After lunch, a dozen people did not go back to rest, the atmosphere in the fingerprint war meeting room was somewhat oppressive.
It was as if before the storm arrived, heavy clouds pressed down overhead, with no wind, no rain, just a suffocating oppression.
Wang Huiyou’s earlier words made everyone’s mood somewhat heavy again.
Lu Chuan sighed, forcing himself to focus on the computer screen.
Fortunately, the case was solved.
The soul of that child in heaven would eventually find peace.
After the war, there were only over eighty murder cases in the fingerprint database. Lu Chuan excluded a few in Haizhou City, which he had compared last month, finding no target fingerprints in the system, and randomly chose one.
This time, the fingerprint was even more blurred compared to the previous two.
It was only a narrow strip less than half a centimeter wide.
The ridge lines were twisted and pressed together, making the whole fingerprint look like it had been flattened in a door crack.
Fortunately, although the fingerprint lines were pressed together, they weren’t very blurred.
This time, Lu Chuan did not use layered image processing but needed to stretch the narrow fingerprint to widen it into a normal print.
In this case, mathematical transformation methods were difficult to apply.
Because the fingerprint patterns were quite clear, just compressed together, such a fingerprint had a specialized analysis method in Lu Chuan’s advanced fingerprint identification analysis skills.
That was to stretch according to the regular characteristics of the fingerprint.
Although everyone’s fingerprints are unique, the growth and development of fingerprints still have certain patterns among different age groups and genders.
The length of the ridge lines, the width of the intervals, statistically speaking, all have certain patterns to follow.
What Lu Chuan needed to do now was roughly judge the regular pattern of the width between fingerprint ridge lines based on the length and width of the ridges, thereby stretching the fingerprint.
Other experts who have studied this fingerprint have done the same thing.
But compared to technically preprocessing the fingerprint, this way of handling the fingerprint tested experience even more.
Only by going through enough fingerprint "baptisms" can one instinctively make suitable and accurate judgments.
Although Lu Chuan did not have many fingerprints identified for analysis in reality, the experience awarded in the system skills was not lacking at all.
Dragging the fingerprint into the PS image processing interface, Lu Chuan zoomed in on the fingerprint, starting from the very center, pulling the print outward, gradually enlarging, and adjusting the width of the ridges.
An important point here is that it is necessary to start enlarging from the center point of the fingerprint, even though this is the densest area, making it difficult to start.
But that’s because of the visual misperception caused by excessive fingerprint ridges stacking.
In reality, the closer the fingerprint stacks to the middle, the smaller the compressible space, so the ridge line distance in the middle is closer to the true width of the suspect’s fingerprint than the outer edge.
The adjustment range will be minimal, so gradually stretching from inside out can most accurately get closer to the real fingerprint situation.
However, if starting from the outer edge, although it may feel much easier, once clearing a few ridges, it will be evident that the cleared fingerprint ridges will not automatically extend outward, making them stack together again.
So, one must reverse to re-clean the outer ridges.
At a certain point, because it can’t be directly done at once, it will cause stacking and repetitive cleaning, then stacking again . . .
It perpetuates in a vicious circle.
Moreover, since each extension was judged by the identifier’s experience, even an expert-level fingerprint identifier couldn’t ensure that their experience was accurate every time.
Do it a few more times, and deviations will naturally occur, and by then, it will become exponentially more difficult to successfully identify and analyze.
In the end, like now, three to five years have passed, and the fingerprint still hasn’t been matched to a suspect.
Of course, Lu Chuan’s method of stretching outward from the center only stretches the middle part. The outer ridges won’t automatically stretch outward.
But Lu Chuan was not aiming to stretch the entire fingerprint, only a small part of the middle, even if it’s only one-tenth, sufficient for identification.
Although such a small area may not mark enough characteristic points to become judicial evidence, as long as there is a direction, the field detectives are still there.
As long as the fingerprint can lock onto a target, the rest can continue digging.
For instance, in the case of Chen Xiaosong’s murder, the fingerprint locked onto his stepfather; during interrogation, it was found that his mother was also an accomplice.
Solving cases as police officers is never a solo job, nor a place for personal heroism.
Sincere cooperation and united warfare are the true principles.
Meanwhile, at the Criminal Investigation Team in Tianzhou City.
Captain Wang Chuanmin personally took command, and after receiving a phone call from Li Donglin of the Second Division of Provincial Police Criminal Investigation, immediately organized an action team to prepare for the arrest.
"The suspect is believed to be the perpetrator of the taxi driver murder serial case from twelve years ago!"
Before the operation, in the meeting room, Wang Chuanmin held a motivational meeting.
"Based on the information we have, the suspect has strong reconnaissance and anti-reconnaissance abilities, so proceed with utmost caution during the arrest."
"Everyone, gear up with bulletproof vests and firearms!"
No. 28, Democracy Road, Shuntian Jinmao Mansion.
"The suspect is on the twenty-eighth floor, an executive in a trade company, and we’ve just confirmed with the cleaning staff that he’s inside."
Action group leader Zhao Ming has confirmed the situation.
Thirteen minutes later.
From the elevator, Zhao Ming and others escorted Xu Wenbing, hooded, out of the elevator.
The arrest process was not smooth. Upon seeing the police suddenly break into the office, Xu Wenbing fiercely resisted.
This Xu Wenbing not only had a sharp reconnaissance and anti-reconnaissance awareness but was also a combat expert.
The four fully armed criminal police who entered Xu Wenbing’s office were almost disarmed by him.
If not for the critical moment when Zhao Ming grabbed his waist, enduring two elbow strikes without letting go.
It might have resulted in irreversible consequences.
Now, Zhao Ming still felt like his back had been hit by a truck, wincing from pain.
Zhao Ming shook his head: "I’m fine, it just freaking hurts, I don’t know how this kid trained to be so fierce!"
"Fierce? This guy was our city’s free fighting champion twenty years ago and ran marathons for nearly ten years."
Zhao Ming shook his head, this man was indeed difficult to capture.
"By the way, Captain, I heard the fingerprint was matched by Lu Chuan from the Haizhou Criminal Investigation Team?"
Lu Chuan’s reputation in the Tianzhou City Criminal Investigation Team was quite big.
Wang Chuanmin smiled: "Not just that, he also matched a case in Qianzhou City this morning, matching two murder cases in one morning!"
Though the suspect was tough, in the end, he was caught, and as the two talked, the suspect was escorted into a vehicle.
Interrogation work was immediately carried out.
At four-thirty in the afternoon, just as the action at the Tianzhou City Criminal Investigation Team was wrapping up, in the fingerprint war meeting room, Lu Chuan stretched long, yawning.
Over three hours, finally done with this fingerprint!