Chapter 126: Everything went South
40 minutes ago.
City N Police Station, Police Control room.
Yang Qingyue watched the arrest progress from the huge monitor with her friend, Cai Ning. Both listened to various reports coming in from the subordinates on the ground and gave orders and suggestions.
The young superintendent, oh no supervisor, since she had been promoted earlier, calculated the moves and prepared the plans.
Although she had laid out the initial plan, the rest required other officers to prepare and connect the dots.
What the public thought of the current police station was out of her contemplation. But she heard from other officers, who were willing to support her, worrying the public perception might go wrong.
Cai Ning pointed out that the culprits who were undermining her progress should be the remaining officers who opposed her rules and the ones who she made deals with.
Yang Qingyue's eyes turned cold. Although she understood it was impossible for peace to exist between both sides, she didn't expect they still wanted to stumble over her.
She realized how naive she was to believe that yesterday's deal could solve everything. Rubbing the brisk of her nose, she asked Cai Ning. "What could their plan be?"
"Simple. Undermine everything you do. The public doesn't know your goals take time to manifest and they're exploiting this." Cain Ning explained her guess.
Yang Qingyue's eyes became clear. "So, they are going to create chaos in the city."
Cai Ning nodded, her face worried. "They're creating momentum using public opinion and began the narratives. Right now you must solve this issue first. Losing trust from the public is the worst nightmare for the current you."
"I know. It's not surprising to see some officers dislike me as a new police chief. For now, let them dance around; I'll liquidate them later. As for the public relations, we can only appease the people and announce for a news conference." Yang Qingyue sneered.
Cai Ning agreed with her friend's plan. Even though she wasn't part of the station unit, her authority was useful here, despite the fact that no one realized her identity.
It could be a hidden sleeve card against the opposition remaining in the station. The commissioner and his group didn't dare to go too much, lest they annoyed the MSS.
Even then, Cai Ning was still agitated by their movements. Yang Qingyue also felt the same way as her friend did.
Another order to reply to the public curiosity went to the public relations department. The officers responsible saluted and ran out to complete her task, mostly to post from the official main account online.
To take full control of the police station, Yang Qingyue must complete the following.
Stabilized the heart. Cleansed the interior. Strengthened her authority.
Her prestige and reputation were sufficient, given the volunteering police officers helping her arrest progress from the side.
She found no complaints in their eyes, only admiration, particularly from the females. Cai Ning's figure without wearing a uniform drew some interested gazes but no one dared to ask.
They noticed Yang Qingyue's familiarity with her, proving their relationship was beyond acquaintance. Plus, Yang Qingyue listened to her advice often.
Time passed as she stood in the room while everyone was busy with their tasks.
While Yang Qingyue's attention was on the screen, a policewoman holding a tablet interrupted.
"Chief Yang," the policewoman saluted. "We've achieved a balance in the public perception of the previous event after expressing our opinion."
"Good job. Monitor these posts and make sure to screenshot every single negative post against us." Yang Qingyue was satisfied with the PR unit.
"Yes, Chief. We've already done so."
"Well done." Yang Qingyue wasn't stingy with praise.
"And Chief. We noticed more and more posts, siding with us, showing a positive trend, overwhelming these black ones. Our PR estimated, even without a news conference, everything should be fine."
"Hmm? How so? Show me those posts."
The PR policewoman handed over the tablets and Yang Qingyue scrolled the screen to read patiently.
Since nothing major was happening, she spent her time, scanning through the messages. Yang Qingyue never cared about other's opinions and she comprehended there were many false accounts which blacked her station.
However, after becoming an acting police chief, she must maintain the police station's reputation in public.
Now that the situation had turned over, Yang Qingyue felt delighted. It seemed someone had intervened and provided support. As for who it was, Yang Qingyue smiled.
"Do you know who has your back?" Cai Ning asked strangely, never expecting her friend to make friends with someone who had to power to influence the public quickly.
"Of course, the same one you suspect." Yang Qingyue's reply raised Cai Ning's eyebrows.
It appeared this one indeed supported her friend and she hoped one day to meet her. Having a good conversation might help her discover the helper's real intended goal.
Suddenly, someone exclaimed: "Chief Yang, our several teams have now located all of the 11 Sierras. We're making an arrest now."
Sierra's codeword was to describe the suspects in this operation.
"Warn them to remember my reminders. Snatch and retreat. In some areas, we don't have control and the law enforcement presence is weak." Yang Qingyue walked up and told the officer.
She turned her head and shouted. "Someone, please upload their video feeds on the big screen. Thank you."
Yang Qingyue and Cai Ning watched the live progress as they apprehended the suspects from the CCTV one by one.
Both nodded, feeling eased at their smooth progress, while the tension remained, waiting for something out of the notion to occur since they had predicted the opposition wouldn't go down easily.
10 of the suspects had been arrested and were on the way back to the station. Although the locations of the suspects were out of the city, their station had jurisdiction over them.
Yang Qingyue didn't inform the local police station, to prevent the leak of their arrest. Even then she saw those suspects going far away from their station.
It was hard not to put suspicion that she had a mole among the police officers and it wasn't surprising.
Or perhaps, the ones she made deals with leaked something or provided help to the suspects. Who knew?
They didn't touch the senior officers because they understood it was Yang Qingyue's dragon scales. But it never meant they would do nothing.
Yang Qingyue and the other police officers held their breath as they monitored the progress.
"Sierra One is escaping." One police officer announced. "Team 1 and 2 are closing the nets. Sierra enters the vehicle and tries to escape. Units are in pursuit, asking for authorization."
Sierra One was the code for the police chief's son, the main suspect in today's operation.
Yang Qingyue saw a blue sports car fleeing the scene and frowned. "Pursuit authorized, use any means to take down Sierra One."
"Pursuit is authorized." Officers echoed the orders into the radio. Cai Ning also didn't have a good face.
The police force in the Province didn't receive ample support from the central government and the corruption in the provincial government lessened the amount of support the police force should receive.
Not to mention, senior officials would put the money into their pockets. Layer by layer down the rank and when the money arrived where it should have—not much remained.
This was one of the factors limiting the police power in the region. Having inadequate equipment to utilize in real applications such as this car chase.
Yang Qingyue could only monitor them through CCTV. Compared to other regions where they could dispatch helicopters to provide support, she realized what it meant to be poor for the first time.
Fortunately, their plan already expected the suspect's escape routes and quickly surrounded him. Yang Qingyue listened to the chatter in the room.
"Sierra One is surrounded. Proceeding to arrest."
"Sierra One is running. Pursuing on foot. I say away, pursuing on foot."
"Be advised, the mission is to snatch and grab. We need to be agile before we alert the gangs in the vicinity." Cai Ning grabbed the headset and relayed the command.
"Wilco. But this guy just didn't give up."
Amidst the radio cracks, Cai Ning and Yang Qingyue sensed the tension. Through the lenses of CCTVs in the area, they noticed the officers had taken out their pistols.
"Crack…..Crack….Shots fired, shots fired." The outcry from the officers on the scene resounded across the radios.
The entire room went into silence—the worst outcome they avoided had happened.