A History of Police Education in theUnited StatesArthur F. Brandstatter gave the followingaddress in 1967 to the Conference on Po-lice Education, sponsored by the Office ofLaw Enforcement Assistance, at the Uni-versity of Maryland. A well-known author-ity on the history of Police Education inthe United States, Brandstatter focused onthe contributions various universities weremaking to the development of future edu-cation including the relatively recent ad-vent of the junior or community college.As Brandstatter would conclude, “If policeeducation is to achieve the stature it seeksin the academic community, it must be con-sidered as a part of the criminal justiceprocess which has its own area of humanexperience to analyze, its own body of fac-tual and descriptive data to gather, its ownconceptual ideas to formulate and test. Ourchallenge is to develop police educationwithin this context.”

The Growth of the Discipline

An historical account of the developmentsthat have occurred in police education sincethe turn of the century and the men whogave leadership to these developments willgive us new perspectives regarding theprogress that has been achieved and willassist us to chart the future. As a matter offact, it may be surprising to learn that theUnited States is recognized as the acknowl-edged leader in criminological studies andin the relatively short period of about fiftyyears has transcended the influence of Eu-ropean nations in this area of study.1 Cur-rently, the nations of the free world turn to

the United States for leadership in researchthat explores the phenomenon of crime.

The growth of this field of study has beenspectacular, and Professor Radzinowicz ofCambridge University comments that per-haps the only parallel we can cite in the his-tory of criminology is the emergence of theItalian School of Positivists in the last threedecades of the 19th century.2 The most sig-nificant developments that have occurred inpolice education in our country can be di-vided into three eras—the period beforeWorld War I, the period between the twoWorld Wars, and the period after World WarII.

Pre-World War I

During this period, it is not surprising to findeducational activities in the general area ofcriminal law and criminology developingaround faculties of law, which is similar towhat has occurred in Europe, where facul-ties of law generally studied the issues ofcrime and criminal justice procedures. How-ever, other scientists were also involved andsuch topics as criminal sociology, criminalanthropology, and criminalistics were of-fered under the auspices of law schools orinstitutes which drew upon the faculties oflaw, medicine, and the social sciences forinstructional purposes.

Thus, we find in June 1909 the first NationalConference on Criminal Law and Criminol-ogy was convened in Chicago by the fac-ulty of law at Northwestern University. Thisconference was significant for a number of

reasons. Perhaps foremost is the fact thatthe Conference brought together selectededucators and practitioners from everybranch of the American criminal justice sys-tem.3

At the 1909 Conference, three resolutionswere passed which resulted in:

1. the establishment of the American In-stitute of Criminal Law and Criminology;

2. the founding and publication in 1910 ofthe Journal of the American Institute ofCriminal Law and Criminology; and,

3. the translation into English of some ofthe most important and significant bookson criminology written by foreign schol-ars.

As a result of this third resolution, nine vol-umes were published by the Institute underthe general title Modern Criminal ScienceSeries. These volumes included:

These books were used as references andtexts in the early development of policecourses at institutions of higher learning.

A few years prior to the conference at North-western University, a young man was electedTown Marshall of Berkeley, California. Irefer to August Vollmer who was subse-quently appointed as Chief of Police at Ber-keley and continued in this capacity until hisretirement in July of 1932. During his ten-ure at Berkeley and in the years that fol-lowed, Vollmer vigorously and relentlesslypursued the application of scientific meth-ods to police work, the need for increasedtraining for police officers, and the provi-sion for pre-employment training compa-rable in quality to that provided for lawyers,doctors and the other professions.4 Vollmerestablished a police training school in theBerkeley Police Department, with most ofthe instruction provided by his friends onthe University of California faculty.

At the same time (1916), he prevailed uponthese friends to offer courses in police sub-jects and criminology during the summersessions at the university. This programcontinued until 1932, at which time the pro-gram was extended and similar courses wereoffered during the regular school year. Heencouraged his police officers to attend thesecourses, and they were immediately called“college cops” by the press. The periodbefore World War I, therefore, was essen-tially one in which Vollmer endowed hisspirit and enthusiasm for scientific policework and police education to his youngprotégés.

