By Fu Miao Correspondence by Zhang Chengxian
　　
　　Su Yue, deputy chief of the first women’s squad under the Traffic Police Branch of the Shenyang Public Security Bureau, has been honored with many medals of merit for her extraordinary feats.

　　Professional Competence
　　After graduating in investigation science from Liaoning Police College in 2011, Su Yue became a civil police officer in the women’s squad. Her background as an athlete gave her a physical edge in this role. At the bustling intersection she cast herself as a reliable symbol of order and safety.
　　On duty in the deep winter of 2013, she was alerted by a car parked abnormally 30 meters away from her post. Through the foggy car window, she found the driver unconscious on the steering wheel. In the severe cold of minus 20 degrees, she knocked on the window to wake up the driver while calling for an ambulance. Fortunately, her prompt aide brought the patient back from the brink of death. This race against death won her police post an affectionate nickname from the public: "Safe Haven."
　　In the sweltering summer of her fifth year as a police officer, the scorching heat on the asphalt road tested the limits of every police officer on duty. Su Yue, now the police chief of the post, suddenly caught sight of an elderly man wearing a contact information card who had fallen to the ground. She immediately strode over and kneeled to examine the man, ignoring her burning knee on the scalding asphalt. After confirming that the man was a lost Alzheimer’s patient, she used a wet towel to cool the man down while directing other team members to contact the family. When the man’s adult children arrived, they saw Su kneeling on the ground with the old man’s head resting on her knees, holding the man in one arm and fanning him with her police cap with the other.
　　At the junction of Heping District in the west, Huanggu District in the north, and Shenhe District, Su’s police post faced complex thoroughfares. The post became her mobile research room, where she recorded traffic signal cycle lengths and traffic flow statistics in a notebook. After three months of data collection, she proposed a "changeable lanes and intelligent timing" solution through the "Golden Ideas" platform. On the first day her plan was implemented, the traffic flow efficiency on the eastern half during the morning rush hour increased by 30%, while the traffic flow at the northern corner also rose considerably.
　　During a decade as a grassroots police officer, she led her teammates to rescue stranded vehicles during flooding despite having a high fever. Her legs were soaked in floodwater but she still wrapped her raincoat around a rookie. The saying "Police uniforms are a shared lifeblood" is not only a comfort when on duty, but also a silent sharing a bottle of water in the searing heat or a warm scarf in a snowstorm. When a novice said with tears in her eyes, "Sister Su, I’d like to be a police officer like you," Su Yue pointed at the busy traffic on the road and said, "Only by becoming the beacon of one another can we light up every street and road of the city."

