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August Vollmer, circa 1925
August Vollmer, circa 1925

August "Gus" Vollmer (March 7, 1876 - November 4, 1955) was a leading figure in the development of the field of criminal justice in the United States in the early 20th century. Events 161 - Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius dies and is succeeded by co-Emperors Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus Year 1876 ( MDCCCLXXVI) was a Leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Leap year Events 1333 - Flood of the Arno River, causing massive damage in Florence as recorded by the Florentine chronicler Giovanni Villani Year 1955 ( MCMLV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1955 Gregorian calendar) He was also the first police chief of Berkeley, California. Berkeley is a city on the east shore of San Francisco Bay in Northern California, in the United States.

Contents

Youth

Vollmer was born in New Orleans to German immigrant parents, John and Philopine (Klundt) Vollmer. New Orleans (nʲuːˈɔrliənz nʲuːˈɔrlənz French: La Nouvelle-Orléans) is a major United States port city and the largest city in Louisiana His father saw to it that he learned to box and swim, both of which he excelled at. Upon his father's death, his mother returned to Germany with her children for two years, after which she returned to New Orleans in 1886, but soon thereafter decided to move her family to San Francisco. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. The City and County of San Francisco is the fourth most populous city In July of 1890, the Vollmer family moved across the bay to Berkeley.

Before he was 20, August helped organize the North Berkeley Volunteer Fire Department, and in 1897, was awarded the Berkeley Fireman medal. He supported his mother and the rest of his family as a partner in Patterson and Vollmer, a hay, grain, wood and coal supply store, at the corner of Shattuck Avenue and Vine Street near a fire station north of downtown Berkeley.

In 1898, August enlisted in the U.S. Marines, fighting in 25 battles in the Spanish-American War in the Philippines. The Philippines ( Filipino: Pilipinas, officially known as the Republic of the Philippines (fil ''Republika ng Pilipinas'' RP Vollmer left the military in August of 1899 and returned to Berkeley. In March of 1900, he began working for the local post office.

A career in law enforcement

In 1904, he won fame as a local hero after he leapt onto a runaway railroad freight car on Shattuck Avenue in downtown Berkeley and applied its brakes, preventing a disastrous collision with a passenger coach loaded with commuters at the Berkeley Station. Downtown Berkeley is the Central business district of the city of Berkeley California, United States centered around the intersection of Shattuck Avenue and Center This event led to his election as town marshal on April 10, 1905.

In 1907, Vollmer was re-elected town marshal. He was also elected president of the California Association of Police Chiefs, even though, by title, he was not yet a police chief himself. In 1909, Berkeley created the office of police chief, and Vollmer became the first to hold that office.

Drawing on his military experience, and his own research, Vollmer reorganized the Berkeley police force. Vollmer had discovered that very little literature existed in the United States on the subject of police work, so he located and read a number of European works on the subject, in particular, Criminal Psychology, by Hans Gross, an Austrian criminologist, and Memoirs of Vidocq, by Eugene Francois Vidocq, head of the detective division of the French police in Paris. Hans Groß ( Gross, Grosz) or Hanns Groß ( December 12, 1847, Graz - December 9, 1915, Graz Eugène François Vidocq ( July 23, 1775 &ndash May 11, 1857) was a French criminal who later became the first director of He then set out on a program of modernization. He established a bicycle patrol and created the first centralized police records system, designed to streamline and organize criminal investigations. He established a call box network. And he trained his deputies in marksmenship.

In the ensuing years, Vollmer's reputation as the "father of modern law enforcement" grew. He was the first chief to require that police officers attain college degrees, and persuaded the University of California to teach criminal justice. The University of California Berkeley (also referred to as Cal, Berkeley and UC Berkeley) is a major research university located in Berkeley In Education, a teacher is one who helps Students or pupils often in a School, as well as in a Family, religious or Criminal justice is the system of practices and organizations used by national and local governments directed at maintaining Social control, deterring In 1916, UC-Berkeley established a criminal justice program, headed by Vollmer. [1] At Berkeley, he taught O.W. Wilson, who went on to become a professor and continued efforts to professionalize policing. Orlando Winfield Wilson ( May 15, 1900 - October 18, 1972) also known as O [2] This is often seen as the start of criminal justice as an academic field. Criminal justice is the system of practices and organizations used by national and local governments directed at maintaining Social control, deterring

Vollmer was also the first police chief to create a motorized force, placing officers on motorcycles, and in cars so that they could patrol a broader area with greater efficiency. Radios were included in patrol cars. He was also the first to use the lie detector, developed at the University of California, in police work. Lie detection is the practice of determining whether someone is Lying. Vollmer supported programs to assist disadvantaged children, and was often criticized for his leniency towards petty offenders such as drunks and loiterers. He also encouraged the training and employment of female and African American police officers.

Later years

In 1921, Vollmer was elected president of the International Association of Chiefs of Police.

Vollmer left the Berkeley Police Department for a brief stint as police chief of the Los Angeles Police Department from 1923-24, but returned upon being disillusioned by the extent of corruption and hostility towards leadership coming from outside the department. The Berkeley Police Department ( BPD) is the municipal Police department for the city of Berkeley, California, USA.

Vollmer married Millicent Gardner in 1924. They had no children.

In 1926, Vollmer played himself in the silent serial Officer 444 which was shot in Berkeley under the direction of John Ford's brother Francis Ford. Officer 444 is a 1926 action Film serial directed by Francis Ford and Ben F Francis Ford ( August 14, 1881 &ndash September 5, 1953) a prolific Film Actor, Writer, and director

He retired from the Berkeley Police in 1932 as his eyesight began to fail.

Vollmer became afflicted with Parkinson's Disease late in life, and also cancer. Parkinson's disease (also known as Parkinson disease or PD) is a degenerative disorder of the Central nervous system that often impairs the sufferer's He refused to be bed-ridden, and chose to end his own life at age 79 in 1955.

Tributes

External links

Notes

  1. ^ "Finest of the Finest", TIME Magazine, February 18, 1966.  
  2. ^ Guide to the Orlando Winfield Wilson Papers, ca. 1928-1972. Online Archive of California. Retrieved on 2006-10-20. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1740 - Maria Theresa takes the throne of Austria. France, Prussia, Bavaria and Saxony

References

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