Reborn Cat Sheriff

Chapter 253 Small Case, Great Merit
The arrests of Jiang Haiming and Wang Xianxian extinguished Feng Hesong's last hope.

Later, when his fiancée was summoned by the police and arranged to be questioned in the next room, Feng Hesong became even more anxious.

When his fiancée and her lover faced each other, exchanging words like kings, and then the woman's unwavering declaration of severing all ties with him, Feng Hesong felt utterly hopeless. The laughter of his fiancée outside the door completely shattered his stubbornness and resolve.

What was the point of all that hard work, even resorting to underhanded methods? Wasn't it all for those two despicable people?

Especially that stinking woman who denies being his fiancée, she's still wearing the 138,000 yuan ring he gave her and carrying the 42,000 yuan bag he gave her! Even during their marriage negotiations, the various sums of money and assets he, Feng Hesong, needed to provide already exceeded 1.6 million yuan! House, car, wedding, dowry… If it weren't for these things, if he weren't truly unable to afford them, why would he take such a risk?

Now that everything has gone down the drain, Feng Hesong has finally calmed down.

He knew that at this point, escaping the law was absolutely impossible. So what he needed to do now was to do everything possible to reduce his sentence! To try and avoid going to prison as much as possible!

Therefore, Feng Hesong surrendered decisively and confessed all his crimes and his accomplices.

Sure enough, another accomplice of Feng Hesong was found in the hotel; this person was really well hidden.

Then, Nie Guoqiang personally led a team to arrest the last member of Feng Hesong's gang in a bar. This guy was drinking and dancing happily in the bar, completely unaware that so many dramatic events could unfold in a single day.

From a bar patron to a prisoner, it only takes a moment.

When the police arrested him, he was so guilty that he brought up another case of fighting and injuring someone, which was an unexpected bonus for Nie Guoqiang.

Finally, Feng Hesong and his gang were all captured.

To be honest, now that the case has reached this point, it's time to finally relax.

The most serious consequences that could have occurred in this case have gradually become less likely to actually happen, as the suspects have been discovered and arrested one by one.

All the police officers breathed a huge sigh of relief.

As for whether there are any other hidden secrets, the police cannot currently determine whether there are. Feng Hesong is merely a ruthless and unscrupulous scoundrel who possesses the means to act illegally; his willingness to do so does not mean he has the courage to completely provoke the police.

Furthermore, despite the complexity of the work the police station did over two days, frankly speaking, what Feng Hesong did wasn't a major crime. It was nothing more than disturbing public order, extortion, disseminating obscene material, and defamation—minor offenses with serious consequences. Even if all the charges were combined, plus the aggravating circumstances, it's unlikely he'd exceed the crucial ten-year sentence.

But it was this guy who managed to encompass the entire Zhanghe Police Station, half of the Baimiao Police Station, and a small part of the Longquan Police Station, along with leaders and support teams from all levels of the Municipal Bureau, forcing everyone to work through the night.

Moreover, after this incident, this case will undoubtedly become a typical case within the province and even the country, making Zhangzhou City's name appear in police meetings and study sessions at various levels time and time again.

The impact it has had, and the subsequent crackdown on these cameras by the police, will certainly be several levels more serious than before. At least everyone finally knows that cameras can really cause big trouble.

"Is this about right?"

Yu Zhengwei rubbed his eyes, feeling like his eyelids were drooping. He hadn't stayed up this late in a long time, especially with his superiors keeping him up.

"According to Feng Hesong's confession, the suspects have been basically all arrested. The more than 1,000 short videos are also being recovered. This kid is quite cunning; he hid the hard drive in several places."

Nie Guoqiang was also exhausted, rubbing his temples as he said, "Let's take our time with the follow-up to this case. Right now, the focus is on the Discipline Inspection Commission. I heard that the people they sent went straight to the monitoring room? That's surprisingly efficient this time."

"After all, the evidence is irrefutable, which saves them a lot of trouble."

