Chapter 14 Criminal Profiling: Get me a map of the jurisdiction.
Hearing Jiang Ling speak so gently for the first time, Li Zhenliang was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said, "I didn't expect Xiao Jiang to be so patient with children."
There was something he didn't say—"If you become a mother in the future, you will definitely be a good mother." After all, Jiang Ling was still an unmarried girl, and saying something like that would be a bit much.
Thinking of Jiang Ling's background, Li Zhenliang pedaled hard on his bicycle and rang the bell.
"Ring ring..." The clear sound of the bell rang out.
Li Zhenliang's voice came through the phone: "I'll bring Yan Yan next time I'm on duty on the weekend."
"Okay." Jiang Ling couldn't help but smile.
Although she doesn't have children of her own, she finds joy in playing with other people's adorable babies.
Soon, the four of them arrived at the Hongxing Vegetable Market, which Wang Cuimin had mentioned when she reported the case.
Wang Cuimin is a textile factory worker, and her husband is a technician at a machinery factory. They usually live in the machinery factory's residential area. When she goes to work, she parks her bicycle in the bicycle shed next to the changing room at the textile factory. After get off work, she parks it in the bicycle shed in the machinery factory's residential area. On her way to and from get off work, she goes to Hongxing Vegetable Market to buy vegetables, and she parks her bicycle at the entrance of the market.
The bell was lost at the market.
In broad daylight, I have no idea who was so quick to act.
Hongxing Market is the largest market in the eastern part of the city. Employees from nearby sewing machine factories, machinery factories, and blower factories come here to buy vegetables, resulting in a large flow of people. Bicycles are parked everywhere in front of the market.
Because there isn't enough space, there's no dedicated shed or person to manage the vehicles.
Liu Haoran has a naturally endearing round face. When he and Zhou Wei conduct investigations together, he usually does the talking while Zhou Wei takes notes. They have always been in charge of the bicycle bell theft case, so this time Liu Haoran led the field visit, asking people buying and selling vegetables at the market.
A vegetable vendor said, "It seems someone shouted just now that their bicycle bell was missing. I was busy with my business and didn't go out to check."
The passerby waved his hand: "I don't know, I just came by. If the bell is stolen, it's stolen. Just go to the repair shop and get a new one. Why bother reporting it to the police?"
An elderly man selling magazines and newspapers at the entrance of the market witnessed Wang Cuimin shouting that she had been robbed. He pointed to the grove next to the market and said, "The car was parked there, and people were coming and going. I don't know who stole the bell."
The owner of a small shop curled his lip: "We have kids running around here every day, and quite a few of them ring the bicycle bells for no reason. As for stealing? Who knows?"
The grove was all dirt, covered with footprints. Two hours had passed, making on-site investigation and evidence collection very difficult, and no useful clues could be found.
The four of them walked around for a long time but didn't get any information.
Liu Haoran looked a little dejected. He took out his money and bought four lollipops, giving one to each person: "Sorry to have made everyone come all this way for nothing. Come on, have a candy and take a break." He didn't smoke, but he loved candy, so he bought candy instead of cigarettes.
The lollipop was wrapped in clear wrapper with a strawberry pattern printed on it. Jiang Ling held the white plastic stick, staring at the flat, round, red and white spiral lollipop in her hand, without taking a bite for a long time.
When I was a child in the orphanage, eating candy was a luxury. Only occasionally would the adoptive families or volunteers bring candy to share.
Jiang Ling, due to her introverted and unlikable personality, is usually the child who doesn't get to eat candy.
Li Zhenliang noticed Jiang Ling's dazed expression and exchanged a glance with Liu Haoran and Zhou Wei. The three of them thought of Jiang Ling's background and felt a little sorry for her. It must be because she didn't eat much candy when she was a child and couldn't bear to eat the lollipops she was given.
Li Zhenliang glanced at the lollipop he had already licked a few times, and decided it wouldn't be right to give it to Jiang Ling. So, he generously pulled out some money and said to the grocery store owner, "Three more lollipops, please!"
Once he got the candy, Li Zhenliang handed it all to Jiang Ling: "Here, it's all for you."
Jiang Ling raised her head, a hint of a smile appearing in her eyes as she looked at Li Zhenliang.
In her previous life, she might have awkwardly refused. But this time, she carefully took the lollipops from Li Zhenliang's hand, one by one, and solemnly put them into her pocket: "Thank you."
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Back in his office, Liu Haoran was still a bit dejected: "Sigh! All my efforts have been in vain; I still can't solve this case."
Zhou Wei remained calm: "Don't rush, let's investigate and ask around some more, maybe we can find some clues."
Li Zhenliang said, "The bells aren't very valuable, and some people who have them stolen just accept their bad luck and don't report it to the police. Even those who do report it usually come to the police station an hour or two after the incident, by which time the clues at the scene have already been destroyed. If we could investigate the scene immediately, we might be able to find something."
Jiang Ling sat calmly in the chair: "I have a way."
All eyes were on Jiang Ling.
Liu Haoran eagerly dragged a chair to the opposite side of Jiang Ling: "What's the plan? Tell me quickly!"
Zhou Wei and Li Zhenliang also looked at her expectantly. They had only worked with her on one case and already received a collective third-class merit award. Both of them could see that Jiang Ling's criminal investigation abilities were outstanding. If she said she had a solution, then she definitely would.
Sunlight streamed through the window and shone on Jiang Ling, who was sitting by the window.
In her previous life, she was like a snail hiding in its shell, unwilling to interact with people. Even with her colleagues, she maintained a distant relationship and rarely opened up to them. Now, stepping out of that shell that had imprisoned her, she has discovered that the world is actually quite beautiful.