Between the World Wars

During the period between World War I andWorld War II, August Vollmer continued his

♦ Criminal Psychology by HansGross,

♦ Modern Theories of Criminology byBernaldo de Quiros, CriminalSociology by Enrico Ferri,

♦ The Individualization of Punishmentby Raymond Saleilles,

♦ Crime, It’s Causes and Remedies byCaesare Lombrosco,

♦ Penal Philosophy by Gabriel Tarde,♦ Criminality and Economic Condi-

tions by W. A.Bonger,♦ Criminology by Raffaele Garofalo,

and♦ Crime and Its Repression by Gustav

Ashoffenburg.

efforts and was the principal person whoinfluenced an increasing number of institu-tions of higher learning to direct their at-tention to the training and educational needsof law enforcement. Many significant train-ing programs developed at universities dur-ing this period and served to bring the policeofficial and the university educator together.

For example, in 1929, the University ofChicago entered the field of police educa-tion by offering a limited number of policecourses. August Vollmer had been em-ployed as a Professor of Police Adminis-tration in the political science departmentand taught a course in Police Administra-tion and Police Procedure. He also offereda seminar devoted to research projects eachquarter. The primary objective of this pro-gram was to expose college students topolice administration subjects.5 This pro-gram was discontinued in 1930, whenVollmer returned to Berkeley where he ac-cepted a professorship in police adminis-tration at the University of California.Within a year, he was offering a course inpolice administration in the Bureau of Pub-lic Administration. This was the genesis ofthe program which ultimately developedinto the School of Criminology under thedistinguished leadership of August Vollmerand O. W. Wilson, the latter appointed asthe first Dean of this program.

Between 1929 and 1932, the University ofSouthern California offered police courses,both inservice and for credit, through itsSchool of Citizenship and Public Adminis-tration.6 In 1930, San Jose State Collegeestablished its two-year curriculum plan andultimately expanded it into a four-year de-gree-granting program. The 1932-33 bro-chure of the San Jose program had thisannouncement addressed to police officials:

In 1935, Michigan State University inaugu-rated a five year curriculum plan designedto prepare students for careers in the policeservice. Significant at Michigan State was

the total commitment immediately made toacademic preparation of young people forpolice careers. Until this program was in-troduced there were no police trainingcourses offered in any form. Another sig-nificant feature of the program was the re-quirement of 18 months of field experiencewith Federal, state, and local law enforce-ment agencies. The influence of the landgrant philosophy was reflected in the fieldservice training feature which was con-ducted at that time under the direct super-vision of the Michigan State Police.

Similar to the other programs mentionedearlier, there was an emphasis on the natu-ral sciences. Michigan State’s curriculumwas heavily weighted with the laboratorysciences requiring at least two years of study

TO POLICE OFFICIALS:

If you have local applicants for anypositions on your force in whom youare especially interested, you will findtheir value to you materially increasedby a two year course at San Jose. Justtell the young man that the day is fastapproaching when college trainingwill be required of every policeman.

The cost is negligible. San Jose is apublic institution. Student feesamount to $9.00 a quarter, and thecost of books and supplies is small. Itis cheaper to train young men herethan in your own department.

in chemistry, physics, and mathematics.Little administration or organizationaltheory was taught. Students were paid $1 aday during the field experience and were per-mitted to reside in the State Police barracks.Upon graduation, students who joined theState Police were employed at the salarylevel of an officer beginning his third yearof service. These were attractive and verypractical incentives for students to considerin the depression days of the thirties.

The current program reflects many changes:

1. A transition from an emphasis on thenatural sciences to the development ofa program with a liberal arts foundation.

2. Expansion of major fields of study fromone to three: Law Enforcement Admin-istration; Security Administration; andCorrectional Administration. The LawEnforcement Administration curriculumcontinues to be regarded as our mostimportant area of study. It has threesubareas of study, namely, Police Sci-ence, Highway Traffic Administration,and Delinquency Prevention and Con-trol.

3. Reduction from five years of study to afour year program of study.

4. The field program has been reducedgradually from a requirement of 18months to one quarter (a ten week pe-riod) and will become optional for thestudent next year in the Fall of 1967.

5. A Master of Science degree programwas established in 1956.

6. A Ph.D. in Social Science with an op-tion in Criminology or Criminal Justiceis under consideration for the immedi-ate future as an interdisciplinary offer-ing.

Before I proceed to the post World War IIperiod, three universities should be men-tioned because of their support of policetraining.

The University of Wisconsin developed aseries of zone schools in 1927 and offeredinservice courses for police officers throughits extension division. These were discon-tinued in 1931.