　　Competitive Edge
　　In the scorching summer of 2023, the roar of engines tore through the sky at the motorcycle training ground. A group of women officers wrestled with their motorcycles under the relentless sun.. This was the moment when the first female motor unit of the Shenyang traffic police force was born, the most challenging moment in Su’s police career. Facing the biased view that "female motorcycle officers are just for show", she turned the pressure into a firm belief: "We are not only great motor riders, but also imposing motor officers!"
　　Police motorcycles often weigh 150 kg, so the first challenge is to stand the overturned one back up. The female officers lifted their motorcycles over and over. Blisters on their palms stained their gloves with blood, while sweat dripping off their helmets. Su led by example. She relied on faint memories of learning to ride in 2021. Under the scorching sun, she repeatedly practiced stopping the motor and putting her feet down at a proper angle until her legs were bruised. Late at night, by the street lamps on the training ground, she correct her riding posture for more effective cornering. She was undeterred by her repeated failures. When the male police officers were astonished to find these female riders could lift the motorbikes so easily, these women had already practiced handling the bikes on the training ground hundreds of times.
　　"A true breakthrough begins with conquest of fear," Su said when recalling her first attempt at circling around cones. The heavy tilting of the motorcycle almost stifled her. She took off her protective gear on the empty training ground to sense how far the motor’s center of gravity could shift to one side, until she could accurately feel how much grip the tires had on the ground with her eyes closed. On assessment day, a fleet of 12 motorcycles made it through the narrow passage, their wheels leaving perfect concentric circles on the ground. Spectators in the stadium burst into rapturous applause, a signal that these women, who deem body scars as medals, have already broken the shackles of gender.
　　After three months of hard training, the traffic police practical skills contest launched by the Shenyang Public Security Bureau in October 2023 became a crucible for sharpening their edge. At the opening ceremony, 12 female motor officers made a stunning appearance in the formation of "two dragons fighting for a pearl". They were divided into two fleets intertwined like two dragons, performing complicated maneuvers on the competition field, such as cruising with an equal distance between them, and changing formation while moving forward. Su played a pivotal role in the performance, steering her motorcycle at a precise speed and posture while aligning her position with the pacesetters. When six motorcycles passed each other at the same angle, the space between their wheels was less than 50 cm. Their performance wowed the audience, which broke into ecstatic applause.
　　The true test lies in the competition arena. Confronted with the daunting mixed-gender format for the final, Su and her teammates initiated a "Devil’s Workout" plan. Early in the morning, they used traffic cones to measure the length of the obstacle course and practiced every cornering angle until it became muscle memory. Then they studied specific skills step by step, planned for a proper route, and shortened the distance that had to be covered. In the grand final, Su beat most male motor officers by a margin of 0.3 seconds and clinched third place in the individual category. A resounding cheer went up from the spectators: "Women can do as well as men!"
　　In 2024, Shenyang authorities held a drill for the workforce of political and judiciary departments and a practical skills competition for the whole police force of the Shenyang Public Security Bureau. At the opening ceremony, Su and her motor unit, in their latest evolution, overwhelmed the audience with their performance of "Dancing on the Knife Edge": ten police motorcycles charged forward in an arrow formation, picking up barriers with one hand during a 100-meter straight sprint. This high-risk maneuver had been exclusive to male police officers as it requires a rider to pilot the motorcycle at 40 km/h and lean their body at a 45-degree angle. However, the female police officers practiced this action over and over, even falling numerous times, and finally created a miracle. When all senior officials and citizens present exclaimed that "the female officers are more dashing than the men", Su stroked the scratches on her motorcycle and said: "Each scar has a story to tell. They are our medals and witnesses to our efforts to break through limits."

　　Loving Care
　　As the first rays of early morning were casting a red glow over the roofs of a primary school in Shenyang, a cluster of "little traffic police officers" wearing red scarves had already gathered on the playground. In the middle of them was Su, holding a miniature traffic light and delivering a traffic safety class. "Can we cross the street when this red minifigure stands out with hands on the hips, just like I do when I’m angry?" she asked. "No, we mustn’t," answered the pupils in chorus, with their loud, youthful voices frightening away pigeons in the eaves. It was the first class of this year’s traffic safety education campaign, which Su has been engaged in for seven years.
　　To instill traffic safety awareness in children, Su imbued her class with magic. Pupils wore hand-painted badges with the words "I am a little traffic police officer" on them, and in interactive games, they learned to recognize 28 traffic signs. They used plush toys to act out a safety scenario with paretns. When the video surveillance system showed that the rate of illegal drop-offs and pick-ups by vehicles at the school gates was down 37%, Su was squatting at the back of the third-grade classroom, pinning star-shaped badges onto the little girl who had offered a correct answer to her question.

　　Reliable Beacon
　　During the Spring Festival of 2025, Shenyang was hit by a severe once-in-a-century snowstorm. The entire traffic police force was deployed across the city to reduce traffic congestion in the extreme weather. Snow blew stubbornly onto the street in the gale, making the traffic lights look like blurry halos. Su’s police jacket was transformed into icy armor by the minus 29 degrees chill, and the ice cracked with every step she took. Meanwhile, one emergency call after another cut in over her intercom: "A three-car rear-end collision happened near the Beiling police post"; "A bus broke down in the flyover of Wenhua Road." The urgent voices, mixed with the whistles of the snowstorm, rang around her ears.
　　After spotting a car slipping on a snowy slope, Su immediately tore off her frozen face mask while rushing over to the vehicle. The screech of the tires slipping on ice and snow mixed with the cries of a child inside. Stooping by the car, she looked through the frozen window and spotted a young mother with a pale expression and a three-year boy in the rear seat. "Hold the gas pedal. Don’t be afraid. We are here to help!" Su said, putting her police flashlight against the car window to send a signal for reinforcement. Soon another three female police officers hurried over, carving anti-slip grooves into the ice surface with their police boots. Su took off her gloves and squeezed them into the crack between the wheel and the ground, her fingers red from the chill. "Press the throttle gently at my whistle," she said to the driver. When the whistle cut its way through the snowstorm and the wheels ran over the gloves, the car gained traction to climb the slope eventually. The news clip of a female officer tumbling into a snowdrift only to climb back up revealed to the nation a real "icebreaker"—no hulking vessel of steel, but a group of women officers breaking winter’s grip with their bare hands.

