Editing Hercule Poirot (section)

=== Policeman ===

<blockquote>Gustave ... was not a policeman. I have dealt with policemen all my life and I ''know''. He could pass as a detective to an outsider but not to a man who was a policeman himself.

: — Hercule Poirot, "The Erymanthian Boar"<ref> {{harvnb|Christie|1947c}}</ref>{{page needed|date=February 2024}}</blockquote>

Hercule Poirot was active in the [[Brussels]] police force by 1893.{{sfn|Christie|2009b|loc=Chapter 15}} Very little mention is made about this part of his life, but in "[[The Labours of Hercules#The Nemean Lion|The Nemean Lion]]" (1939) Poirot refers to a Belgian case of his in which "a wealthy soap manufacturer ... poisoned his wife in order to be free to marry his secretary".<ref>{{Citation |title=Collins, William Janson, (born 10 June 1929), Chairman, William Collins Sons & Co. (Holdings) Ltd, 1976–81 |date=2007-12-01 |work=Who's Who |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.11568 |access-date=2024-12-11 |publisher=Oxford University Press|doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.11568 }}</ref> As Poirot was often misleading about his past to gain information, the truthfulness of that statement is unknown; it does, however, scare off a would-be wife-killer.

In the short story [[Poirot's Early Cases#"The Chocolate Box"|"The Chocolate Box"]] (1923), Poirot reveals to [[Captain Arthur Hastings]] an account of what he considers to be his only failure. Poirot admits that he has failed to solve a crime "innumerable" times:

<blockquote>I have been called in too late. Very often another, working towards the same goal, has arrived there first. Twice I have been struck down with illness just as I was on the point of success.<ref>{{Citation |title=Collins, William Janson, (born 10 June 1929), Chairman, William Collins Sons & Co. (Holdings) Ltd, 1976–81 |date=2007-12-01 |work=Who's Who |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.11568 |access-date=2024-12-11 |publisher=Oxford University Press|doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.11568 }}</ref></blockquote>

Nevertheless, he regards the 1893 case in "The Chocolate Box",{{efn|The date is given in 1932 ''Peril at End House''<ref>{{harvnb|Christie|2009b|loc=Chapter 15}}</ref>}} as his only failure through his fault only.

Again, Poirot is not reliable as a narrator of his personal history and there is no evidence that Christie sketched it out in any depth. During his police career, Poirot shot a man who was firing from a roof into the public below.{{sfn|Christie|1975|loc=Postscript}} In ''[[Lord Edgware Dies]]'', Poirot reveals that he learned to read writing upside down during his police career.{{cn|date=February 2024}} Around that time he met Xavier Bouc, director of the [[Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits]].

Inspector Japp offers some insight into Poirot's career with the Belgian police when introducing him to a colleague:
<blockquote>You've heard me speak of Mr Poirot? It was in 1904 he and I worked together – the Abercrombie forgery case – you remember he was run down in Brussels. Ah, those were the days Moosier. Then, do you remember "Baron" Altara? There was a pretty rogue for you! He eluded the clutches of half the police in Europe. But we nailed him in Antwerp – thanks to Mr. Poirot here.{{sfn|Christie|1939|loc=Chapter 7}}</blockquote>

In "The Double Clue", Poirot mentions that he was Chief of Police of Brussels, until "the Great War" (World War I) forced him to leave for England.{{cn|date=February 2024}}