Chen Bing, An Iron-willed Policeman with Disability

On a winter evening， a single-armed young policeman gets down on one knee and places a flashlight on the ground to check the burglary scene at a property management company in Chongqing. The light illuminates the footprint of the suspect. He bends lower and wields a ruler to measure the trace with his left arm... This is Chen Bing， a forensic officer with Chongqing Municipal Public Security Bureau.

“I Was Most Afraid That I Can't Be a Policeman Anymore”

Chen was investigating a transformer theft on April 8， 2010 when he was hit by tens-of-thousands of volts due to an electrician's negligence. Consequently， he was evaluated with Level-3 disability as his entire right arm was amputated and his right leg was left with permanent function loss. He finally saved the right leg after three major surgeries， but he could never run or jump again， and was barred from strenuous exercise.

In order to restore lower-extremity function， Chen began painstaking rehabilitation training shortly after his wounds healed. In the very beginning， he could easily fall down and get bruised. One day， he lost balance while practicing standing on feet by his bed. Unconsciously， he supported himself against the floor with the amputated arm， which ended up bleeding badly. His mother was eager to help him up， but he declined， “Mom， I'll get up by myself！” During his year-long rehabilitation， he fell and rose over and over again. It was after a whole year that he could finally walk by himself. He also relearned to clean himself， use chopsticks， write， and type with his left hand. Chen said that a person can only realize how resilient he is after setbacks. Zhang Xinjie， Chen's classmate in college and colleague， praised Chen's iron will， as he refuses to give up or surrender and always achieves his goal.

His narrow escape from death has helped him cherish life all the more and acquire a sense of detachment for his age. “Nothing is more important than being alive，” he said. “I was most afraid that I can't be a policeman anymore.”

“Though Incomplete Physically， I Shall Be Complete in Spirit and Walk My Own Journey”

Determined to continue his career as a policeman， Chen faced rehabilitation training to resume physical function and was willing to try anything to recover. As soon as his conditions improved， he pleaded to return to the force. His return was finally approved on December 15， 2011. But back in office， he refused preferential treatment and forced himself to stay in step with everybody else. To this end， he made enormous efforts.

To avoid peak hour congestion， Chen gets up before 6 a.m. to take the earliest light rail to work and leaves the office at almost 8 p.m. One day， it suddenly began pouring rain on his way to work. He fell down at the station， just 50 meters away from his office. It took him over 20 minutes to drag himself to the workplace. Some of his colleagues broke into tears at the sight of him， soaked and muddy. Tying shoelaces， simple as it seems， was draining because he had to crouch and got it done with his left arm and teeth.

How long can he persist with his work？ Chen's action was the answer. His colleagues offered to wash his bowl and chopsticks after meals， but he would take them back and clean them against the corner of the sink. He held the edge of his bowl with his teeth and washed it with one hand. He told others that he was there to work， not to cause troubles. There are decades to go before he retires， so he must rely on himself rather than being attended to.

Some of his workmates suggested that they drive him to the office and back home， and he is allowed to reimburse his expenses in taxi commuting. However， all these were denied by Chen. On the contrary， he is always very punctual for work， rain or shine. “Though incomplete physically， I should be complete in spirit and walk my own journey，” said Chen.

“I Shall Leverage My Strengths to Pursue My Dream”

Upon his return to the office， Chen was transferred to the Forensic Science Section as an office clerk， whose main responsibility is to manage archives. A rookie in the post， he devoted himself to it and excelled： He collated and archived 2，500 files of unsolved cases from the previous three years and remembered almost every single one in detail. With such an ability， Chen came up with new practices. He uploaded physical evidence information to a database for comparison， related and examined the cases committed by similar approaches， and compared the fingerprints of suspects with those in past cases. In this way， he helped conclude a dozen cases， recovering 300，000 yuan in loss from the cases.

In April 2015， two homicide cases took place in Chen's jurisdiction. His colleagues and Chen conducted on-site investigations and studied case details in the daytime， while continuing crime scene simulations in the evening. They made a dozen on-site investigations and collected over 150 biological samples， from which they identified suspects' DNA， solid evidence of the crimes. In recent years， Chen volunteered to join investigations for 15 major cases and assisted in apprehending 15 suspects， avoiding an economic loss of some 6 million yuan. Through tireless efforts， Chen also discovered new clues from the previous case files， which led to the conclusion of 30-plus cases and saved nearly one million yuan. He said： “I shall leverage my strengths to pursue my dream. This is how I prove my value.”