A wake-up call: the death of a brave policeman Recently a story about a brave
policeman is being widely told in my city. The policeman was shot dead while chasing after an armed mugger on Nov. 7, who was attempting to a robbery. His heroic death has raised an instant sensation among the local people, especially the legion of taxi drivers, who are the easy targets of robbery. On the day of his funeral, thousand upon thousand of taxi drivers turned up to pay their tribute to
the policeman. The details of the cop’s exploit remained sketchy until yesterday I read a related report extolling a village official, Jia qingzhi, who happened to be together with Wu guolin (the policeman’s name) and had assisted him confronting the mugger (Rumors have it the mugger was a newly released ex-convict). The story unfolds like this: On that morning, Jia qingzhi was on his
way to attending a township meeting. Somewhere halfway on the road, he was overtaken by a jeep Wu guolin was riding. As the two were acquaintances, Mr. Wu offered Mr. Jia a ride. A few minutes later, a texicab sped past their vehicle,
cut in their way and stopped. A female driver ran out of the cab and hopped into
their jeep. The woman reported the man sitting on the passenger seat of her car
was attempting a heist (Mr. Wu was wearing plain clothes that day). Every one in the jeep was somehow taken aback by what happened. Then the man stormed out of
the cab and followed the driver up to the jeep, pointing a handgun to them. He
threatened to kill any one who dared to get off the jeep. Not least intimidated
by the warning, Mr. Wu jumped off the jeep, then Mr. Jia. The two of them approached the gunman round the jeep’s hood. Apparently lacking the resolve to carry
out his threat, the mugger cut and ran toward a nearby village, with the two men
on his heels. The female taxi driver drove her car, following from behind. (Where the hell was the jeep and its driver? the report didn’t mention a single word from that point on.) About 100 meters into his flight, the mugger disappeared in a roadside crop field. Messrs Wu and Jia got into the cab and took a path round the crop field to intercept the mugger. Aboard the cab Mr. Wu dialed 110
(Chinese equivalent to the emergency call 911 in the US) to call in the police
for help. They spotted the culprit on a dirt path skirting a military shooting range. The driver trod on the throttle and caught up with him. At around 10
meters away from the escapee, Wu and Jia jumped off the car and chased after him
along two routes. At four meters’ distance, Wu ordered the gunman to drop the
weapon and surrender. On hearing this, the gunman turned around and fired a shot
, hitting Wu in the neck. Wu fell to the ground at once. In the meanwhile, Jia picked up a rock and threw it at the mugger. The rock hit him on the ribcage. Then the mugger lunged at Jia. Jia had to retreat. Right at this juncture, a villager riding on a bike passed by the scene of crime. The mugger snatched the bike and then cleared out of the spot. ...... The valiant cop, his exploit and life stories were splashed across local newspapers. Hefty pensions were granted to
his family. Medals were issued to honor his valor and loyalty. Emotions are running high among local taxi drivers. One of them even called on all his peer drivers to offer free ride to Mr. Wu’s family. Without a shadow of a doubt, Mr
. Wu guolin is a hero. Apart from making the best of his heroic deed to further
the CPC’s ongoing self-glorifying campaign, however, have the authorities taken
time reflecting on why a newly released ex-convict would reoffend upon being set free, and with a gun? Are our prisons merely places where some hardened criminals are locked up and kept before they are set loose and harm the innocent again
? Why cannot a policeman take a handgun with him while on duty so as to be in a
better position coping with armed criminals? How to identify the large number of
black sheep in the corps of police and kick them out, as well as root out the rampant misconducts and abuse of power by some policemen, so that the reputation
of the police force can be restored? … If these problems go without being paid
enough and serious heed, the hero’s blood will drain in vain.
