Hou You-yi

Hou You-yi (Chinese: 侯友宜; pinyin: Hóu Yǒuyí; born 7 June 1957) is a Taiwanese politician. He has served as Director-General of the National Police Agency from 2006 to 2008 and as acting Mayor of New Taipei City from October 2015 to January 2016.

Upon his graduation from the Central Police University, Hou was sent to the Taipei City Police Department. In 1992, he became an inspector at the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB), a division of the National Police Agency (NPA). Six years later, Hou was named second in command of the CIB. He was given the concurrent post of Taoyuan County police chief in 2001, and promoted within the NPA in 2003, becoming the leader of the CIB. The next year, Hou was tasked with investigating the 3-19 shooting incident, an assassination attempt on then-President Chen Shui-bian, a longtime friend. He was named the director-general of the NPA in 2006, and became the youngest leader of the police force at the time of his appointment. During his tenure, the NPA was criticized for its inadequate response to the 2006 protests led by Shih Ming-teh. Multiple Kuomintang politicians also wanted Hou to reopen the investigation on the 3-19 shooting incident. Arms dealer Tang Shou-yi, who had fled to Mainland China by August 2006, had recanted his confession, stating that it was coerced and therefore untrue. Hou was named the president of Central Police University in 2008, and replaced at the NPA by Wang Cho-chiun.

Hou was recruited to join the Democratic Progressive Party in 2002. Eric Chu asked Hou to serve as deputy mayor of New Taipei in 2010, and Hou joined the Kuomintang in August 2013. Hou served as deputy mayor alongside Lee Shih-chuan and Hsu Chih-chien who left office on 25 February 2014 and 30 June 2014, respectively. Later, Chen Shen-hsien was appointed to the deputy mayorship. Hou was promoted from his previous position as deputy mayor on 20 October 2015, as Chu prepared for the 2016 presidential election. Chu lost the election to Tsai Ing-wen, and resumed mayoral duties on 18 January 2016.

Hou's firstborn son Hou Ni-wei died on 15 May 1992, when the tour bus he and his kindergarten classmates were riding in caught fire due to a short circuit. Daughter Hou Ni-chia was born in 1993.