Chapter 154: Hasn't Happened Yet?
Theodore shook his head. "Aimless crime."
He tried to explain further. "The criminal might gain absolutely no benefit from the crime itself. They simply commit the crime."
"It could be a street robbery or a home invasion."
"Their primary motive for committing the crime isn't financial gain, but rather the thrill that the act itself brings."
Detective O'Malley understood, and his first thought was of the troublesome group of teenagers in his precinct.
He pointed outside, reminding Theodore, "This is the Northeast District."
Theodore looked at him in confusion, not understanding what inherent connection the Northeast District had with aimless crime.
Detective O'Malley introduced the situation here to everyone. "The residents here are mostly blue-collar workers."
"They're busy with work and exhausted after getting off, often neglecting to discipline their children."
"Their only demand for their children is not to cause trouble and not to get hurt."
He seemed to recall something, and his expression turned somewhat grim.
"These teenagers, rarely disciplined by their parents, have been playing on the streets since they were young, and when they gather, they're capable of anything."
"They won't join gangs, their parents would beat them to death if they did."
"But they will certainly not do anything good."
"The most police calls our station receives every year are related to them."
"The younger ones will choose late at night, even deep in the night, to run up and knock on people's doors or ring doorbells, then quickly run away and hide, amusing themselves by watching the owners' confused or angry expressions."
"Neighbors with bad tempers and elderly people living alone are their primary targets."
"The older ones enjoy drawing and scribbling everywhere with chalk or cheap paint. Walls, sidewalks, shop roller doors, fences, and even parked cars are their targets."
"When I was a patrol officer, I once received a call where the caller had just gone into a mall to buy something, and when they came out, their car was covered in profanity!"
"Breaking street light bulbs, tearing down public notices, tipping over trash cans in front of residents' or shops' doors, scattering trash everywhere, throwing lit firecrackers into trash bins, secretly putting strange things they found, like dead mice or rotten eggs, into people's mailboxes or porches."
"Anyone who spoils their pranks will immediately be targeted by them. They will use all their tricks on that person."
Detective O'Malley looked as if he was gritting his teeth, appearing to recall some unpleasant memory.
He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself.
"These scoundrels are capable of anything!"
Theodore shook his head. "Teenage pranks usually seek immediate, visible comedic effect and peer approval."
"Their pranks need an audience."
"Stealing a police car in the middle of the night and driving it out of state to abandon it, besides getting themselves into big trouble, has almost no humor or audience."
Billy Hawke nodded, his lips curving upward.
"That's right, they seem reckless, but in reality, they know better than anyone who they can provoke and who they shouldn't."
"We, uh, I mean they, their biggest prank on officers is just puncturing police car tires. They would never choose to secretly drive away a police car."
"They are well aware that once they do that, it will cross the line of a prank and invite serious punishment."
As he spoke, he looked at Detective O'Malley.
"They don't do everything."
He was born in Cleveland, Ohio. It is a city with a deep blue-collar and immigrant background.
His childhood life was almost identical to what Detective O'Malley described.
And because neighbors all knew each other, the biggest punishment they usually received when caught was simply being sent home for a beating.
Whoever caused them to get beaten, they would definitely target that person and make their life hell.
Detective O'Malley and Billy Hawke's gazes met, then quickly shifted away.
His brows furrowed involuntarily. Even across the conference table, he could smell the scoundrel's aura on Billy Hawke.
Billy Hawke continued to stare at Detective O'Malley, grinning, like a victorious general.
Detective O'Malley turned to Theodore and asked if it was possible that a drunk person from the bar across the convenience store, in a moment of impulse under the influence of alcohol, had done something foolish.
Theodore shook his head, denying this speculation. "The car thief might indeed have been in the bar, and alcohol made him bold, but it was definitely not a simple impulsive act under pure drunkenness."
"A drunk person randomly stealing a car would more likely choose an easy-to-handle, inconspicuous civilian vehicle."
"A police car is the most direct symbol of law enforcement authority. Specifically stealing a patrol car with the engine still running requires greater courage. Mere alcoholic stimulation is not enough."
