Shanghai police officer always put duty first

Shanghai police officer Qian Haijun was so dedicated to the job that when he was overdue for a Mother's Day dinner last year, his family assumed he was working late.

His wife, Yang Yun, and their daughter were preparing the meal that night, May 10, when they received word that Qian had died of a heart attack.

"Although he was always busy with his work, I know that he had the family at heart and cared for us in his way," Yang said. "He knew I liked to eat watermelons, so he often tried to buy the freshest one for me in summer. I don't think he has left us. I imagine he's working overtime somewhere, like before."

Born in 1970, Qian investigated crimes related to theft, drugs and organized crime over the course of his 28-year career. He joined the Shanghai Municipal Public Security Bureau in 1992, eventually rising to the position of deputy head of the criminal investigation team.

On the day he died, he was organizing a seminar on fighting organized crime.

Qian led or participated in more than 3,100 criminal investigations and arrested over 30,000 suspects, according to the bureau.

Lu Wei, a former colleague, said ahead of Tomb Sweeping Day, which fell on Sunday, that: "He was my guide and mentor on the road to becoming a crime investigator. No matter how complicated the case was, he would confront the difficulties and do what was fair and just."

In 2018, the central government launched a national campaign to fight organized and gang-related crime, which Qian was heavily involved with in Shanghai.

Liu Hao, another former colleague, said apart from attending crime scenes, Qian also studied case files at night.

"There were about three months in 2019 when he lived in the office. Whenever we wanted to discuss a case with him, he was always in the office," Liu said.

Although Qian had a heavy workload, he always appeared full of energy, he said.

"He never showed his tired side to others because he knew that he was the backbone of the operation and that his state of mind could affect team morale," Liu said.

In 2019, Qian's team handled a massive fraud case involving more than a dozen store operators who believed they had legitimate rental contracts. A criminal gang held the contracts and was trying to force the renters to pay huge amounts in damages for alleged breach of contract.

After two months of investigation, Qian and his colleagues found that the gang had used several shell companies to make the contracts appear legitimate. The extortion was passed off as a contract dispute between two parties.

The gang had also bribed officials to cover up their illegal activities.

In May that year, Qian's team arrested 50 gang suspects and nine public servants involved in the case. The group was charged with 11 criminal offenses including organizing and participating in mafia-style operations as well as prostitution, fraud and forced transactions.

Since 2018, four mafia-style organizations and 572 criminal gangs have been busted and 1,307 criminal cases involving 2.1 billion yuan ($319 million) have been solved in Shanghai, according to bureau statistics.

Xi Shanqing, the chief prosecutor in Shanghai's Chongming district, said Qian had told him, "There is a gap of time between crime and legislation, and the shorter the period is, the less people will suffer."

Yang said that after 25 years of living together, she had grown accustomed to Qian putting work first. When they were dating, Qian told her that he might not be able to spend too much time with the family or be there for her when she needed support.

"Our daughter was hospitalized with pneumonia for several days in 2019, but he only dropped in on her while visiting a sick colleague," she said. "I was a little unhappy about that at the time, but our daughter and I understood him very well."