Phil Resch and Inspector Garland
Phil Resch and Inspector Garland are a bounty hunter and his superior at the Mission Street Hall of Justice, a police agency that is itself a front for a group of escaped androids. Their working relationship, which has lasted for three years, is built on a profound deception: Garland is an android, and Resch, who believes himself human, is also an android, a fact that Garland knows but Resch does not. This hidden truth governs every interaction between them, from Garland's wary surveillance of Resch to Resch's instinctive, lethal response when he finally senses the threat. Their relationship is a microcosm of the novel's central crisis—the impossibility of distinguishing human from android, and the violence that erupts when that distinction collapses.
A Working Relationship Built on Deception
For three years, Phil Resch has worked as a bounty hunter under Inspector Garland's command at the Mission Street Hall of Justice. Resch has no suspicion that his superior is anything other than human. When Rick Deckard is brought to the station after being arrested by Officer Crams, Garland immediately intervenes, taking charge of the case and examining the contents of Deckard's briefcase. It is Garland who discovers that Deckard's list of androids to retire includes his own name, listed with the inaccurate cover occupation of "insurance underwriter." This discovery reveals the depth of the android conspiracy: Garland is not merely a corrupt official but an android who has infiltrated a police department to protect other androids. He summons Resch to his office, introducing the two bounty hunters and showing Resch the list. Resch, still unaware of his own nature, reacts with professional curiosity, noting that he had always found the Soviet police officer Polokov—another android on Deckard's list—to be "cold" and "detached." Garland, visibly nettled, bristles at Resch's suggestion that the Boneli Reflex-Arc Test should be applied to police personnel, a proposal Resch has made for years.
Garland's Revelation and Resch's Response
When Resch leaves to fetch the Boneli testing gear, Garland reveals the truth to Deckard: he, Garland, is an android, and so is Resch. Garland explains that all the androids on Deckard's list—including himself, Polokov, and Luba Luft—came to Earth together on the same ship from Mars. Resch, he says, stayed behind an additional week to receive a synthetic memory system, which is why Resch believes he is human. Garland admits he does not know what Resch will do when he discovers the truth, speculating that he might kill everyone, human and android alike. When Resch returns with the testing device, Garland draws a laser tube, but Resch, anticipating the attack, rolls to the floor and fires, killing Garland instantly. Resch then examines the body with clinical curiosity, remarking that he could "almost foretell what an android is going to do." He does not yet know that he himself is one.
The Aftermath of Garland's Death
After killing Garland, Resch helps Deckard escape the android-infested police station, handcuffing them together to maintain the pretense that Deckard is his prisoner. Once they are airborne, Resch becomes preoccupied with the possibility that he might be an android. He recalls Garland's behavior and his own suspicions, and he asks Deckard to administer the Voigt-Kampff test. Deckard, who knows the truth from Garland, evades the request, but Resch persists, eventually forcing the issue. The test reveals that Resch is human, a result that brings him immense relief. However, the relationship between the two bounty hunters is permanently marked by the revelation: Deckard sees in Resch a pattern of killing that he finds disturbing, a pleasure in destruction that Deckard himself does not share. Resch, for his part, remains unaware of the full extent of the deception that governed his professional life for three years, but the encounter leaves him—and Deckard—forever changed.
