Binjiang Police Affairs

Chapter 1510 - 281: A Great Harvest

At half-past twelve at night, Han Yu felt relieved after sending off the last group of visiting citizens.The police, armed police, auxiliary police, and security guards from the Binjiang Port Group stationed on site to maintain order were all exhausted, and the officers of the Binjiang Ship responsible for receiving the visiting citizens were not just tired, but also talked themselves hoarse explaining to one group after another.

It was late, and they couldn’t let the comrades on duty go back hungry.

In Secretary Lu’s words, during the Binjiang Ship’s "visit home" to Binjiang, it became a national defense education base. In other words, the Binjiang Ship being open for citizen visits was the largest national defense education activity organized by the City Committee and Municipal Government in recent years.

The resulting expenses were fully reimbursed by the municipal finance department.

Han Yu never thought of saving money for the city. He had already asked the heads of various units participating in the security operation to tally their numbers, and had asked Minister Yang to have the Binjiang Port Group’s labor service company prepare a late-night snack for everyone.

Like Han Yu, the command center members sat under the canopy, watching the Binjiang Ship, enjoying the breeze, and eating their late-night snack, feeling overwhelmed that from 4:30 PM to 12:30 AM, they had actually entertained over 19,000 citizens, with more than 3,300 boarding the ship to visit.

"Even people from Guzhou and Zhangjia Port came across the river to visit. I wonder where they got their tickets from." Uncertain who brought three boxes of beer, Director Fan opened a bottle and took several gulps.

Han Yu didn’t drink alcohol, picked up a bottle of mineral water, and turned to ask, "Director Jiang, you printed the tickets, and they were distributed by your Double Support Office. The original plan was for only 10,000 citizens to visit this afternoon. What’s going on with the nearly 10,000 extra?"

The City Flood Control and Drought Relief Command Center was set up at the Water Resources Bureau, with the Water Resources Director also serving as the City’s Deputy Commander of Flood Control, and Vice Director Liao of the Water Resources Bureau as the Director of the City Flood Office.

The Anti-Smuggling Office was set up at Customs, with Director Zeng also serving as the Deputy Leader of the Anti-Smuggling Leadership Group, and Ma Guan as the Director of the Anti-Smuggling Office.

The Double Support Office’s situation was similar to the two institutions mentioned above, set up in the Civil Affairs Bureau. Director Jiang was both the Deputy Director of the Binjiang Civil Affairs Bureau and the Deputy Director of the Binjiang Double Support Office.

Seeing that all command center members, including Salted Fish, were looking over, Director Jiang awkwardly explained, "Everyone, our Double Support Office neither has power nor money, and the double support work is not as easy to carry out as your work. It relies entirely on the support of member units.

When distributing tickets, many member units complained about getting too few. Usually, when we organize an event, we notify and distribute tickets, but few people attend, leaving the venue empty and the leaders looking quite unhappy on the stage. So we added a buffer, and since people asked, we gave them a few more tickets."

This wasn’t a meeting, nor a cultural event that government staff were tired of seeing.

This was a warship opening for citizen visits, the first time in decades!

Moreover, Chinese Navy ships are not as frequently open to the public as the naval ships of Western countries. Usually, only people living near the military port can see them, making it hard for people elsewhere to see a warship.

Wanting to see a warship would mean going to Qingdao, where there’s a navy museum, which not only is far away but also requires purchasing tickets to see retired ships. Alternatively, one could go to Shenzhen, where there is an aircraft carrier park with a former Soviet Union retired aircraft carrier moored, also requiring ticket purchase, reportedly at a high price.

Having the chance to see an active warship for free and even to have the opportunity to visit it, it’s normal for the public to be interested.

Han Yu didn’t know how to comment on Director Jiang when Deputy Director Fan of the Police Bureau humorously asked, "You just gave out a few extra?"

"Director Fan, how do you expect me to explain this?"

