August Vollmer
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August Vollmer (March 7, 1876 - November 4, 1955) was a former Berkeley, California police chief. He is widely considered the "father of modern policing", and was the first chief to require that police officers attain college degrees; during the 1920s, he persuaded the University of California to teach criminal justice. (This is often seen as the start of criminal justice as an academic field.) He was also the first police chief to create a "mobile" force, placing officers on bicycles, motorcycles, and in cars so that they could patrol a broader area with greater efficiency. He was also one of the first people to champion the use lie detectors in criminal work.
Subsequently he was chief of the Los Angeles Police Department but left after two years due to that force's reputation for corruption and hostility towards leadership coming from outside the department. The LAPD would not have another chief picked from outside the ranks for 60 years.
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