One reason why a portion of the small law enforcement museum at the main Honolulu Police Station is devoted to Chang Apana is that Apana was the inspiration for Charlie Chan, the fictional detective made famous in books and a movie 80 years ago.
A better reason why Chang Apana became a legend is that he was an exceptional police officer, as different from Charlie Chan as a beat cop from James Bond. About the only similarities between Charlie Chan and Chang Apana is that both were Chinese and had a houseful of children. But where Charlie Chan was suave and silky, Chang Apaka was forceful and direct.
John Jardine, another law enforcement legend in Honolulu, looked up to veteran Apana when he joined the force and learned from him in the early 1930s.
Born in 1871, Apana joined the police force in 1898 at a time when one duty of policemen was to round up Hansen's disease patients to banish to Moloka'i. It was a thankless task and dangerous duty because those with Hansen's disease who had escaped to the mountains were desperate.
In the course of his career, Apana earned three medals for valor. In 1928, he met Earl Derr Biggers, the inventor of Charlie Chan. Chang Apana died at age 64 in 1933 and is buried in the Manoa Chinese Cemetery.
