Reader Melvin Masuda wrote to me recently. “Long ago, the ‘Dick Tracy’ comic strip featured then-Honolulu Police Chief Dan Liu.

“Cartoonist Robb Armstrong, who writes the comic strip ‘Jump Start,’ mentions Hawaii in it every now and then. The ‘Luann’ comic strip, drawn by Greg Evans, makes occasional reference to Maui.”

Masuda asked if I knew why. What are their connections to Hawaii?

I have not found much about the last two writers, but did uncover a great deal about Chester Gould, the creator of “Dick Tracy.”

Gould came to Hawaii on vacation in 1959. He met with Honolulu Advertiser reporter Bob Krauss. They discussed possible storylines that involved Hawaii. The problem was our low crime rate.

“I just can’t conceive of anybody doing anything very bad here. I definitely plan to bring Dick Tracy to Hawaii, but I’m afraid it will be the sweetest, most sugary case he’s ever worked on,” Gould said.

“The only way I’ve figured out is to have a mainland criminal take refuge here, then let Tracy assist Chief Dan Liu and his Honolulu Police Department in capturing him.”

While Gould was here, Krauss introduced him to Kenneth Emory, archaeologist at the Bishop Museum. One of them may have introduced Gould to John Papa ‘I‘i’s book, “Fragments of Hawaiian History.”

How did HPD Chief Dan Liu get into a “Dick Tracy” comic strip? Let’s go back in time to 1919 when author Earl Derr Biggers came to Hawaii in 1919 and stayed in Waikiki.

Biggers read about policeman Chang Apana (1871-1933) and was inspired to create the fictional detective Charlie Chan. His first book, “The House Without a Key,” was published in 1925. It was turned into a movie the following year, starring Warner Oland.

In 1936, Oland visited Hawaii and called then-HPD Chief William Gabrielson. The chief was out of the office. His secretary just happened to be Dan Liu. He asked if he could take a message.

“OK,” replied the voice, “Tell him Charlie Chan reports to his chief.”

The article went on to say, “Warner Oland, famed for screen portrayals of Charlie Chan, Chinese detective of film and fiction, arrived today as a passenger on the steamer ‘Empress of Britain’ and lost no time in paying respects to Chief Gabrielson.”

The article was picked up by newspapers around the world. Dan Liu was now associated, in the minds of many, with Charlie Chan.

Native Alaskan patrolman

In 1949, Dan Liu was written about in mainland papers again. He had just been promoted to chief of police. This time the subject was a Native Alaskan patrolman on the police force in Hawaii. The article ran in dozens of American cities.

It said that Dan Liu, 40, was the first Chinese American chief of police. Liu did not identify the Native Alaskan who was then a member of HPD.

“We have at least a dozen nationalities on our police force. I don’t know where the Eskimo came from — just drifted in from somewhere, I suppose. Now he’s walking a beat for us.

“No, he doesn’t have a dogsled. l don’t believe he even had a dog.”

The article explored HPD’s work with youth activities to prevent crime.

“Two things make our islands what they are,” Liu said proudly. “One is the brotherhood of aloha, which simply means love from the heart, without anything held back.

“The other spirit that prevails is kokua. It is hard to translate, but it means to lift up, to help out the other fellow.”

In 1952, Liu was cast as the chief of police in the movie “Big Jim McLain,” which was filmed in Hawaii. Liu was now a visible public figure.

Dick Tracy

Dick Tracy creator Chester Gould vacationed in Hawaii in 1959. He met with Chief Liu to find out whether there was a suitable comic strip storyline that involved Hawaii for a Dick Tracy whodunit.

“I may do a special series for the Chicago Tribune (Gould’s home paper), or maybe I can have Tracy assigned on a case where he’ll come to Hawaii to pick up the criminal,” Gould said.

Gould said Dick Tracy was patterned after what he felt Sherlock Holmes would have looked like had he lived in the U.S.

The series that included Hawaii began in February 1960. The story involved a small, carved wooden tiki that had been found on a comatose, 7-foot, 3-inch Polynesian entertainer named Haku Kou.

In the strip, Dick Tracy called Liu because the tiki looked similar to one in ‘I‘i’s book, “Fragments of Hawaiian History.” ‘I‘i was a friend and adviser to Kamehameha II and III. Golfer Francis I‘i Brown was his grandson.

“Yes, this is Police Chief Dan Liu of Honolulu. Oh, hello, Tracy,” he said in the strip, which ran in 500 newspapers from coast to coast.

“Fifty Million Meet Police Chief Liu,” the Advertiser reported a few days later. “Dick Tracy” was the most popular comic strip in America.

Chief Liu worked with Tracy on several other cases in Hawaii and Chicago. All in all, the Hawaii storylines took nearly a year to present themselves.

Sworn in

Liu was sworn in as chief, succeeding William Hoopai, who retired after 31 years in July 1948.

“I never thought I’d be chief,” Liu once said. A hard-liner, he launched campaigns against gambling, prostitution, opium and heroin as well as pinball machines, fireworks and beer sales at the old Honolulu Stadium.

He began the University of Hawaii’s police science program, started a cadet training program, developed a crime lab, introduced computers and formed a community relations division.

On the mainland he was often associated with Charley Chan. “People are always billing me as Charlie Chan,” Liu said. “Sometimes they just call me Dick Tracy’s partner.”

Liu met legendary FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, who asked him to deliver the 1960 FBI Academy graduation address in Washington. He promised to “continue to battle relentlessly the continuing menaces of crime and communism.”

“Hawaiians are just trusting souls,” he said. “They leave their doors unlocked.” Honolulu’s biggest crime problem was burglary, he told incredulous fellow graduates.

In 1963 the International Association of Chiefs of Police made him its president. The Texas Rangers named him an honorary member. That year, then-Mayor Neal S. Blaisdell praised Liu for bringing “Honolulu worldwide acclaim in law enforcement circles.”

He was honored at an event at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Dome. Over 1,100 people listened as Blaisdell called Liu “one of the greatest policemen in the world.”

In 1966, Liu received the J. Edgar Hoover Gold Medal Award for “outstanding accomplishments in law enforcement and dedication to the highest principles of the profession.”

Liu, America’s first police chief of Chinese descent, retired in 1969 after 37 years on the force. His 21 years as Honolulu’s police chief is the longest term of any of our chiefs. He died in 1986 at age 78.

Thanks to Dick Tracy, Liu’s fame extended far beyond Hawaii. Gould’s comic strip hero’s two-way wrist radio inspired Martin Cooper to invent the mobile phone in 1973.

Bob Sigall is the author of the five “The Companies We Keep” books. Contact him at Sigall@Yahoo.com or sign up for his free email newsletter at RearviewMirrorInsider.com.