The New Jersey Police Chief Magazine | October 2024
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While not inherently creative , Vollmer ’ s open-minded nature is what allowed his officers to excel . Vollmer would read countless journal articles published by criminology schools in Europe and then use their research to form the basis of his own department . These articles pushed Vollmer to incorporate many revolutionary ideas into his own police force . Like applying modus operandi to catch internationally notorious bank robbers and becoming among the first agencies in the United States to use new technologies like the automobile , fingerprint catalogs and polygraphs .
Vollmer would also apply his own experience to support what he read in these journals . While based in the Philippines , he saw that quick and decisive action often played a critical role in suppressing insurgent action . As such , he pushed for bike patrols so that officers could get to crime scenes faster than on foot . Ridiculed at first , these bike patrols evolved into automobiles and motorcycles , staples of any police agency across the globe today . Likewise , when Vollmer saw that reporting crimes accurately and quickly led to better success rates in catching criminals , he pushed his department to install police phone stations across the city . This innovation enabled officers to rapidly ask for reinforcements and report crimes in progress .
A leader with courage and conviction Vollmer ’ s open-minded and scientific approach to law enforcement was also a key part of how he wished officers to act . An advocate of both rigorous testing and higher education for officers , Vollmer writes , “ With intelligence , with training , with honesty and sincerity of purpose , the criminal element can be controlled .” Vollmer would actively recruit UC Berkeley students to fill his ranks and advocated for all agencies to require police officers to attain a bachelor ’ s level education .
One of the Berkeley students-turned-cop was Walter Gordon . While teaching a criminology course , Vollmer convinced Gordon to work for the police department while Gordon finished his law degree . Gordon accepted and would go on to work at Berkeley as a law enforcement officer for over a decade .
Yet Gordon was a controversial hire at the time because he was Black . As the first Black police officer in the city , Gordon policed majority-white neighborhoods in a majority-white police force . Vollmer received dozens of notes demanding he revoke Gordon ’ s official status , and the public pressured Gordon so heavily that he debated giving up entirely . Gordon walked into Vollmer ’ s office one day and asked to be stationed in another district , to which Vollmer replied that Gordon would be placed where he was needed , and he was needed precisely where he was currently .
When several white officers confronted Vollmer and threatened to leave the force if Gordon didn ’ t leave , Vollmer told the officers that all they needed to do was leave their badge and gun at the door . Vollmer ’ s courage and his faith in Gordon would inspire Gordon to flourish both as a police officer and eventually as a very successful lawyer in his own right .
Vollmer ’ s career was full of many unpopular decisions . Still , he always endeavored to put the fight against crime above politics . Many times throughout his career Vollmer would be presented with the easy path , but he would push through to create a more effective law enforcement agency .
Whenever presented with an issue , Vollmer would solve the problem at its core rather than brush it aside . For example , when accused of having a child out of wedlock , Vollmer could have easily used his prestige to dismiss the case . Instead , he brought the case to court , where scientific results were used to prove it was genetically impossible for him to be the child ’ s father . When presented with crowded jails , Vollmer expanded facilities and improved the common prisoner ’ s way of life . Many of those incarcerated would go on to thank Vollmer for treating them kindly , and he himself would go on to advocate on the national stage for prison reform aimed at nurturing the character of delinquents instead of seeking retribution .
August Vollmer final years Vollmer retired from the Berkeley Police Department to continue teaching criminology across the country . In 1929 ,
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