August Vollmer is the individual credited with shaping the development of police professionalism during the reform era.

Quick Scoop

During the reform era of policing in the United States, August Vollmer, the longtime police chief of Berkeley, California, pushed to turn policing from a political, patronage-based job into a modern, professional occupation. Because of these efforts, textbooks and criminal justice courses commonly identify him as the key figure behind police professionalism in that period.

Why August Vollmer?

  • He required or encouraged college education for officers and helped create early university-level criminology programs.
  • He promoted scientific methods in investigations, including early use of forensics, fingerprinting, and centralized records.
  • He organized motorized patrols and other innovations that made departments more efficient and less tied to local political machines.

How This Shaped Professionalism

  • Vollmer’s ideas helped shift the image of policing toward a trained, quasi-scientific public service rather than a purely reactive, political force.
  • Later reformers and many modern police departments built on his model, which is why he is often called the “father of modern policing” or “father of American policing.”

Answer for your class or quiz: August Vollmer.