Chapter 2

The Los Angeles Police Department is organized into 21 districts, and the 21 districts are subdivided geographically into four command areas called precincts.

Central Precinct, Southern Precinct, Western Precinct, and Canyon Precinct.

There are also two additional precincts, the Detective Bureau and the Special Operations Bureau.

The Detective Bureau was responsible for investigating crimes, somewhat similar to the Criminal Investigation Detachment of the Municipal Public Security Bureau in China, except that the Detective Bureau was more independent.

Luke was a detective in the ‘Robbery-Murder Division’ of the Detective Bureau.

Commonly known as the Major Crimes Division.

“Woohoo ……”

A black Harley motorcycle pulled into the Detective Bureau.

Luke took off his helmet and looked at the building of the Detective Bureau with somewhat mixed emotions.

Chinese police and LAPD were two completely different concepts, and the change of identity was not easy.

Chinese police represent honor and iron rice bowl, Luke is also a part of this collective has a strong sense of belonging.

The LAPD is just a job that pays well but involves the risk of being shot at.

Luke has no sense of sacrifice for the people of Los Angeles.

It would take some time for him to fully integrate into the city.

At eight fifty-nine in the morning, Luke stepped into the ‘Robbery-Murder Division’ First Squadron office.

The office was divided into five areas, office area, rest room, conference room, pantry, and captain’s office.

Luke walked through the office area stacked with papers and walked to the southwest corner to the desk that belonged to him, acting low key, but still attracting the attention of his coworkers.

“Yay, not a minute too soon for the ever-present grand finale.” A balding white man in his thirties pointed to the clock on the wall.

Luke gave a middle finger right back.

If you wanted to hang out in the LAPD, you could be an asshole, not a softie.

“Cluck ……”

The door to the captain’s office opened and a white, middle-aged woman with black-rimmed glasses stepped out, a stack of papers clutched in her right arm, “Everyone, meeting in the conference room.”

Susan, Captain of Squadron One of the ‘Robbery-Murder Division’.

Luke hadn’t seen her smile since crossing over to the LAPD, always with a serious face.

Luke didn’t like her very much, which was probably one of the few things Luke and the rest of the team agreed on.

Luke was the last to enter the conference room and sat at the end of the conference table.

Susan placed the papers on the conference table and pulled over the whiteboard next to her with ‘Taser Robbery’ written on it in large letters.

“Gentlemen, since February 18th there have been 2 robberies in Los Angeles, both committed on a Friday night, and both committed with tasers.

The two cases share many similarities and are most likely the work of the same suspect.

Lieutenant Vince, tell us about the progress of the case investigation.”

A tugging old silver-haired man continued, “Both victims were young white females with long blonde hair and around 170 in height.

Both suffered electric shocks from behind, and it’s basically certain that the suspect used a Taser, but no confetti was found at the scene ……”

Tasers don’t have bullets, they rely on firing electrically charged ‘darts’ to subdue targets and are a common non-lethal weapon used by police.

For every pneumatic cartridge fired by the Taser, more than forty small pieces of colorful shredded paper shoot out, on which the serial number of this gun is printed, and the origin of the gun can be traced through the confetti.

“Aside from the similarity in physical characteristics, no crossover between the two victims has been found. Based on the victim’s description, the suspect was most likely male with a hat on his head.

Because of the low light at night, neither was able to get a good look at the suspect ……”

The old silver-haired man, Vince, spoke eloquently; he was in his sixties and was able to continue working thanks to the LAPD’s extended employment system.

He was probably the oldest officer in the Detective Bureau or even in all of L.A. He had a lot of experience in scene investigation, but to expect him to chase down suspects was out of the question.

“The crime scenes are isolated, and the female victims are found naked and ransacked for cash, jewelry, and clothing, but not assaulted ……”

Luke hadn’t gotten used to being an LAPD officer, and was often lazy and groping.

However, when he heard the description of the case, he still could not help but think about the case out of professional habit.

In the past, Luke had also participated in the detection of many robberies.

Generally speaking, robberies usually have a clear purpose, either robbing money or sex.

But in this case, the suspect’s purpose was not clear.

If you say he robbed money, he would just run away after robbing the valuables, why would he strip people naked?

It’s unprofessional and increases the risk of being caught.

If you say he’s robbing people for sex, there’s no real action.

Very contradictory.

Vincent vice team finished the case, directly overstepped the role of the team members to arrange the task.

Luke was arranged to check the surveillance, which was his least favorite task.

And I don’t know if it was psychological, but Luke felt that Captain Susan’s face got colder, and said, in an accent with a hint of London accent.

“And to add to that, no one is allowed to disclose the details of the case to the media, they know enough already.

I don’t want to see anything more about the case on the news, is that clear?”

“Yes, captain.”

Luke accepted a cup of coffee and sat down at his desk to look at the surveillance.

Checking surveillance was a common means of investigating cases for Chinese criminal police.

The number of cameras in the United States was much less than in China, about the same size of the country, and talking about per capita was a bit of a crap shoot.

Americans are more concerned about privacy, to monitor public safety for the purpose of the camera is not much, more private cameras, for the investigation has brought a certain degree of difficulty.

This tried-and-true method of investigating cases in China didn’t work very well in Los Angeles.

There were 2 robberies in total, both of which occurred on Friday nights, and the surveillance Luke checked was between 8pm and 12pm.

As for why the suspect chose Friday to commit the crime, Luke feels that there may be a certain relationship with the U.S. payroll system.

Many companies in the U.S. adopt a weekly or biweekly payroll system, and paychecks are usually issued on Friday afternoons.

Of course, this is just his speculation and there is no relevant evidence.

In the morning, Luke had been checking the surveillance video, drinking three cups of coffee, going to the restroom twice, and smoking two cigarettes in the middle of the day.

For lunch, he ate a beef burger, an order of fries, a fried chicken leg, and a grilled chicken wing.

In the afternoon, continue to check the surveillance, watching the eyes sore, ass numb still did not find valuable clues.

At 6.30pm, it was time to go off duty.

Luke stood up, moved around a bit, packed his things and prepared to leave.

The balding white man standing by the printer looked at Luke and laughed, “You’re literally better than my alarm clock? Like the new nickname?”

Luke squeezed his eyes, “Alarm clock? Trying to put me on your bed? Your wife will surely move on.”

The balding white man scorned, “Asshole.”

“Don’t always compliment me, it makes you proud.

Guys, see you tomorrow.” Luke dropped his words and left the office straight away.

The other team members had different looks, some envious, some contemptuous, but none of them left, having encountered this kind of urgent case they were all ready to work overtime.

The silver-haired old man spread his hands, somewhat helpless: ”The robbers may commit another crime the day after tomorrow, and this kid actually has an expression that has nothing to do with me.

Why is this kind of kid with no sense of responsibility still able to stay in the ‘Robbery-Murder Division’?

Is this a retirement home?”

“Haha ……,” the coworkers let out a burst of laughter.

“He’s always been quite the asshole, but he used to investigate cases with more care.” The white man pointed to his bald head, “Ever since the injury people have changed, could it be ‘post-traumatic stress disorder’?”

The old silver-haired man sighed softly and waved his hand, “OK, let the captain worry about that.

I’m just a lieutenant.”