America: The Gear-Up Detective

Connor has reported Jackson's disappearance to the police.

According to LAPD regulations, when an officer goes missing, the police department will immediately activate an emergency response procedure.

This procedure differs from other ordinary missing persons cases; it is specifically designed for serious cases such as the disappearance or murder of police officers, and retaliation against the families of police officers.

If necessary, SWAT teams, air support, police dogs, and professional search and rescue teams can be deployed.

The primary goal of a regular missing persons case is to "find the person," but the disappearance of a police officer is considered a potential major criminal offense from the very beginning. In addition to searching, the main purpose of the investigation is to track down the murderer and find out who and how the police officer went missing.

Even now, Jackson's case is no longer just about disappearance; it's a kidnapping with solid evidence.

The next moment, the system panel reappeared before Rhodes' eyes.

[Mission Update: Kidnapping a detective? Provoking the police? No matter what the killer's purpose or motive is, they will face fierce retaliation from the LAPD.]

Find Jackson and catch the murderer to receive a reward.

Completion Rewards: Hidden

Rhodes breathed a sigh of relief. This time, regardless of whether there was a system mission or not, he could not stand idly by.

Next, everyone began to analyze the reasons why Jackson was kidnapped.

Because only Rod witnessed the whole thing at the bar that night, the others did not see what happened.

So Rod first recounted the conflict between Jackson and the burly black man, and then offered his own speculation.

"The way he looked at Jackson as he left made me suspect he might be the perpetrator..."

Rod's speculation may not be correct, but that's how cases are handled.

"When you've eliminated all the impossibilities, what remains, however improbable, must be the truth of the case."

Every case meeting is like a brainstorming session, where everyone comes up with all possible speculations, and then, based on the clues and intelligence at hand, some speculations are eliminated, some are followed up, and finally the murderer is found.

Connor nodded.

Evan stroked his beard and said in a deep voice, "Regardless of whether it's him or not, everyone who has had a conflict with Jackson in the past few days needs to be investigated."

Just as everyone was discussing, a technical officer from the police department, who had been sent to Jackson's house to retrieve surveillance footage, knocked on the conference room door.

A police officer with a buzz cut and black-rimmed glasses walked in, then took out a tablet and said to Rhodes and the others:

"We tracked Jackson's cell phone signal. His schedule has been very fixed during this period; he has stayed at home and hasn't gone out."

My most recent outing was on Monday night at the Yellow Rose Bar.

Because his phone is always at home, we can't track him down.

Connor nodded to him. "Thank you for your hard work, Adrian."

Are there any other discoveries?

Adrian Wechsler adjusted his slightly slipped glasses, then used his tablet to pull up a video, saying with a hint of surprise:

"The surveillance cameras in front of Jackson's house have a wide coverage area and the images are very clear."

The footage clearly shows the trash can in front of his house being moved.

Then, a video of about ten seconds was projected onto the screen in front of everyone.

The monitoring time shows that it was around 6:00 AM.

As dawn broke, two black men dressed in all black appeared at the far end of the surveillance footage.

One of them was wearing a baseball cap, and the other had dreadlocks. The two walked to the trash can, put on gloves, and worked together to move the trash can out of the surveillance camera's view.

Adrian then operated the tablet, and the monitoring footage played rapidly, with two hours later.

Around eight o'clock.

Surveillance footage captured Jackson leaving his home.

He was wearing a vest and shorts, carrying two large black plastic bags. Perhaps thinking that he was just throwing out the trash in front of his house and there wouldn't be any problem, Jackson didn't even close the door. He then walked to the street, seemed a little surprised that the trash can was gone, lingered for a couple of steps, and then disappeared from the surveillance footage.

Hank looked at the two surveillance videos and said in a deep voice, "It should be just as Rod guessed. These two probably moved the trash can because they didn't want to kidnap Jackson under the surveillance cameras at his door."

Then, with a strange undertone, he added, "But don't they know that the security cameras will record them when they move the trash cans? It's pointless..."

Connor shook his head, looking at everyone. "At least we have a breakthrough." He then looked at Adrian Wexler sitting beside him. "That black man who showed his face, can we find out his identity?"

In the surveillance video, the two people consciously wore gloves while acting, indicating that they had some basic reconnaissance awareness. One of them was wearing a hat and was difficult to identify, but the other had a dreadlock and his face was clearly captured by the surveillance camera.

Adrian projected the processed information of the dreadlocked man onto the screen. "Of course, this guy is a repeat offender. We don't need to do much investigation. I just sent his facial features to the police system, and all his information came out."

On the screen, a face with prominent cheekbones, dreadlocks, and a disdainful expression came into view.

Simon Brand, 41, a regular at the police station.

He has been charged with theft, making intentional threats, illegal possession of a firearm, and multiple robberies. A former gang member, he is currently out on bail.

"Bail?" Connor frowned, then said, "Contact his bail officer. I need to know his whereabouts and relationships."

Jose got up, walked out of the conference room, and began making contacts.

Next, Rod looked through Simon Brand's file and found a tattoo on his right forearm. Because Simon Brand's skin was so dark, the tattoo was too inconspicuous and would not be noticed unless you looked closely.

The tattoo is made up of several English letters, but it is too abstract to be recognizable.

Rod pointed to the tattoo and said, "Could this tattoo be related to the gang members you were talking about? A gang symbol?"

For gang members, tattoos are like their identity cards. For example, the "C" mark on Killian Woolf's body, who shot at the police station, is the iconic tattoo of the infamous Crips.

In addition, there are the Bloods' red logo and tattoos with the word "Blood," the number 13 of the South gang (Sureños, South x3), etc.

Rod looked at Hank, who had spent a considerable amount of time in the Anti-Drug Division. If the gang was well-known, Hank should remember it.

Hank stared at the tattoo for a long time, then shook his head. "I have no recollection of this symbol. It shouldn't be any old gang."

Evan interjected, "Established gangs all know that the LAPD is the one thing you absolutely shouldn't mess with in all of Los Angeles, let alone something like kidnapping a police officer!"

Rod shook his head. "It's also possible that they simply didn't know Jackson was a police officer. When Jackson was kidnapped, he wasn't carrying a gun or a badge. Unless these two had seen Jackson at the police station before, they wouldn't know Jackson's identity... at least not in the short term."

Connor nodded. "That's barely good news. Gangsters love to slowly torture their targets."

This means that Jackson's life is not in danger in the short term.

"Based on my understanding of these gang members, if they find out that Jackson is a detective, things could get complicated."

"Maybe they'll just give up and kill Jackson right away, then escape from Los Angeles or even California before we find out," Hank said, stroking his bald head. "We have to find Jackson as soon as possible!"

Then, José pushed open the door and entered, looking at everyone with an intense tone: "Guys! We've made a major discovery!"