　　Constant Tick in Her Ears
　　In Su’s work diary, "three minutes" is a crucial phrase. It is a rule she has laid down to guide her work. A minor accident with clear liability should be dealt with in no more than three minutes, and the traffic flow should be back to normal in the same timeframe. Those who often drive along Beiling Main Street say the sight of Su riding her motorcycle to unblock the traffic jam reminds them of a scalpel cutting away fatty obstructions from an unhealthy blood vessel.
　　During one evening rush hour in torrential rain, a three-car rear-end collision turned Beiling Main Street into a parking lot. When Su hurried through the heavy rainfall to the scene, The drivers involved were shifting blame onto each other. Su squatted to examine the tire marks yet to be washed away. "Look! The distance proves that when the first car braked to a complete halt, the car behind it still had a speed of no less than 25 km/h," she said. After she illustrated the cause of the accident and decided who was liable based on laws and evidence, none of the drivers questioned her judgment. Afterwards, she pulled the three cars over and guided them to use the mobile app "Traffic Management 12123" to report the accident for online processing and get a traffic accident liability determination form via a simplified procedure. Once all this was completed in the shortest possible time, traffic returned to normal.
　　In 2024, Su and her teammates provided security for nearly 100 large events, offered more than 30 assists to members of the public, and received two thank-you banners. Su always in mind the oath she took the first day she joined the police force: "To be a great motor officer and to serve citizens wholeheartedly."
　　Since the Shenyang Fangcheng Scenic Area, previously known as the Shenyang Imperial Palace, became a must-see landmark, Su and her motor unit has become "a mobile service platform." To address the challenges of tourist inquiries, she rode her motorcycle through every street and alley and drew a "Travel Guide to Shenyang Fangcheng," by herself in which she pinpointed the routes to various scenic spots, signature restaurants and transport hubs. During the 2024 National Day holiday, a visitor from Beijing took a photo of the female motor officers at the front gate of the Shenyang Imperial Palace. Beaming at the camera, Su offered a detailed introduction to the palace. Her friendly words "you’re always welcome!" imprinted the motor officers’ good image and the city’s hospitality in the visitor’s mind forever. Offering visitors directions and taking family photos for them hundreds of times per day, the female motor officers don’t only patrol their patches but also provide a new standard for tourist services.
　　Their fluorescent uniform is a constant beacon of peace amid the cheering audience of a live concert or the bustling crowd of a lantern show during the Lantern Festival. The ebb and flow of tens of thousands of passengers are testament to their multiple roles now as traffic directors, now as first responders to emergency cases. When they return a lost child to their parents, help a football fan locate their car in the parking lot, these female motor officers demonstrate both their dedication to their heavy responsibilities and their deft handling of safety issues. Every time they are admired for their striking bearing, Su is convinced that their presence gives reassurance of safety to the public.
　　Throughout her career, Su Yue has been sharpening her skills unswervingly, pushing the limits of her capabilities, and performing her duties through empathy. Her stories are testimony to the spirit of the motorcycle police force. They have the guts to conquer the fast and furious while bearing a caring heart to safeguard life. Hopefully, Su Yue, the woman officer, is going to flourish in the new era.■
　　
　　Author:
　　Fu Miao is an officer with the Publicity and Education Division under the Traffic Police Branch of the Shenyang Public Security Bureau