Director Jiang took a sip of beer, wryly smiled, and said, "Member units complain about too few tickets, and city leaders keep calling us. As soon as they start, they request several hundred tickets for this or that unit. I can’t even explain before the leaders say the person picking up the tickets has already arrived. What am I supposed to do?"

The city leaders of Binjiang were not just Secretary Lu and Mayor Wang. The City Committee had several standing committee members, the municipal government had eight or nine vice mayors, added to that were the leaders of the People’s Congress, the Political Consultative Conference, the Middle Court, the Procuratorate, and some retired city leaders, totaling nearly a hundred at the deputy director level.

He was just a deputy department-level deputy director and couldn’t risk offending anyone.

Moreover, the visit tickets were distributed for free, so who gets them doesn’t matter. People holding tickets to visit the Binjiang Ship were equally receiving national defense education.

Director Qi sympathized with Director Jiang, smiling and asking, "So how many tickets did you actually distribute? Didn’t your Double Support Office keep count either?"

"At first, we implemented and counted seriously. However, as various leaders made notifications and the City Committee Office called, we lost track as we distributed."

"Since there’s no count, just arrange a hundred tickets for me."

Director Jiang was stunned.

Han Yu was equally surprised and asked in astonishment, "Director Qi, what do we need so many tickets for?"

"Just because we don’t need them doesn’t mean others don’t." Director Qi raised his arm and pointed to the riverbank across, smiling, "Director Shen called me in the morning, saying their branch wanted to organize police visits. Chen Zikun called in the afternoon, asking if it was okay."

"Does their branch have that many police?"

"They have subordinates, family, and friends. They need to maintain good relationships with port and shipping enterprises, get a few tickets to give to leaders of Zhangjia Port Authority, Shuzhou Port Co., Ltd., and Dacang Port. Even if they don’t have time to visit, they’d certainly be delighted."

"Using our tickets to build connections!"

"We’re all in the same system and have to rely on each other. Why not help when there’s a chance? Helping others is helping oneself; we’ll need their help in the future too."

"True." Han Yu realized missing out on building goodwill would be a waste and smiled back, "Director Jiang, a hundred tickets."

"You two really have a sense of humor. The docks are managed by your sub-division, let them come directly, why need tickets!"

"It’s different, having tickets feels more official, and after checking, they can keep them as souvenirs."

Before Director Jiang could speak, Deputy Director Fan of the City Police Bureau, unable to hold back his laughter, said, "Listening to Director Qi and Salted Fish talk, I suddenly realized our Police Bureau also needs tickets. Director Jiang, do me a favor, arrange three hundred for us."

"Director Jiang, I don’t need that many, just fifty."

...

Free tickets, don’t miss out on them.

Director Qi set a bad example, and the members of the command center kept asking for more, eventually requesting over a thousand additional tickets for the next two days from Director Jiang.

The fortress was indeed breached from within.

Han Yu was both amused and at a loss for words, not knowing how to respond, so he changed the topic: "Director Qi, did the comrades have any success after checking IDs all day?"

Talking about this, Director Qi immediately perked up: "We had quite a gain, in the afternoon we captured a suspect wanted by the Salt Sea Municipal Police Bureau for a hit-and-run, and in the evening, we caught a suspect wanted by Si Gang Police Station for issuing false VAT invoices, and another suspect wanted by the East Sea Police Department for theft."

"Catching three fugitives in one day, not bad!"

"If you include the pickpockets caught on site, today we captured a total of nine suspects. But among the six scoundrels suspected of pickpocketing, only two were caught by us; the other four were caught by the undercover task force."

Cracking down on various illegal activities is the main task of the police; the branch achieved results in combating crime, making Director Qi very pleased.

However, Vice Director Fan was somewhat displeased and jokingly said: "Director Qi, Salted Fish, you had us organize police and even the armed police to maintain order outside, while you quietly caught fugitives inside. We contributed manpower, yet in the end, our City Bureau wasn’t credited. What you did was unfair!"