"Moreover, impulsive acts under drunkenness are often chaotic, inefficient, and easily interrupted."
"Driving from the convenience store to Rodney Road requires at least twenty to thirty minutes of clear-headed driving, which is not the state a drunk person should be in."
Bernie and Billy Hawke both looked at Theodore.
Theodore paused. "Or ten to fifteen minutes."
Now even Detective O'Malley looked at Theodore.
The conference room was quiet for a moment, then Theodore summarized:
"So, the car thief might indeed be a teenager, and might indeed have been drinking, but the act of stealing the police car was absolutely not simply triggered by just these two factors."
He looked at Detective O'Malley. "You should check if there are any cases since April first that meet the above requirements."
Detective O'Malley looked at Theodore.
"You think he'll commit another crime? Why?"
"Just because he successfully stole a police car once, he decided to never obey the law again and start continuously stealing police cars, or robbing, stealing, doing all sorts of illegal things?"
He shook his head, expressing his incomprehension.
Theodore looked at him strangely, unable to understand why he couldn't understand.
He nodded, succinctly saying, "Yes, it's very likely."
Detective O'Malley paused, then looked at Bernie.
As for Billy Hawke, he was ignored again.
Bernie didn't notice his gaze. He was busy taking notes in his notebook.
Billy Hawke, sitting next to Bernie, noticed Detective O'Malley's gaze, curled his lips, and also pulled out his notebook, imitating Bernie and starting to take notes.
Detective O'Malley was silent for a moment, as if tacitly agreeing with Theodore's hypothesis, then asked him:
"Why in the Northeast District?"
"How are you sure he will continue to commit crimes in the Northeast District?"
Theodore hesitated slightly.
This Irish detective hadn't understood before, would he understand now?
Theodore decided to express himself concisely.
"Because he successfully stole a police car here. To him, your precinct's management is lax, it's his sweet spot. He'll believe that committing crimes in your precinct is easier to succeed."
Detective O'Malley's eyes widened, and his breathing became heavy.
Their Fourth Precinct detectives were diligent and never lazy, and certainly wouldn't rely on the FBI like the spineless Third Precinct. How could their management be lax and make it easier for crimes to succeed?
Over there, Billy Hawke was already covering his mouth, trying not to laugh out loud.
Bernie also looked up, thinking Theodore's words were a bit excessive.
Theodore turned his gaze to the two, emphasizing:
"Any criminal would do this."
"They are more inclined to familiar crime areas and methods where they have succeeded before."
He continued to analyze for Detective O'Malley:
"The car thief left an unopened glass Coke bottle in the car, hidden under the passenger seat."
"The Coke bottle was most likely inadvertently left behind by him."
"His criminal methods are still immature. This might be his first crime."
"He should choose to start practicing in areas where it's easier to succeed."
"Such as suburbs, remote areas, areas far from patrol routes, or sparsely populated places."
"Small convenience stores, suburban gas stations, are all good targets."
Detective O'Malley was very dissatisfied with Theodore's description. His entire face was visibly turning red.
He suddenly stood up, interrupting Theodore's analysis. "I'll go check!"
Detective O'Malley left in a hurry.
Billy Hawke burst out laughing, and as he laughed, he gave Theodore a thumbs up.
Bernie glanced at him, then asked Theodore, "The car thief is a young person?"
Theodore was silent for a moment, then nodded hesitantly, adding:
"The age should be between twenty and thirty years old."
He wasn't sure if the vague definition of "young person" meant the same age group for him and for Bernie.
He is twenty-six years old this year. For him, this age group is not "young people" but peers.
But for Bernie, it might be different.
Bernie is forty-two this year. This age group could entirely be referred to as "young people" by him.
Billy Hawke's shoulders shook as he turned away.
Theodore stared at him for a while, puzzled.
Bernie shook his head, picked up the physical evidence report, and began to read it.
The physical evidence report contained fingerprints extracted from the glass Coke bottle and the car window.
However, the lab had not found any matching fingerprints in the database.
These were several unknown fingerprints whose owner had not been registered in any form.
