National Forensic Doctor-Chapter 36 - The Love of Gold Powder for Hermes

The southern bank where the county government was situated was relatively bustling, while the northern bank consisted of newly built residential areas and streets with incomplete amenities.

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Once the suspects stole the e-bikes and made a few turns, they were essentially out of the city, leaving no place to begin a search.

“They lack technical skills,” commented Jiang Yuan after he finished watching the surveillance videos and transferred the footage of the moving crew throwing cigarette butts and trash into the roadside drain to his phone.

His prior imagination, or assumption, that starting an e-bike required lockpicking skills, wasn’t reflected in the methods used by either group.

Moreover, from an efficiency and practicality perspective, the methods employed by the two groups were actually better than using lockpicking.

Because technically lockpicking still takes a bit of time.

Even the fastest lockpicking is just like the first group’s violent method—twisting a couple of times to unlock, impossible to be any faster.

And if the lockpicking is even slightly slower, it might well attract suspicion.

Mu Zhiyang said leisurely, “They’re stealing e-bikes; what technical skills could they have?

There are even lousier ones who don’t understand violent unlocking.

They just loiter on the streets, looking for e-bikes whose keys were forgotten to be removed and immediately ride them away…”

“What if they don’t come across an e-bike with keys left in the ignition?”

“Go home, eat some noodles, and continue playing on their phones,” Mu Zhiyang replied with a curl of his lip.

“There are also those who specifically steal batteries, which aren’t that much more sophisticated.”

“So you’re saying these three still have their ambitions?”

“Exactly.

Notice that the two with hydraulic cutters always prioritize cutting the lock head.

Why?

Because lock forks can be made very hard, but lock heads are more complex in design, so they can’t be too hard.

If they are too hard, they can’t be manufactured or the cost would be too high.

That’s the idea…” Mu Zhiyang was repeating what he had heard, but he explained it clearly.

In the end, theft prevention is all about cost-effectiveness.

A 20-yuan U-lock can only deter passers-by, not the raid jacket types who pick locks violently.

A 60-yuan U-lock, if positioned correctly, can generally fend off raid jacket types but not those who move house with hydraulic cutters.

The built-in alarm system for e-bikes is similar.

Alarms with their own power source are more practical than those drawing power from the battery.

Alarms with two horns are slightly more troublesome than those with just one.

However, even the best security system is vulnerable to the right person, especially standardized security systems—they are like the “sample problems” in textbooks.

No matter how difficult the sample problem, it can only prevent those who don’t study, not the clever and studious ones.

The best anti-theft mode for an e-bike involves the owner making some personalized changes to the security system.

No improvement or enhancement is necessary; just some changes in location or mode can significantly increase the chance of theft prevention.

It’s like slightly modifying the example problems in textbooks, changing numbers or such, to stymie students who haven’t studied seriously or aren’t clever enough.

But when it comes to stealing e-bikes, the level of serious study and cleverness is limited, as can be seen from the clues they leave behind.

Even the worst students who can score 120 in math wouldn’t be so careless.

Jiang Yuan and Mu Zhiyang each rode an electric scooter and first reported to the Zoumadao Police Station near Jiangcun Residential Area.

Thanks to the sociable Comrade Mu Zhiyang, they smoothly procured the assistance of an auxiliary police officer to accompany them.

Although the auxiliary police officer had a prefix of “auxiliary,” within the current grassroots judicial system, he was expected to do all kinds of work and was capable of handling various tasks.

Zhou Ta, wearing a uniform with an FJ-prefix badge, was over 40 and had 15 years of policing experience.

Zoumadao Police Station was also afraid that Jiang Yuan and Mu Zhiyang, two youngsters, wouldn’t know any better, which is why they sent Zhou Ta.

Compared to ordinary officers, Zhou Ta had quite good social skills.

After walking a short distance, he became familiar with Jiang Yuan and Mu Zhiyang, and then said, “The work of crime scene investigation is something I often do too.

In fact, if it’s just about scanning for fingerprints, you could just have mentioned it.

We could have gone over to scan them, no need to come over specially …”

“I want to try scanning them myself,” Jiang Yuan explained politely.

“The fingerprints on that I-beam have been there for a month; I’m not sure if they can still be scanned.”

As soon as Zhou Ta heard this, he immediately dropped the subject and switched, “Actually, it’s not necessarily about scanning fingerprints.

If you ask around on the street, you might also find the person.

Those who steal electric bikes for a living don’t cover their tracks well.

If you’re willing to put in the effort, someone is bound to confess.”

“I’ll give it a try next time,” Jiang Yuan said.

He was just helping his relatives look for the electric bike, and having Mu Zhiyang and Zhou Ta make a trip was already quite troubling, there was no need to be indebted to others for a favor.

Moreover, Jiang Yuan didn’t understand the affairs of the streets, and owing someone a favor for this was bound to be complicated.

With a few words, Zhou Ta discerned Jiang Yuan’s attitude and cheerfully entered into casual conversation.

He patrolled the area daily, knowing exactly which restaurants had clean dishes and which supermarkets had rats.

He was quite entertaining when he spoke.

Upon reaching the scene, Zhou Ta, dressed in his duty uniform, went with great enthusiasm to take notes at the scene, while Mu Zhiyang squatted next to the I-beam with Jiang Yuan, bent over to take a look, and said, “How can you tell if there are any fingerprints left now.”

“You can use a magnifying glass or something like ultraviolet light to see,” Jiang Yuan, setting up the investigation kit he brought along, said casually.

“Given our situation today, we don’t need to go through that trouble, just direct powdering will do.”

In the midst of talking, Jiang Yuan began selecting tools with precision, taking out a bottle containing golden powder and then a fluffy, soot-black brush.

After reexamining the location in the flipped photograph, Jiang Yuan dipped the brush in the gold powder and gently flicked the handle, causing the 400-mesh copper powder to fall delicately onto the still fairly smooth steel surface.

From Mu Zhiyang’s perspective, Jiang Yuan’s dusting was especially even, and combined with his preliminary work, it felt almost like a ceremony.

“Being technical really is different.

What you’re doing is pretty meticulous; we usually just use silver powder,” Mu Zhiyang, who as a detective also often had to scan for fingerprints at crime scenes.

It was always simpler to do it himself for minor cases than to ask for the crime squad to come over.

Jiang Yuan examined the surface of the I-beam and said, “Silver powder sticks well and is suitable for many situations; it’s the all-purpose powder.

But with today’s light background, gold powder provides a better contrast.”

“Your brush seems different too.”

“It’s made of pure gray squirrel hair.

It cost over 200, specially ordered,” Jiang Yuan answered.

“Over 200 for a lousy brush?” Mu Zhiyang exclaimed in surprise.

“Gray squirrel hair is known as the Hermès of brush hair,” Jiang Yuan said, flicking the brush.

“Look at the tips of the hair, so fine and straight, and also soft, which makes it less likely to damage the fingerprints.”

“This is your Hermès?”

“Because in make-up brushes for women, gray squirrel hair is also the best.

It’s gentle for dusting fingerprints, and it feels comfortable on a woman’s face too,” Jiang Yuan then added.

“It pairs best with gold powder.”

While talking, Jiang Yuan leaned down, steadied his right hand, and using the tip of the gray squirrel hair brush, he gently brushed away the gold powder from the surface of the I-beam in an action as tender as applying eyeshadow to a beautiful woman.

As the excess gold powder was brushed away, several incomplete fingerprints appeared before the two of them.