＂Case Scene＂ Decrypts ＂Overtakes＂ by Criminal Investigation Masters

On November 25th, at the closing ceremony of the final of the 3rd National Criminal Technical Skills Competition, the policemen who won the individual competition took a group photo. Photo by Chen Lukun

On November 25th, Beijing was cold and windy, but the police sports comprehensive training hall in Tuanhe Campus of the People’s Public Security University of China was full of "heat".

At 9: 30 on the same day, the final closing ceremony and award ceremony of the third national criminal technical skills competition was held here. Accompanied by passionate music, many contestants took to the podium to receive the award, and warm applause rang out at the scene.

Four days ago, the final of the contest was held here. 32 teams of 160 policemen from the criminal investigation department of the national public security organs engaged in the on-site investigation, inspection and appraisal of cases competed on the same stage. Through on-site investigation, they broke the "case code" and completed the team competition and individual competition with excellent results, showing their high spirit and professional quality and ability to strive for perfection.

Wonderful game moments

At 9: 30 on November 21, the final of the contest "fired the first shot" in the form of team competition. At the referee’s command, the contestants walked into the competition area.

"On-site investigation, no entry." The contestants are fully armed, wear hats, masks, gloves and foot covers, draw a warning line and set up warning signs to protect the "crime scene".

There are 32 competition areas in the team competition, separated by red and blue walls, which are divided into simulation field area and data production answer area. The simulated site area is arranged according to the real telecom network fraud cases, and the contestants need to complete three tasks: on-site investigation of the "dens", on-site comprehensive analysis, and production of materials and documents.

According to the task, the contestants searched inch by inch and screened one by one, and the hidden clues at the crime scene were uncovered one by one-the ground that looked clean to the naked eye and the empty mineral water bottle on the table were photographed by the contestants with equipment, and immediately showed clear footprints and fingerprints; The mobile phone with a black screen on the table and the router left behind have successfully extracted criminal evidence from the contestants by using new technology several times.

"The contest is guided by actual service and is held around the new situation, new needs and new standards in combating crime." Wang Mingzhi, the referee of the Third National Criminal Technology Skills Competition, the second-level director of police technology of the Identification Center of the Ministry of Public Security and the director of the current investigation department, said that the competition was based on the real case of telecommunication network fraud dens, organically combining the traditional case site investigation with the new case site investigation, and scientifically integrating electronic material evidence, video, fingerprints, footprints, DNA and other criminal technical means.

The team competition is limited to 210 minutes, and the contestants must race against time.

"The solved problems are submitted first, and we will find a way to solve the difficult problems together." Seeing that his teammates were entangled, Li Chengyun, deputy head of the fourth brigade of the thirteenth detachment of the Criminal Investigation Corps of Tianjin Public Security Bureau, as the team leader, immediately reminded him.

"Challenging competitions can force players to grow." Li Chengyun said that the competition made everyone deeply realize that the organic combination of traditional case site investigation and new case site investigation is the general trend, which can help everyone to check and fill gaps and shortcomings in time, and has a positive effect on promoting the transformation and upgrading of criminal technology and the construction of talent team.

Special audience beside the stadium

The electronic display screen in front of the team competition field is connected with the answering system developed by the organizing Committee of the competition, which updates the task completion and scores of each team in real time.

"There are still 15 minutes left." The reminder of the organizing Committee of the competition has accelerated the progress of the participating players. On the screen, the scores kept rolling, and each team took turns to fight, and you chased each other. After the top ranked team was overtaken, it was overtaken by 0.5 points in a few minutes, and the team that was temporarily behind followed closely, and then caught up.

Beside the stadium, a special audience stared at the rapidly changing numbers on the electronic screen, cheering for the contestants-they are reserve members of each team and colleagues of the contestants.

"The contestants showed a solid professional knowledge reserve and excellent teamwork spirit, which provided a good guide for our next work." Lin Lin, deputy instructor of the Third Squadron of Criminal Investigation Brigade of Licheng Branch of Putian Public Security Bureau, Fujian Province, said that before the competition, the unit invited experts to conduct professional training, and the contestants trained and prepared for the competition together, which improved their professional quality and practical skills. Now they have benefited a lot from the fierce competition among the contestants.

The reporter learned that local public security organs held more than 1,100 trainings with 24,000 participants, organized 334 municipal preliminaries and 32 provincial preliminaries, and finally selected 128 players with outstanding abilities (excluding 32 team leaders) to participate in the finals.

"5, 4, 3, 2, 1, the game is over." After the on-site notice was conveyed, the contestants immediately stopped answering, and warm applause rang out at the scene.

Feng Xunwei, a policeman of the technical detachment of the Criminal Investigation Corps of the Xizang Autonomous Region Public Security Department, applauded and said excitedly: "I came here to study. Thank you for helping us build a platform to improve our skills and grow into talents."

A contestant who stands out.

The individual competition session focuses on testing the individual ability of the players. At 14: 30 on November 21st, the individual competition venue was so quiet that the needles could be heard. 128 contestants calmly answered questions, and occasionally they could hear the sound of leafing through the test papers.

In the stadium, the referee invigilated, the Ministry of Public Security Supervision and Examination Bureau sent personnel to patrol the exam and video surveillance patrol seamlessly connected, and the examination room was disciplined.

After answering the theoretical questions, the contestants began to make great efforts in professional skills. Players who participated in traditional competitions opened the test paper bag and took out the questions. Some people picked up the magnifying glass and carefully observed the fingerprints. Some people rotated the test paper to observe the footprints. Others held out their palms to compare the palm prints on the test paper, carefully and rigorously. Players who participate in new competitions keep an eye on the computer screen, tap the keyboard quickly with both hands, and click the mouse from time to time to calmly cope.

After closed marking and confirmation of the effectiveness of the results, the organizing Committee announced the final results and presented awards to the winners.

Chloe Wang, a policeman from the Fourth Brigade of the Anti-crime Investigation Detachment of Jinnan Branch of Tianjin Public Security Bureau, was full of pride when he stepped onto the podium, and he couldn’t help but think of the day when he was preparing for the match.

"It’s not the alarm clock that wakes me up every morning, but I wake the alarm clock." Chloe Wang said that in the preparation stage, the Tianjin Public Security Bureau organized pre-competition training and examinations. After the weekly tests, teammates were eliminated, and I felt that my responsibilities were getting heavier and heavier. I trained my professional skills during the day and read my theoretical knowledge at night.

Everything comes to him who waits. Chloe Wang won the first place in the individual competition of traditional case site investigation, which won glory for the team. He said that because of his love, he has struggled on the criminal investigation front for nearly 20 years and will continue to struggle in the future.

Promoting learning by competition, many criminal technical talents stand out in the competition. After receiving the certificate of honor, Zhou Daqin, a policeman from the Criminal Police Detachment of Dongguan Public Security Bureau, Guangdong Province, who won the first place in the individual competition of new case site investigation, said that he was eager to return to work and share the new technology he learned in the competition with his colleagues. Although he only joined the police in 2020, he grew rapidly in the strong atmosphere of "mentoring" and "catching up with learning" and became the backbone of criminal technology. During the competition, he encountered a "difficult" technical point. After the competition, the main player asked other contestants to find out the cracking ideas and technical principles.

"These technologies can better serve the actual combat of public security and provide strong support for cracking down on criminal offences. The technology update iteration is very fast, and I will always keep learning. " Zhou Daqin said.