The glass bottle of Coke was common Coke, available at any convenience store or mall.
These were all the physical evidences in this case.
After reading, Bernie raised a crucial question: "Which fingerprint belongs to the car thief?"
The fingerprints extracted from the glass Coke bottle and the police car window were not consistent. They belonged to two different people.
Theodore shook his head.
He didn't know either.
It was even possible that neither of these two sets of fingerprints was related to the car thief.
The afternoon sun slanted through the windows as Detective O'Malley walked into the conference room holding a thick file. Behind him were two young detectives, each carrying equally thick files.
The two young detectives placed the files on the conference table and then left.
Detective O'Malley pointed at the three neat stacks of files on the table.
"These are all the cases that occurred in our precinct from April first until eight o'clock this morning."
Billy Hawke looked at the hundreds of files and muttered softly, "It seems the public safety here isn't very good either."
Detective O'Malley's voice paused, and he turned to glare at him.
The conference room fell silent. Theodore looked at Detective O'Malley in confusion, not understanding why he didn't continue speaking.
He didn't think there was anything wrong with what Billy Hawke said.
Based on his law enforcement experience at the Felton West Precinct, for a precinct to have hundreds of officially filed cases within two weeks was indeed not a sign of good public safety.
This was not only far from good, it could even be said to be very poor.
The Felton West Precinct didn't even reach this level.
Bernie stood up, divided the files into four parts, and tried to smooth things over. "One for each person, let's start sifting."
He repeated the filtering criteria Theodore had listed and then asked Detective O'Malley for a map of the Fourth Precinct's jurisdiction.
With a map, they could directly mark the crime locations, making it clear at a glance whether they were remote or far from where the police car was stolen.
Detective O'Malley got up to fetch the map, emphasizing before he left:
"The public safety environment only declined after the news of the Soviet Union's space launch spread."
He had already reached the door when he stopped, turned around, and pointed at the files on the table.
"Not just our precinct, other precincts, and even Maryland."
He stood at the doorway for a few seconds, staring intently at the three people inside, and then went out to get the map.
Theodore and the other two looked at each other.
The map arrived within minutes. Detective O'Malley spread it out on the conference table, and also brought back a dispatch record book and began to categorize the cases according to the entries.
Looking at the files from the twelfth and thirteenth, which were noticeably taller than those from other days, Detective O'Malley showed a slight smile.
He pushed these two files towards the center, emphasizing:
"See, since the twelfth, the cases are clearly more numerous than before."
Bernie hesitated, wondering whether to explain a few words for Billy Hawke.
He noticed that Detective O'Malley valued the honor of the Fourth Precinct very highly.
Billy Hawke nodded perfunctorily over there, pulled the two tallest stacks towards himself, and had already started sifting.
Bernie patted Detective O'Malley's shoulder and also picked two stacks.
The conference room fell silent, with only the rustling sound of turning pages as they worked.
The four people first filtered by geographical location, then by age and motive, and finally finished reviewing all the files near closing time.
The filtering result was zero.
Detective O'Malley looked at the scattered files covering the conference table, then at Theodore, his expression complex.
Billy Hawke, on the other hand, looked like a student facing a difficult problem, scratching his head for a while, then picking out the files he had already filtered and re-reading them.
He had not considered the possibility of Theodore being wrong.
This was a habit he had formed at Camp Lejeune.
Questioning a superior's orders would not allow one to be promoted to E-7 before the age of thirty.
Bernie proactively suggested, "I'll contact Maryland."
Theodore reviewed the case again, confirmed that his profiling was correct, and nodded at him.
Detective O'Malley looked as if he wanted to speak but didn't, finally just patting Theodore's shoulder.
Theodore turned to look at him, puzzled.
Bernie returned quickly.
He had contacted the Maryland State Police and the Prince George's County Police, and they were both happy to provide case files from April.
Detective O'Malley stopped the few people who were about to leave, saying he would also go with them tomorrow.
He still believed the case was not as serious as Theodore claimed, but as long as Theodore and his team were still investigating, he would continue to cooperate.
[End of Chapter]