Chapter Fifteen: The Three Great Challenges

As soon as he heard there were truly “troublesome matters” at the precinct, Shirai immediately perked up.

Seeing Shirai’s eager expression, Ebiwara didn’t bother to keep him in suspense and went straight to the point: “The first issue… concerns the safety of the precinct’s official vehicles!”

Ebiwara’s face turned serious as he spoke.

Hearing this, Shirai’s attention sharpened instantly.

Safety issues with police cars?

Could it be…

Had the patrol cars at Mihana Precinct been rigged with bombs?

Hiss… no wonder this town is notorious!

Shirai had been a police officer for six years and had his vehicle targeted by bombs twice. Fortunately, his keen insight detected the threats in time, and with a strong spirit and quick reflexes, he calmly managed to save himself…

That’s why he was still alive!

Nonetheless, Shirai was quite shocked upon hearing this.

What level of case was it when his car was rigged?

Back when Shirai was transferred to the Organized Crime Division, it was just after the “Metropolitan Anti-Gang Ordinance” was enacted. The division had recently been upgraded, and stricter control over violent groups was underway. Toshirou Otagiri had high hopes for Shirai and brought him along.

Shirai’s main career focus had been striking hard against these violent organizations.

Especially in the first two years, when conflicts were frequent, and these groups often had powerful backers. Shirai, being somewhat aggressive, often pushed targets into desperate moves…

“Could it be… one of the gangs?” Shirai’s expression darkened.

Now, several years after the anti-gang ordinance’s implementation, most violent groups had shrunk, and few young people joined anymore. Shirai had thought that in a few years, these gangs would be nothing but old men poking at each other.

He never expected that even in small Mihana Town, there were still such militant factions!

Hearing this, Shirai was invigorated.

After all… when it came to dealing with violent groups, he was an expert!

However…

“Gangs? No, no… it’s our own problem,” Ebiwara shook his head immediately.

“Huh?” Shirai was stunned—was there such discord within the precinct?

“Those brats nowadays… especially the troublesome ones in the Criminal Investigation Division, are careless drivers! Fines and repair costs are one thing, but mainly… you’re young, you know how it is… this is the so-called… Information Age! When official vehicles commit traffic violations, there are always people filming and uploading it online…”

Ebiwara continued with a hint of grievance, “Because of this, I often have to go on TV to record apology videos, and at the monthly chief’s meeting, I get scolded by the regional director. My old face, you know… tsk tsk.”

Shirai: …

So the “big problem” was just too many traffic violations by precinct vehicles?

Coincidentally, another patrol car had hit someone just this morning…

Shirai decided to keep that bad news to himself for now.

“Th-That’s really unacceptable… What about the other two issues?” Shirai’s face stiffened as he pressed on.

These were unfamiliar topics for Shirai. After all, just a month ago, he was taking down over a hundred criminals single-handedly; now he was expected to manage traffic violations within the precinct—this was beyond his usual scope!

He could only hope the other two matters were more serious.

“There’s also… well, last month, a canine officer passed away,” Ebiwara said, his mood dipping.

“Huh? Was it in the line of duty?” Shirai was taken aback. Although it was said the officer “passed away,” the term “officer” implied an active member—but the surname sounded odd. ‘Inu’ as a last name?

If a serving officer died in the line of duty and the case was unresolved, this would indeed be a serious issue.

“No, no, no, it was natural causes. After all, canine officers have much shorter lifespans than humans…” Ebiwara hurried to clarify.

Shirai: ???

“Oh, Chief Shirai might not know, but we usually refer to police dogs as ‘canine officers’… hahaha, since they’re all quite particular,” Ebiwara explained, noticing Shirai’s perplexed expression.

Shirai: …

Indeed, Shirai was unfamiliar with this.

Though the Metropolitan Police Department had a dedicated K9 unit under the Security Division, Shirai rarely worked with them.

In the Organized Crime Division, the General Affairs Section took charge of narcotics countermeasures, often collaborating with the canine unit.

But the third Organized Crime Section, responsible for direct confrontations, seldom required police dogs. Especially in recent years, even when searching for dangerous items, Shirai’s nose was better than any canine’s!

“We originally had four police dogs in the precinct, all from the same family. The one who passed last month was the father. Now the mother, daughter, and son are all quite down… cough cough. Of course, time will heal this, and it doesn’t affect our work,” Ebiwara said resignedly, seeing Shirai’s speechlessness.

Yes, grieving canine officers causing emotional distress was something Shirai couldn’t fix.

He certainly wasn’t going to sniff around personally!

“The last issue… um…” Ebiwara glanced at Murasaki, who stood up apologetically.

“It’s my fault!” Murasaki said.

“Hm?” Shirai looked at Murasaki, hoping the last issue wasn’t about the deputy chief feeling down over hair loss or something trivial.

“In recent years, Mihana Precinct has ranked at the bottom among precincts under the Metropolitan Police in arrest competitions and shooting contests… especially in arrest techniques, even smaller precincts have outperformed us… It’s my fault!” Murasaki was genuinely remorseful.

After all, fitness and combat training were under his charge.

However, Shirai felt even more puzzled—Murasaki seemed well-suited for this role!

And a large precinct with over 500 officers was beaten by those with just a few dozen?

By numbers alone, Mihana Precinct should have had an advantage in selecting talented personnel.

“This really isn’t Deputy Chief Murasaki’s fault,” Ebiwara quickly defended him.

He went on, “I don’t really know what’s going on over in the Organized Crime Division… But in local precincts like ours, officers tend to be rough when confronting criminals.

“Detectives rely on brute force, but these arrest competitions aren’t about fighting—it’s about using arrest tools skillfully. Shooting competitions are even harder. I can’t even remember the last time we were approved to use firearms; most detectives only shoot at the range…

“The results depend mostly on training time. The more training, the better the scores. Plus, riot police can’t participate, so it’s not Murasaki’s fault. It’s just that Mihana Precinct is way too busy!

“Our jurisdiction has only 320,000 residents, so it looks like we’re overstaffed because of the foot traffic, but in reality, we don’t have enough officers.

“Based on population, we should have a few hundred more personnel, but since the population is low, we’re not allowed to expand. This means our officers often have to work overtime without rest, especially patrol and detective units…

“Even though we schedule a weekly training session for frontline officers on restraint techniques and tool use, plus shooting practice, it’s tough to maintain training efficiency. You can’t expect someone who just worked a night shift to immediately undergo intense training, right?”

Ebiwara’s face was full of helplessness—at its core, this was a manpower shortage problem!

The issue was, “adding personnel” wasn’t something the precinct could decide on its own…

“Chief Shirai, what do you think?” Ebiwara asked.

After a moment of silence, Shirai replied, “So… can the chief himself participate in these competitions?”

Ebiwara: …

“That mainly assesses the precinct’s training situation. The chief participating might be…” Ebiwara smiled awkwardly—there’s no rule against it, but it wouldn’t look good for the chief to join personally!

“Well, then I have no ideas,” Shirai shrugged.