Behind Hou Yu-i's office desk stands a statue of the Old Testament prophet Isaiah, wearing a battle tunic and brandishing a broken sword, yet still standing powerful and erect. The inscription under the statue reads: "Let them beat their swords into plowshares, for it is prophesied that days of peace and harmony shall come among my people." This is what Hou Yu-i has always tried to practice.

Swords into plowshares

When Bamboo Union gunman Liu Huan-jung was arrested in 1986, Hou Yu-i, then deputy commander of Taipei City's Criminal Investigation Department, was responsible for interrogating him. Liu Huan-jung said to Hou, "They're going to use me for 'target practice' anyway [executions in the ROC are carried out by a gunshot to the back of the head]. All I want before I die is to see my mother again. Then I'll tell you all you need to know about the jobs I did."

Hou Yu-i could see that although Liu was a brutal killer who had shown no mercy to his victims. he was nonetheless "very filial to his parents and very loving to his wife and children and his brothers and sisters." In those days Taiwan was still under martial law, and Liu Huan-jung would be tried before a military court. Because of the gravity of his crimes he was held with no visiting rights, so his request to see his mother was a very difficult one to grant. But Hou said to his superiors: "Whether from the point of view of assisting our work, or to reward his good intentions, can't we give him this chance?" The prosecutor agreed to Hou's request, and allowed Liu Huan-jung to kneel before his mother one last time. Afterwards Liu really did cooperate with the prosecutors and police who questioned him, and many previously unsolved crimes were cleared up.

"When you're working on a case, you can't leave people with no way out," says Hou-the law is inflexible, but in enforcing the law one can be flexible. There are some things one can choose to pursue or not to pursue. For instance, if the parents of a wanted criminal support him or her with money, "Should you come down on them hard, or should you give them some leeway?" If we choose the latter course, says Hou Yu-i, "Perhaps we can't expect those people to turn into friends of the police, but at least when they come out of prison they may be less likely to offend again."

"I am sorry. Thank you!"

This is not an age in which it is fashionable to praise police heroes, but many people feel that what has enabled Hou Yu-i to perform so well as a crime fighter over several decades is not only his quick reactions, excellent powers of reasoning and willingness to go the distance with criminals, but even more the way he "is able to bring out the good in even the worst of criminals," as one news reporter who has known Hou for more than a decade puts it.

For instance, when Chen Chin-hsing, wanted for his involvement in the Pai Hsiao-yen kidnapping and murder case, took members of the South African military attache's family hostage in their own home, Hou, who negotiated with Chen, said to him: "Ah-chin, you only raped Fang Pao-fang, you didn't kill her, did you?" Seeing that Chen reacted fairly peaceably, Hou followed this up with: "I know you've done a lot of stuff while you've been on the run. But you haven't killed anyone, and you won't hurt your hostages, will you?" In this way, step by step, he finally drew out Chen's "good side," and in the end Chen knelt in front of the military attache's wife, and said tearfully: "I am sorry. Thank you!"

Righteous is as righteous does

However, in his 30 years of detective work, Hou Yu-i has come across one unforgivable scoundrel. When Hou was leading the criminal investigation team at Chungshan Police Station, a taxi driver was victimizing single women whom he raped, murdered and robbed before dumping their bodies far from their homes so that their families would not find them. When the perpetrator was caught, Hou Yu-i asked him: "Why were you so unspeakably brutal?" "Because I needed sex, I suppose!" the suspect replied. "Then why didn't you go to prostitutes, and try to work it off that way?" asked Hou. "Good girls are more exciting!" he answered without a hint of shame.

At this point Hou Yu-i was overcome with rage, because he believed this suspect was a deliberate killer who felt no remorse whatsoever and deserved the ultimate penalty. The suspect's name has always stuck in Hou's mind, for he was called Chang Cheng-yi-"Righteous" Chang.

Having worked on so many life-and-death cases, Hou has often seen situations in which "those who deserved to die live, but those who deserved to live die." He says that sometimes an officer you drink tea or eat a meal with one day is blown away the next. Hou has seen all kinds of high living, and is well aware of the impermanence of the mortal world, especially since his only son died in the Chienkang Kindergarten bus fire of 1981. Having been a "victim" as well as a detective makes Hou Yu-i more able to appreciate the heart-rending anguish felt by crime victims.

"Police are 'beloved sons of heaven,'" says Hou, "but are we able to transcend the injustice we see in this world?" He asks this question on his own behalf and on behalf of his fellow officers.

Hou says he often thinks back to the first few years after he graduated from the police academy, and how he thought of himself as one of the good guys out there against the bad guys, whom he hated passionately. With his service revolver in his trouser pocket he would go out with two other officers to work on cases. "In those days my 'sword' was razor-sharp, and I would take on anyone who challenged me." Thirty years later, Hou Yu-i is still tough, but he is more feeling. "Apart from Isaiah with his broken sword, I also like the Chinese folk hero Zhong Kui, the demon slayer." Hou points to the brush-and-ink painting of Zhong Kui just inside his office: "Look, his sword is only half drawn too."

In the soft lamplight of Hou's office, Isaiah's broken sword looks more like a plowshare.