Stories of a police colonel who is close to the people and understands the soldiers

Be gentle with the people, be firm with bad elements

Those who were present in Yen Khe commune (Con Cuong) in the early morning of July 2, 2012, during the fight between some people in Quan Lang parish (Anh Son) and the local people must still remember the image of the police colonel handing his hat to the middle-aged woman and then calmly saying: “Please take my police hat here. It symbolizes my honor, my head. She advised everyone to put down their sticks, get in the car and return home safely. We, the police, promise to protect everyone's safety. If I say something wrong, then you can hit me with my hat. Consider it as hitting me in the head, hitting my honor. Here, please take it.” After saying that, the police commander used a loudspeaker to call on people from both sides to calm down and not to act rashly. The Colonel also asked the police officers on duty to stop anyone who was causing trouble at that time. The tense expression on the woman's face suddenly softened. She raised her police hat and said to the worried parishioners: "The commander says that, so I'm relieved."

Okay, all of you, men, guys, throw away the rocks and sticks. And you ladies too. Look at the police cap I'm holding. It's a token. Just listen to me. Okay! Throw it away, throw it all away..." The hot, tense atmosphere suddenly seemed to relax, relax, then calm down. Almost everyone, from the extremists to the agitated parishioners that day, listened to her. They called each other to get on their motorbikes and revved their engines to head back downstream under the protection of groups of police standing on both sides of the road. That was the beautiful image of a leader - Colonel Nguyen Huu Cau - Deputy Director of Nghe An Police.

Colonel Nguyen Huu Cau congratulated the prisoners on amnesty.

Later, when someone mentioned the story of “taking the police hat as collateral”, Colonel Nguyen Huu Cau just laughed. He said that the conflict atmosphere at that time was too tense. If we did not control it in time, it would be dangerous. In that urgent situation, I suddenly remembered my police hat.

Although he is “soft”, when necessary, he is a very tough person. Remember June 2009, some people in Khanh Thanh commune (Yen Thanh) did not agree with the policy of merging secondary schools of Yen Thanh district. Some disgruntled elements used the “demand for schools” tactic to incite people to file mass complaints.

That summer, Khanh Thanh residents felt hot and suffocated with many streams of information, public opinion, and the flattery and threats of some bad guys. Realizing that this was a complicated case, the provincial police leaders assigned Deputy Director, Colonel Nguyen Huu Cau to set up a special project to fight and clarify. However, after the special project team arrested 7 ringleaders at once, the remaining subjects continued to incite the backward masses to cause trouble, assault commune officials, and lure hundreds of people to the district to demand the release of those arrested.

Thanks to his accurate prediction of the situation, Colonel Nguyen Huu Cau immediately mobilized a police force of nearly 500 soldiers from various units to proactively block the roads and urge people not to listen to bad guys. He ordered the soldiers to immediately arrest anyone who violated the law. As a result, the gathering places were dispersed, 80 extremists were transferred to the police headquarters and a few hours later most of them were allowed to go home. Colonel Nguyen Huu Cau's resolute order was effective. The situation in Khanh Thanh then calmed down day by day and returned to normal on the first day of the new school year.

Sharp in "doing" investigations

Talking about Colonel Nguyen Huu Cau, an investigator kept saying: "He is extremely sensitive". At the end of 2011, the police continuously discovered and arrested drug-using gangs at a number of dance clubs and bars in Vinh City and the surrounding areas, and the evidence they confiscated was all crystal meth. While the detectives still suspected that there was a network smuggling crystal meth into Vinh that we might not know about, Colonel Nguyen Huu Cau suddenly asked: "Could there be a crystal meth production facility in Vinh?" The detectives were stunned. Oh yeah. It's possible! If Hanoi has Trinh Nguyen Thuy, Hai Phong has Du Kim Dung (only 2 cases have been discovered in the whole country), then why doesn't Vinh City? And, the very next day, the best detectives from the police units were selected by Colonel Nguyen Huu Cau to join the investigation. They were allowed to report directly to the Deputy Director and could receive direct instructions from him. In just a short time, the number of subjects who had lived abroad and had a "trace" with drugs were all carefully identified and screened by the detectives. And, a man named Hai residing in block 12, Quang Trung ward showed the most suspicious signs. To strengthen his argument, Colonel Nguyen Huu Cau and the detectives disguised themselves many times to approach places where the subject was suspected of organizing drug production. At the same time, a series of professional measures were carried out by the task force, a criminal ring producing crystal meth led by Le Thanh Hai gradually revealed itself. On March 30, 2012, the task force decided to "pull the net". Le Thanh Hai and his "girlfriend" Tang Thi Lan Phuong residing in Hung Binh ward (Vinh city) along with Hai's biological parents were arrested with full evidence of the crime. Searching Hai’s parents’ house, detectives found 1,200 grams of crystal meth, 23 plastic cans containing various chemical solutions used to make drugs, and other related evidence. Of course, Hai’s parents were not spared.

Investigators commented that if the leader was not sensitive to the problem and had the right direction for the investigation, this case would not have succeeded so quickly!

From a riot policeman to a doctor of law

33 years ago, having just graduated from high school, from a farming family in Nghi Thiet commune (Nghi Loc), Nguyen Huu Cau was selected to join the police force as a security police officer. Perhaps during that time, his "investigative" nature was revealed in Nguyen Huu Cau's thoughts and actions, so shortly after, the organization transferred him to the criminal police department and sent him to study at the Police University. After finishing his studies, he returned to his old unit to work, from the theory equipped by the school along with his own efforts, Nguyen Huu Cau and his teammates achieved many achievements in the fight against criminal crimes. In 1991, at the age of 29, he was promoted to deputy head of the department. Since then, he has held positions such as Deputy Head of the Criminal Police Department, Head of Nghia Dan District Police, and since 2005, he was appointed Deputy Director of the Provincial Police.

Colleagues of Colonel Nguyen Huu Cau said: The most impressive thing about him is that he is always proactive, closely following the reality of fighting against all kinds of crimes, and then drawing theories and experiences from there. The projects that Nghe An Police are applying such as: "Improving the effectiveness of preventing drug smuggling across the border", "Fighting against organized crime, dangerous crime", "Eliminating complicated drug-related areas" all have the contributions of Colonel Nguyen Huu Cau's efforts and intelligence. And, from the practice as well as the theory acquired along with hard work and study, he graduated with a Doctorate in Law.

As for the young scouts, they had another "best" impression of him. Colonel Nguyen Huu Cau was an approachable person who understood soldiers. He could "allow soldiers to fall asleep" while he and commanders at all levels had to stay awake during cases. He and his brothers crossed forests, waded streams, shared instant noodles during sieges, and pursued drug criminals in mountainous and border districts... When I mentioned "being close to soldiers" and "understanding soldiers", Colonel Nguyen Huu Cau confided: "I also grew up as a farmer's son, and was also a soldier in the Security and Mobile Police Department more than 30 years ago. If a leader or commander is not close to the scouts and investigators, then who is close to him?"

Viet Long