"Vice Director Fan, how can it be as you said? Didn’t I mention it earlier? Your City Bureau’s undercover task force is very professional, catching four pickpockets in just one afternoon."

"Four pickpockets, can that be compared to three fugitives?"

"It’s easy for you to score achievements. We have fewer officers, smaller areas to cover, and previously we could stake out at the passenger terminal. Now there are fewer passengers taking the ferry, and since it’s soon going to cease operations, achieving something is difficult."

"It’s crucial to have achievements!"

Vice Director Fan wouldn’t accept Director Qi’s explanation and laughed: "The work is done together, and the achievement belongs to everyone. You can’t keep all the credit to yourselves. Those three fugitives should be considered captured jointly by both our units. After all, we don’t belong to the same system, you report to the Changhang Police Bureau, we report to the Provincial Department, no conflict there."

"Vice Director Fan, your City Bureau, the esteemed City Bureau, needs these three captures as an achievement?"

"Of course, any achievement is needed, hahaha."

"So, which unit gets the credit?"

"Let’s credit the undercover task force. They work hard, undergoing all kinds of weather while cracking down on pickpockets every day, and they did participate in the operation, so it’s perfectly suitable for them to receive the credit."

"Alright, we’ll do as you say."

Though they are both standard department level units, even ten Changhang Bureaus combined couldn’t compare to the City Bureau. Director Qi had no choice but to nod in agreement.

The undercover task force did participate in the action, but their main responsibility was cracking down on pickpockets.

Han Yu wanted to share this achievement with his old unit, the Water Police Station, but since Vice Director Fan had already spoken, he found an excuse, took his boxed meal, and walked over to the snack booth of the Rescue Boat Team.

Commissar Fang, Director Qian, and Director Qin were there, and rather than having a late-night snack, it was more like tallying today’s gains.

Just like Han Yu wanted to know how the cooperating units fared in business today, as soon as he sat down, Commissar Fang chuckled: "Director Han, guess how much the photo studio made today?"

A lot of people were taking photos today, despite there being four photo-taking spots, there were still long queues for taking pictures.

Han Yu thought for a moment and asked: "Fifty thousand?"

"More than that." Commissar Fang, no longer keeping it a secret, joyfully said: "The photo studio took over eight thousand photos today, mostly quick snaps ready for pickup, making a turnover of over one hundred sixty-four thousand, with a net profit not less than one hundred thousand."

"That much!"

"Yes, a lot of people and it’s a monopoly business, so naturally, it does well."

"How much do we get?"

"Forty thousand. After all, the photographers are theirs, the equipment and consumables are theirs, and besides, they had already sponsored us with ten thousand earlier."

Commissar Fang didn’t expect money to be so easy to earn and was overjoyed.

Director Qin couldn’t help but laugh: "Initially, we thought there wouldn’t be many buyers for the models, as they aren’t cheap, but it turned out they sold very well. Boss Wu just finished tallying and sold three thousand eight hundred and twenty-one today."

"Impossible."

"Why not? You may not believe it, but more were sold in the morning than in the afternoon, and they’re primarily bought by units, buying dozens at once, presumably for gifting without needing to ask."

"Units bought them?"

Old Yang, the administrator from the convalescent home, squeezed in and chuckled: "Director Han, even your old unit bought some!"

Han Yu was skeptical: "I have several old units, which one are you talking about?"

"Customs, customs bought twenty, but only took one sample for now, the rest are out of stock temporarily. I’ve asked Boss Wu to deliver them in a few days." Old Yang gestured towards the direction of the Maritime Bureau and said with a sly smile: "The Maritime Bureau also bought thirty, paid readily without bargaining, just asked us to issue invoices."

Everyone says government expenses can’t be reduced, where did all that money go after all?

Han Yu didn’t expect things to turn out this way and after a moment of silence, he sighed with a bitter smile: "Let them buy if they want, consider it as supporting our national defense construction, better than wasting it away."