Zheng Mingxing, who was more familiar with the relevant procedures, smiled and said, "We'll definitely get our share of the credit; the Discipline Inspection Commission is quite generous in this regard. As for what happens after this, it won't have much to do with us. Once the Discipline Inspection Commission has confirmed the evidence, they'll probably just proceed with the detention process. The Municipal Bureau will take over then; it won't be the turn of a small place like ours."

Yu Zhengwei and Nie Guoqiang laughed upon hearing this, thinking that it would be best not to handle such cases.

Cases involving government departments often require countless documents and forms to be filled out, and cases frequently need to be returned for rewriting and re-verification of evidence, making it a very arduous and torturous task for every case handler.

Although the reasons for doing so are understandable, no burly policeman has the patience to deal with this kind of thing.

In addition, various unspoken relationships often make people feel constrained.

Lin Ge yawned to the side, giving the three good-for-nothings a disdainful look. No wonder they hadn't tried to climb any higher in all these years; they might as well just stay as a lousy police station chief until they die!
"It's dawn!"

Yu Zhengwei looked up and saw the sky outside the window gradually turning grayish-white, and it would soon become completely bright as the sun appeared.

"After working on it all night, it ended perfectly."

Zheng Mingxing stretched, cracking all over. Seeing the two looking at him, he chuckled, "Don't look at me like that. This case was truly handled perfectly. In just one night, something that could have had a huge impact was nipped in the bud before it could spread. For a social problem, this is a stroke of luck amidst misfortune. We can't and don't have the ability to make all criminals disappear from this world, but being able to prevent them from causing damage to society is already a perfect score. After the disciplinary committee comrades finish their work, I plan to apply for a collective third-class merit and two individual commendations. Hmm… that's probably all I can do, since the case itself isn't that complicated."

Yu Zhengwei nodded and said, "Two commendations as a reward for timely prevention of greater harm? That's acceptable, very reasonable."

Nie Guoqiang laughed as well: "There aren't many ways to get promoted in the police force, and salary increases are unrealistic. What everyone can look forward to is things like merit awards. More honors would be good for both the police station and the individuals involved."

The three of them laughed together. Lin Ge, who had been slacking off on the side, had learned quite a bit about police stations and police officers during this time, and could understand what Nie Guoqiang meant.

There are only eleven police ranks in China, but only the ranks of Superintendent and Inspector apply to local police officers. In other words, even if a local police officer works hard their entire life, the best they can hope for is to advance from the horizontal bar to the parallel bars, or from a single knot to a triple knot. That is to say, in terms of promotion, the vast majority of police officers cannot expect to advance even if they dedicate their entire lives. Therefore, the only thing that can keep them passionate about their work is the pursuit of honor and responsibility.

Even so, although it is easier for police officers to receive commendations than for military personnel, it is still very difficult to obtain a commendation for meritorious service.

Many police officers receive only one or two personal commendations in their entire careers, and those who have received third-class merit or even second-class merit are even fewer.

Although Lin Ge earned a second-class merit medal not long after arriving at the Zhanghe Police Station, there was a special reason behind it. Because he was a special cat, and because he made significant contributions to the anti-drug work in Zhangzhou City, he received this honor without any competition. Just considering that Nie Guoqiang preferred to promote Zhao Zhigang rather than give him the second-class merit, one can understand the significant value of the second-class merit among police officers.

As for the third-class merit award, there are slightly more opportunities to receive it. After all, this level of award can only be approved and issued by the municipal bureau, and every year one or a few medals are indeed distributed to the grassroots level for all police officers in the subordinate jurisdictions to compete for.

But even one or two, or even three, a year is far from enough compared to the three or four digits of police officers in a city.

Therefore, even though Zheng Mingxing only offered two personal commendation application slots this time, it was already very tempting for the police station. These awards are quite prestigious; even disregarding the reputation, one could still receive a personal commendation certificate and a bonus of several thousand yuan.

"But... is this time the award going to that guy Zhao Zhigang again?"

Lin Ge was somewhat puzzled, given Zhao Zhigang's rather disorganized performance in this case. Even though he arrested Jiang Haiming, even though he was arguably the first to discover the case, and even though he was the only officer injured (a sprained ankle and bruised ribs), awarding him this time wasn't entirely convincing. Especially considering the auxiliary police team, a crucial force within the police station, their feelings couldn't be ignored. Giving Zhao Zhigang an award after all that was unfair to them.

