National Forensic Doctor-Chapter 895 - 833: Picking the Big One

"Doctor Jiang, these cases all involve footprint evidence!"

Ni Cha personally carried a file box and with a "thud," placed it on the table.

After the live broadcast arrest and the experience of several murder cases, the confidence of the Dama Police Station in Jiang Yuan has reached an unprecedented level. However, their confidence in Jiang Yuan is still mostly focused on footprints and bloodstains.

That’s because what Jiang Yuan demonstrated in Malaysia were mainly these two capabilities. His skills in areas like Forensic Anthropology, Legal Botany, and forensic sketch, though demonstrated, were not as direct.

From the perspective of Ni Cha and others, naturally, they wanted to use Jiang Yuan’s strongest techniques.

On the other hand, there were just too many murder cases involving footprint evidence.

This is actually the biggest advantage of solving cases with footprints. A person can avoid leaving fingerprints by wearing gloves and avoid leaving hair and dander by wearing a head cover, but how can one completely eliminate footprints?

With the technology available now, even on a tile floor, a static cling film can capture a footprint much clearer than a regular photo.

The Dama Police Force naturally also collects footprints. Although they collect footprints for shoe print comparison, in larger cases, this step is necessary.

In fact, like in our domestic cases, most of the cases in Malaysia are simple and direct. Many times, the suspect is caught on the spot; a slightly more complicated scenario is the suspect being captured nearby during an escape. In such cases, comparing the suspect’s footprints is often valuable.

Of course, if using footprint comparison, the value is even greater.

After Ni Cha and others left, Mu Zhiyang couldn’t help saying: "Suddenly, I feel like we’re dealing with cases overseas with an unfair advantage. The criminals here don’t even know that footprints can lead to them."

"Do domestic criminals know?" Wang Chuanxing asked Mu Zhiyang in return.

"Umm... Don’t they?" Mu Zhiyang recalled for a moment and couldn’t help but say: "Before I knew Captain Jiang, it seems not many knew. Back then, if there were footprints that needed examination, they were sent to the Qinghe City Bureau. They would come back with a conclusion, sometimes giving a rough age, and even distinguish between male and female. As for height and weight, the conclusions were usually just taller, average, or shorter..."

"Chen Wenming, right? He would provide much more detailed conclusions to the special task team, but he would hold back a bit in the reports to the districts and counties." Wang Chuanxing was talking about the head of the Trace Examination Group of the Qinghe City Bureau’s Criminal Investigation Division.

Jiang Yuan had also dealt with Chen Wenming and nodded slightly, saying: "Chen’s techniques are capable, but not very stable."

Chen Wenming’s expertise in Footprint Identification is also at a sub-expert level, which means that if he invests a lot of time, including on-site analysis, he can provide expert-level conclusions. A casual glance would only yield elite-level conclusions. Naturally, under such circumstances, ordinary cases at the district and county level would not receive much resource allocation.

In comparison, Jiang Yuan’s Footprint Identification expertise is truly exceptional.

Even in the Ministry’s expert database, there are many Level 4 footprint experts, but Level 5 experts are rare. Not only is Jiang Yuan a Level 5 expert in Footprint Identification, but he can also integrate other skills, which is extraordinarily powerful.

Bringing such Footprint Identification skills to Malaysia...

Jiang Yuan flipped through the files, quickly browsing through three or four cases, and said, "If there is any advantage, the biggest advantage is that these cases have not been screened by a footprint expert. Some cases, it seems, could indeed be solved with Footprint Identification."

"Really, are there cases that can be solved?" It was Chu Guanliang, the police liaison officer, who reacted eagerly on the scene. From his perspective, solving any case is very good, especially since the cases brought by Ni Cha were all cold cases. These types of cases, in terms of difficulty and importance, outweigh current cases in any country.

The net of justice is vast and fails to let anything slip through; different countries may have different phrasings, but the demands of the common people are the same.

No matter how difficult cold cases are to crack, police officers always hope to solve them, and there will always be those who go all out to do so. Only the continuous solving of cold cases can serve as the greatest deterrence to criminals. From the perspective of the police, the main reason the vast majority of people do not commit crimes is not due to any genuinely good and beautiful soul, but rather a simple and selfish fear.

