage."

Li Shu explained the method in detail.

Even Zhou Xuewen, an expert, was stunned for a while before he came to his senses.

Immediately, I felt a sense of sudden enlightenment, and holding the cut-out cardboard, I was completely dumbfounded.

"Holy crap, Li Shu, you're amazing! How did you come up with that? This method is incredible!" Chen Shengkang's eyes widened in disbelief.

This small, homemade tool can quickly complete fingerprint screening.

Zhou Xuewen nodded blankly.

He thought to himself that this was more than impressive, and quickly made a mental assessment.

This efficiency improvement is not just two or three times, it's probably more than ten times!

Everyone present, especially those in the technical field, looked at Li Shu with changed expressions.

This is 803.

Without bragging, we can proudly say that it is the place with the strongest criminal science and technology in the country.

But today I was completely outshone by a young man; I was amazed.

Li Shu quickly asked, "Director Zhou, do you think this is feasible?"

I've practically laid out everything I know for this case.

If that doesn't work, then... then we'll think of another way.

Once we've taken on this case, there's no reason to give up halfway.

Zhou Xuewen was silent for a moment, then nodded vigorously: "Okay, I'll give it a try."

Once the decision is made, the next step is to execute it.

Out of caution, Zhou Xuewen decided to draw technical personnel from various bureaus in Songpu to form a team of twenty people.

Only send our own people to avoid causing trouble for others as much as possible.

Our first stop is Zhangxi, starting from the provincial government building.

Then, starting from the location of the crime, the investigation gradually spread throughout the entire western province.

Then we went to Pingzhou.

If we still can't find the answer here, then we should head north.

During the investigation, an important clue emerged: the suspect spoke with a northern accent.

Initially, the task force believed that the perpetrators had migrated from the north.

However, after consulting dialect experts, they analyzed the suspect's word choices and concluded that some of his phrasing was not purely Northern Mandarin.

It is speculated that the suspect may have deliberately spoken in a northern dialect to conceal his hometown identity.

Therefore, the north was chosen as the last stop.

At the same time, the fingerprint of the middle finger was sent to provinces and cities across the country with AFIS systems for investigation.

The next evening, Li Shu set off with the group.

Li Shu wouldn't be satisfied until the case was fully resolved.

The group of nearly thirty people flew directly to Hongcheng, the capital of Zhangxi Province.

On the plane, everyone was busy, quickly familiarizing themselves with the makeshift quick locator and the middle finger fingerprint.

It was already late at night when we arrived in Hongcheng.

Having given prior notice, Director He Guangming of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Zhangxi Provincial Public Security Bureau personally came to pick him up at the airport.

He was short and stocky, with a square face, acne scars, and fleshy features, giving him a somewhat thuggish look.

Seeing the large group of people behind him, He Guangming punched Zhang Shenghua, who was leading the group, and said, "Old Zhang, you're slapping me in the face. Two people from Zhangxi died in this case. If we're talking about solving the case, I'm more eager than you to find this bastard."

Zhang Shenghua gave an awkward smile and asked if they were ready, then they got right to work.

What do you think?

He Guangming gave a light snort and beckoned everyone to get into the car.

After receiving the call, he began making preparations.

Arrange for someone to prepare food and drinks, and provide fingerprint cards.

They also transferred personnel from the Hongcheng City Public Security Bureau to assist with the work.

In the car, He Guangming said, "Old Zhang, Old Zhou, we've extracted fingerprints a second time, which is fantastic news. But manual comparison is no small matter."

"Our province has over 600,000 fingerprint records, but including your people, there are fewer than 50 of you."

"How about this, I'll talk to the police academy and ask them to send a group of students over to help. I'm mainly worried that they might make mistakes because they lack experience."

There is a police academy in Zhangxi with a long history.

It's precisely because this involves fingerprint comparison that one needs work experience; otherwise, He Guangming would have been prepared to employ a massive manpower campaign to find this guy.

"No need for that."

Zhou Xuewen smiled and shook his head in refusal. He glanced at the rearview mirror and then said, "I calculated it when we came. We have enough people because we have a secret weapon."

With fifty people and using Li Shu's methods, we can easily obtain six hundred thousand fingerprint files.

"A secret weapon?"

He Guangming looked at Zhou Xuewen suspiciously, thinking to himself, "This is fingerprint comparison, purely manual. What secret weapon do you have?"