"Give one to Li Yiduo!"

Just then, Nie Guoqiang and the other two were discussing the same matter. Nie Guoqiang made the final decision, saying, "This time, we were able to identify multiple suspects thanks to Li Yiduo's technical support. It was also thanks to him and his colleagues in the technical investigation team that we were able to successfully identify the suspects that the Discipline Inspection Commission needed from thousands of hours of surveillance footage. He's a top student who came here to work as an auxiliary police officer, so we should give him the honors he deserves. I believe no one will have any objections to this."

Yu Zhengwei nodded, and Zheng Mingxing also had no objection to the spot.

To be honest, it's a miracle that Zhanghe Police Station was able to recruit a technical talent like Li Yiduo. Zheng Mingxing even knew one thing: Li Yiduo's technical skills were likely even better than those of the people in the city bureau's technical investigation department.

Even if Li Yiduo's knowledge of police-specific techniques may not be as extensive as that of the technical investigators, he has a lot of expensive professional equipment and tools! With both combined, he has absolutely no problem crushing the city bureau's technical investigation team.

"Where's the other one?"

Nie Guoqiang wanted to finalize the spot now to avoid any unforeseen complications and have the Municipal Bureau remove one of them. Most of the time, those bastards at the Municipal Bureau were easy to talk to, but when it came to honors, they became as stingy as a greedy mythical creature.

"Let's think about the other one first, no rush!"

Yu Zhengwei interrupted Nie Guoqiang's questioning, not intending to give away the honor so easily. Moreover, to be honest, apart from Li Yiduo standing out, the other police officers in this case simply did their jobs and didn't have any particularly outstanding performances.

As for working overtime and staying up late... isn't this the most normal working life for a police officer? No police officer would feel superior because of this, and no superior would give an officer an award for working hard.

"If there really isn't a suitable candidate, then let's leave the honor for now. We'll get it from the Municipal Bureau first, and give it to them next time, which will save us from arguing with the Municipal Bureau later."

Zheng Mingxing laughed.

Lin Ge smiled too.

Live it!

I worked hard all day and didn't get any praise or anything. Why can you guys get rewards so easily?

Nie Guoqiang glanced at Lin Ge, who was laughing excessively.

Having guessed what Lin Ge was thinking, Nie Guoqiang pointed at Lin Ge and said to Zheng Mingxing, "Register Mimi too. We were able to find all the cameras in time thanks to Mimi and her two little brothers. To be honest, the Municipal Bureau still owes Mimi a lot of honors! Not to mention that Mimi made a great contribution in Long Xiaojun's case, just consider Zhao Liang's shooting case. If it weren't for Mimi's decisive action, they would have had to produce at least two more second-class merits."

"I agree with that."

Zheng Mingxing nodded, understanding Nie Guoqiang's meaning. If it weren't for Lin Ge's bravery in the Zhao Liang case, several more people would have been injured. Zhao Zhigang's injury was an unfortunate misfortune, but if other police officers were injured in a direct confrontation, a second-class merit award would be guaranteed. If someone else were to die, aside from whether they could receive a first-class merit award, the municipal bureau would certainly lose face in front of the provincial party committee. From this perspective, Mimi had made a significant contribution to the municipal bureau.

"How about we give the remaining reward to Mimi?"

Yu Zhengwei also felt there was no problem, since no one in the institute would be jealous of Mimi or have any objections to it.

To Lin Ge's surprise, Nie Guoqiang shook his head and refused.

"I plan to wait and see how things go in Zhuzhou! If the case progresses smoothly, Mimi might have a chance to get a second-class merit award there when it's closed! But if she gets an award here first, her honor there might be affected."

Yu Zhengwei and Zheng Mingxing understood.

That's certainly true. When reviewing applications for awards for meritorious service, the higher authorities do consider the frequency of such awards. Even though there's a significant difference between a commendation and a second-class merit, what if the recipients feel that consecutive awards are inappropriate?
Therefore, it is indeed advisable to be more cautious.

(End of this chapter)