Therefore, in any country, solving cold cases and continually doing so is the goal of all normal police systems and a necessity for social order.

Dama is no exception.

As a liaison officer, Chu Guanliang could imagine the additional courtesies he would receive after Jiang Yuan solved cold cases – transitioning from a liaison officer of a country that needs close contact to one solicited by others, surely doubling the joy.

Jiang Yuan, of course, is also willing to solve cold cases. He replied, "I haven’t looked into the specifics yet, but based on the cases Ni Cha brought, there seems to be plenty of footprint evidence. In principle, some clues should emerge, however..."

"However?" Chu Guanliang furrowed his brows.

"The support for footprint evidence in Dama is quite limited; it’s difficult to conduct investigations, and even if we do determine some characteristics of the suspect, we may not be able to confirm their identity," said Jiang Yuan. What he considered went beyond mere technical issues; it was a matter of resource allocation.

Domestically, there are ID cards, police networks, Image Investigation, and LV5. Once the identity of a suspect is confirmed, arresting them wouldn’t be too difficult.

Dama doesn’t have these conditions. In fact, there are many problems just confirming the suspect’s identity.

"In that case, it’s actually advisable to select some of the more important cases," Cui Xiaohu coughed twice, sitting closer to Jiang Yuan, speaking in a low voice with only his lips moving, "If the difficulty isn’t too great, the local police might be willing to allocate more resources to high-profile cases."

"This is the same for everyone," balanced Chu Guanliang.

Cui Xiaohu made an "Mhm" sound, saying, "But after all, we have a policy where homicide cases must be solved. Furthermore, we don’t have many cold cases left in recent years, so we can concentrate our efforts on solving them. Any solved cold case is considered a great achievement. The recognition from the Dama Police Force in this regard might be different from ours."

Jiang Yuan slowly nodded; he had a similar feeling in regions with high incident rates. With limited resources, naturally, they prioritize major cases.

"If we’re talking about fame, among the cases Ni Cha brought, the case of Member of Parliament Renne’s drowning was the most sensational at the time. The failure to solve it put immense pressure on Dama Police Station and subjected them to nearly a year of public criticism. If it’s reopened now, the Dama Police Force will spare no manpower or material resources," said Chu Guanliang, who had been a liaison officer for some time and was very familiar with the local police situation.

"Parliamentarian... the status must be high in Malaysia, and the case remains unsolved?" Jiang Yuan and Cui Xiaohu exchanged glances.

"Hmm," Chu Guanliang made a sound of agreement, saying, "Renne was a member of parliament, influential and powerful. Because of this, those around him also held power, making the investigation challenging. That may have been the biggest problem for the Dama Police Force. Moreover, Renne died on a day when a party was being held at his house, with many guests coming and going. It wasn’t until the next day that it was discovered Renne had drowned by the pool, and the police were never able to pinpoint a suspect."

While talking, Chu Guanliang flipped through the corresponding case file, glanced over it, and then confirmed, "That’s basically it, they’ve investigated many people, but ultimately there was no evidence, and the case was hastily concluded."

"Could there be political implications involved in this case?" asked Cui Xiaohu.

Chu Guanliang closed the file and said, "Most likely. But as I said, if you want the local police to take a case seriously, hoping it to be one they are determined to solve at all costs, there is always a chance it involves politics."

"Mm, then for us... especially Captain Jiang’s safety, how can it be ensured?" Despite Wang Chuanxing being lower in the hierarchy, he boldly asked.

"It generally wouldn’t be an issue," said Chu Guanliang, then looking at Cui Xiaohu, he suggested, "Should we each report back to our superiors? Many of these cases here involve a bit of that. As long as it’s all official, we can step back and leave if we encounter any trouble afterward."

Cui Xiaohu couldn’t help but look toward Jiang Yuan.

"Let me take a closer look at the cases," Jiang Yuan took the file again to read. If there is a high probability of solving the case, then the content discussed just now would have a foundation; otherwise, it would be a mere waste of time.