Harry Callahan

The most famous and controversial officer in the annals of the San Francisco Police Department, Detective Inspector Harold Francis Callahan became a face of the department with his mixture of ruthless punishment of criminals and sharp detective skills. After a stint as a youth in the Marine Corps, Callahan joined the SFPD in the 1950s and eventually rose to the rank of Inspector, along the way becoming involved in numerous controversial investigations and also seeing the death of his wife in a highway accident. Callahan became known as "Dirty Harry" for his ability to handle criminals considered too violent or unpredictable for conventional police methods. This danger level proved fatal to many of the partners who worked with Harry over the years, as officers such as Inspector Tom Fanducci, Inspector Earlington Smith, and Inspector Horace King all lost their lives in the course of cases involving Callahan. Callahan nonetheless succeeded against criminals such as the Scorpio Killer, a ring of vigilante police led by rogue Lt. Neil Briggs, and deranged movie buff Harlan Rook and his "Dead Pool" betting ring. Callahan's most famous symbol is his sidearm, a Smith & Wesson .44 Magnum revolver, a better weapon than the standard .357 or .38 for killing dangerous criminals. Occassionally, however, Callahan has used a unique customized .44 Magnum automatic made for him by a gunsmith who was rescued by Harry years earlier. This unique sidearm proved vital for Harry in the Sudden Impact case of 1983 when he was attacked by three toughs while investigating a series of shootings involving San Paulo residents; in the subsequent scuffle Harry lost his regular .44 and turned to the Magnum automatic when he found the three toughs were innvolved in a vicious gang rape ten years earlier and were being pursued by a survivor. Harry killed the three toughs, shooting one in the skull through a metal wall. Callahan periodically taunts injured perps by asking them to guess whether he has run out of ammunition for his .44 or not; this trick was pulled on a bank robber at the beginning of the Scorpio KIller case and was used to greater effect against the Scorpio Killer himself. Callahan benefitted from a perp's ignorance of his weapon's ammo supply again in the Dead Pool case when Harlan Rook seized Harry's gun but did not keep track of how much ammo was left.