Police officer Chen Shu

Chapter 218 Going upstream
Police officers are on the front lines of dealing with ordinary people, and friction, arguments, and misunderstandings often come together.

On a larger scale, when government demolition work goes poorly and residents are dissatisfied with compensation, the police coordinate a unified action; when employers default on wages and abscond, migrant workers gather at the government office to demand their wages, and the police are again responsible for stopping and calming them down.

On a smaller scale, there are traffic violations resulting in fines and fines, and cases of telecommunications fraud where money cannot be refunded, among other things. Over time, the police gradually become the outlet for social conflicts.

If you encounter a robbery and shout "Robbery! Someone is robbing me!" pedestrians will flee in panic. If you shout "The police are beating people!" passersby, righteous people, reporters from various media outlets, and colorful trolls who seem to appear out of nowhere will immediately rush to your side, filming, recording, and live-streaming.

this is the truth.

Zhengming District Public Security Bureau, Supervision Brigade, Complaint Center
"Hey, did you hear? One of our police officers is trending on social media today!"

"I know! It's Chen Shu from Zhongshan Institute. Have you seen the video of him hitting someone?"

"I saw it. That was a pretty brutal beating. I wonder if the guy was injured. If he broke a bone or something, I reckon Chen Shu will go to jail!"

"Hehe, I've heard about this before. The auxiliary police group in their station has exploded. But Chen Shu was lucky. According to the people who brought him to custody that day, the person who was beaten wasn't seriously injured."

"Oh, wow, there's such a big argument about it online!"

"Those trolls just want to stir up trouble. But then again, given how this police officer is online, I think the final result will definitely be his dismissal. I heard he was just promoted to deputy director."

"What deputy director? He's a grid police chief! But he's only a deputy section chief. This guy's background is Director Zhang. Director Zhang really got a slap in the face this time."

Hmph! You've finally met your match!
Serves you right for being so cocky back then!

Deng Xiaochao sat in the corner, listening to the auxiliary police officers at the complaint center gossip about Chen Shu, feeling quite pleased with himself.

Hearing everyone talking about the bureau leaders, he stood up and shouted, "What are you gossiping about? Are you bored out of your mind? Get back to work!"

At this point, Deng Xiaochao suddenly felt a pang of anxiety. He frowned, pretending to go to the workbench while stealing glances at Lin Qi sitting by the window.

Seeing that the other person was only focused on swiping on their phone and didn't seem to be doing anything unusual, they finally felt relieved.

He secretly posted the whistleblower video online using several newly registered accounts, and the associated phone number was a black card that he had entrusted a friend in the traffic police detachment's publicity department to obtain years ago. It should not have been discovered by anyone.

and many more!

Unless someone with ulterior motives connects the traffic police-related posts he made several years ago through online accounts linked to these phone numbers with the video of the assault that was secretly posted this time.

Upon further comparison, the timing of his transfer from the traffic police detachment to the inspection team was revealed.

They'll be exposed soon!

Thinking of this, Deng Xiaochao felt a chill run down his spine. He suppressed his unease and quickly walked back to his desk, took out his phone from the drawer, and deleted all the posts and videos he had posted the night before.

"Thank goodness we found it! In any case, the momentum has been built up, so it doesn't matter if we delete it now," he comforted himself.

Here, Lin Qi sat in his seat, basking in the sunlight, looking at the information on his phone screen, a slight smile playing on his lips.

It was a message sent by one of his comrades who worked in the same batch of internet monitoring teams.

“I checked the accounts you sent me, and some of the linked phones did indeed post positive things about traffic police a few years ago. However, these trolls aren’t from our online commentary team; I suspect they’re from the traffic police.”

"Kacha."

He pressed the lock screen button, picked up Deng Xiaochao's resume that was placed to the side, and began to look at it carefully.

Office of the "Yangshuo News" program team, Dongzhou TV Station

"Sister Yang, isn't this the same policeman we met when we went to his police station to film a program last time?" Cameraman Xiao Zhao pointed at his phone screen and asked Zhang Yang, who was busy reviewing news materials. Zhang Yang had been overwhelmed with handing over "Yang Says News" these past few days and hadn't used her phone much to check the news. Hearing her colleague's words, the resolute face of that young policeman from back then flashed into her mind.

"I'm a police officer, but not a saint!"

Now, recalling it all at once, the echoes linger, as if it were just yesterday.

She leaned over and looked at the photographer Xiao Zhao's phone.

In the video, a man in a black jacket is seen repeatedly hitting another man, who is curled up on the ground with his hands covering his head, with an iron rod. The man is wearing a yellow uniform from a food delivery company.

Seeing that he had caught Zhang Yang's attention, Xiao Zhao continued to explain: "This video was released last night and spread online immediately. Everyone is saying that the police are beating people indiscriminately and are inhumane. The Public Security Bureau just issued a notice saying that the man who was beaten is a criminal suspect caught in the act, and the charge is suspected of armed robbery."

He shrugged and said, "It's been so long, what's the point of coming out now? Are you making those who were so quick to criticize earlier slap themselves in the face?"

Zhang Yang pointed to the comments on the right side of the video with his slender, jade-like finger. He saw that there were indeed rows of comments questioning the police's abuse of power or excessive use of force, and there were even comments clamoring that the police should not use force even when arresting criminals.

"Win people over with virtue," Zhang Yang said with a smile, pointing to the message.

"Sister Yang, they think the police are just playing a game when they arrest people. If they were robbing their own house, let's see if they'd still be so enthusiastic."

Zhang Yang pushed the phone back to Xiao Zhao: "You go ahead and do your work, I'll take a look myself."

She took out her phone and skillfully opened a series of local news apps or social media platforms. They were all filled with condemnations of the police officers from Zhongshan Police Station beating people, with a few rational discussions interspersed occasionally, but they were also fleeting.

I closed the app, pulled up my contacts, and dialed the number. Before the other person answered, I quickly walked to a secluded corner outside the office.

"Hello, Uncle Ma, this is Xiao Yang."

"Hehe, you really know me. Yes, I wanted to ask you about someone?"

"Yes, that's right, it's one of the police officers in your bureau. It's not an interview, nor is it for news material, I just wanted to ask you what kind of person he is."

"His name is Chen Shu, from Zhongshan Police Station. I want to know what kind of person he is."

"Playing this hard? First in total hits?"

"Oh, you drove straight into the kidnappers' car all by yourself? Are you alright?"

"He works at a local police station and he's handling murder cases?"

"The money-giving boy during his shift?"

"What! He even went to your office today and gave everyone there a durian? Didn't he get into trouble today? How come he's acting like nothing happened?"

"Oh, I was called to the bureau by the director and was waiting there. You're quite an interesting person to visit you since you have nothing else to do."

"Okay, thank you, Uncle Ma. I'll hang up now. Goodbye!"

Zhang Yang suppressed a laugh and hung up the phone. It turned out that while everyone else treated this police-related public opinion incident as a top priority, the person involved was just wandering around aimlessly as if nothing was wrong.

"This is a feast for the masses. They have selling points, traffic, exposure, the thrill of commanding the world, and topics of conversation while eating and drinking. The only one who gets hurt is the policeman who inexplicably bears the infamy."

She stuffed her phone into her pocket, leaned against the window, crossed her arms, and surveyed the bustling city outside the TV station building. Beneath her calm exterior, she was brewing a passionate and impulsive plan.

Faced with the prevailing trend, she decided to go against the tide.

(End of this chapter)