Li Zhenliang was right; the Jinwu Road Police Station is a warm and welcoming community.
Jiang Ling reached out and tidied up the table, making a large empty space, and began to direct her colleagues.
"Liangzi, please get me a map of the jurisdiction."
"Haoran, you have all the police reports for the stolen bicycle bells, right? Bring them over."
"Dawei, move that portable blackboard a bit closer. You'll be in charge of taking notes."
Jiang Ling mobilized all three of her colleagues. Logically speaking, Jiang Ling was the least experienced and youngest member of the case team, so it shouldn't have been her turn to give orders. However, none of the people she called on felt uncomfortable at all. They were all secretly pleased and quickly got to work.
—In the past, Jiang Ling would always address everyone politely as "Officer Li," "Officer Liu," or "Officer Zhou," but now the way she addresses them is so much more intimate. This shows that she doesn't treat everyone as outsiders.
—Although Jiang Ling is young, her professional skills are outstanding. Her psychological assessment file was appreciated by the bureau leaders and was directly used as a model by the technical team. She received a third-class merit award after handling just one case. Listening to her is definitely the right thing to do.
With these thoughts in mind, Li Zhenliang and the other two carried out the tasks Jiang Ling had entrusted to them.
Li Zhenliang brought over a brand-new map of the East District of Yancheng City and firmly fixed it on the blackboard.
Liu Haoran carried back a large stack of police reports and placed them on Jiang Ling's neat and empty desk.
Zhou Wei picked up a piece of chalk, stood in front of the blackboard, and asked earnestly, "Xiao Jiang, what do you want me to write down?"
A square blackboard, mostly covered with a map, with only a third of it visible, Zhou Wei held a piece of chalk in his hand, his eyes fixed on the blank space, like a soldier about to go to battle.
Jiang Ling nodded slightly: "Haoran, arrange the police reports in order. Liangzi, report the time and place of the incident to Dawei, and Dawei will be responsible for recording it."
Following Jiang Ling's command, the three responded simultaneously and began to act.
Soon, the times of all 12 incidents were recorded on the blackboard, and 12 red circles representing the locations of the incidents were added to the map.
Jiang Ling said, "In cases like this, because the criminals repeatedly commit the crimes, they develop habitual behavior. Although there is no on-site evidence in this bicycle bell theft case, we can infer the criminal's information from the characteristics of time and space."
As Jiang Ling spoke, she walked to the blackboard and pointed to the 12 times of the crime that Zhou Wei had recorded: "What did you discover?"
Liu Haoran, who was in charge of the case, quickly discovered a pattern: "They were mostly concentrated in the two time periods before 8 a.m. and after 6 p.m.
Jiang Ling nodded: "Yes. Next, let's check what day of the week the incident occurred."
Liu Haoran's eyes lit up: "They're all on Sundays and Mondays!"
Jiang Ling asked, "What does this mean?"
Liu Haoran frowned in thought, and Zhou Wei quickly came up with an answer: "There are many large state-owned factories in our jurisdiction. The thief might be an employee of one of these factories? He stole the bell on his way to and from get off work."
8 a.m. and 6 p.m. – these are the times when employees of large state-owned factories go to and from get off work.
Reminded, Liu Haoran added, "They rest on Sundays, and the perpetrators are in good spirits on Mondays, so they chose that time to commit the crime."
Li Zhenliang had just joined the case team, and seeing everyone discussing the case so actively and seriously, he became excited and his mind was working very fast: "Is it possible that the perpetrator is a schoolchild? After all, the nearby schools also start at 8 a.m. and end at 5 p.m., and if there is cleaning duty, it might be delayed until 6 p.m. It makes sense that he would steal the bell for fun while he was bored on his way to and from school."
Upon hearing this, Liu Haoran and Zhou Wei nodded in unison: "Liangzi is right. Bicycle bells are worthless, but they're probably just something kids do for fun."
Jiang Ling said, "Yes, it could be employees going to and from get off work or students. Next, let's look at the crime scene."
Following Jiang Ling's finger, everyone carefully examined the 12 red circles drawn on the map with a red marker, and fell into deep thought.
The crime scenes were scattered, so Zhou Wei specially marked each circle with a number to indicate the order in which the crimes occurred.
The latest incident occurred at Hongxing Vegetable Market, while the earliest was at the textile factory's residential building. Other locations included the entrance to the small shop at the intersection of Gongren Avenue and Guangming Road, and the bicycle shed next to the boiler room of the machinery factory.
The circles on the map are bright red and look very messy and irregular. What can we analyze from this?
Jiang Ling did not urge anyone.
She knew the answer, but she couldn't just say it directly.
Jiang Ling's undergraduate major was criminal psychology. She has a good memory and a solid foundation in her major.
Working as a record clerk in a prison meant she didn't have to travel or do fieldwork, giving her plenty of time to read professional books. Although she didn't pursue a master's or doctoral degree, her theoretical knowledge in criminal psychological assessment and criminal profiling surpassed that of many experts.
Criminal profiling techniques are very useful for solving bicycle bell cases.
Unfortunately, it was 1993, and criminal profiling research had not yet been carried out in China. The academic community would not unify the term until 2004, and the Criminal Profiling Association would not be established until 2007.
Introducing new criminal profiling technology into the field of criminal investigation is a challenge for Jiang Ling.
He must achieve fame in one battle.
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In her article "The Essence and Value of Criminal Psychological Profiling in Investigation," Professor Li Meijin of the People's Public Security University of China points out that criminal psychological profiling is the process of analyzing the behavior, motives, psychological processes, and psychological characteristics of an unknown criminal suspect based on the information already obtained during the investigation stage. This analysis is then used to create a written description of the suspect's character and psychological traits.
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