Northwestern University made a significantcontribution through its Traffic Institute andalso offered courses in connection with thework of its Scientific Crime DetectionLaboratory. The quality of the TrafficInstitute’s Training Program developed un-der Frank Kreml’s leadership is well knownand continues to present day.

Harvard University, under the auspices ofits Law School, has offered a seminar for anumber of years on “Medico-Legal Prob-lems.” Courses dealing with police subjects,such as Homicide Investigations, were in-cluded in these seminars.These universities have always been amongthe most prestigious institutions in the na-tion. Because of their stature, they gaveprestige and status to police education andtraining in its developmental stages.

Post World War II

One additional program must be mentionedas I make the transition to the period fol-lowing World War II. Indiana Universitymust be considered among the institutionsthat pioneered in police education, althoughthe Department of Police Administrationwas established as an autonomous unit un-til 1949.

Nevertheless, Indiana University offered afour year course for approximately 13 yearsprior to this time leading to a Bachelor ofArts degree with a certificate in Police Sci-ence. Dr. Edwin Sutherland, noted crimi-nologist, was active in this program, as wellas the Institute of Criminal Law and Crimi-nology which was established in 1935 onthe Indiana Campus.

Significant to all of these universities thatwere blazing new trails was the fact that inevery instance the enlightened and vision-ary practitioner of his day was instrumentalin motivating these institutions to be con-cerned with police education. Vollmer headsthe list, but others also have their place in-cluding George Brereton, Don Kooken,Frank Kreml, William Wiltberger, V. A.Leonard, Oscar Olander, and O. W. Wilson.

In the mid-twentieth century, as we ap-proach the year 2000, we stand on thethreshold of another thrust forward. Thenumber of police education programs thathave developed in the past two decades issimply incredible. I should like to mentionone of these because it is different from theothers.

In 1954, the City College of New York es-tablished a Police Science Program underthe joint sponsorship of the Bernard BaruchSchool of Business and Public Administra-tion and the New York City Police Depart-ment. It was primarily a two-year programoffering an Associate degree in Applied Sci-ence in Police Science with an immediateoption for students who wished to study forthe baccalaureate degree. A graduate pro-gram leading to the Master of Public Ad-ministration with a major in Police Sciencewas offered shortly after the undergraduateprogram was introduced.

This program was unique because it limitedenrollment to those engaged in law enforce-ment work and was jointly administered bythe college and the police department. Thecommanding officer of the police academywas designated as Assistant Dean of thecollege and a Joint Committee on Curricu-lum and Personnel was established withthree members from the police departmentand the Baruch School on the committee.

The John Jay College of Criminal Justicedeveloped from this program. It is the fifthsenior college of the New York City Uni-versity system with its own faculty drawnfrom the police department and the academiccommunity. Although the college still servesthe New York City Police Department pri-marily, the admission policy has been liber-alized and a limited number of generalstudents are admitted to the program.

Junior Colleges

Recently, the development of new juniorcollege programs has been accelerated. Thisis also true of police programs among thejunior colleges. These institutions are play-ing a major role in meeting the educationalneeds of the police service and of our soci-ety. An official in the U.S. Education Of-fice considers them to be “one of thebrightest hopes in higher education” for thenation. The community college can serveas a significant training ground for skilledworkers, sub-professionals, and techniciansof all kinds.

Enrollment in junior colleges is keeping pacewith their development. Vast amounts ofmoney are being expended by Federal, state,and local government to continue their ex-pansion. Thus, many educators are urginga new minimum of fourteen years of free

education. This recommendation has im-plications for educational standards for po-lice recruitment.

According to the new “Directory of PoliceScience Programs” to be published soon bythe I.A.C.P., there are 133 colleges offeringthe associate degrees in police education.The previous directory listed 100 programsin 1965; thus, there has been an increase of33 1/3 percent in the number of programsin this short time.

Currently, 31 universities offer the bacca-laureate degree, making a total of 164 insti-tutions of higher learning involved in formallaw enforcement education. The geographi-cal distribution of junior colleges includes61 in California, 10 in Florida, 9 in Michi-gan, and 8 in New York.

Any field of study that has developed as rap-idly as police education is likely to encoun-ter serious problems. These problems arenot unlike those experienced in other disci-plines. We should be alert to the conditionswhich can adversely affect the teaching pro-gram and the quality of instruction. Theseinclude:

1. The attempts by small colleges to imi-tate the university in the scope and num-ber of its course offerings.

2. A proliferation of courses.3. Inadequate staff resources to support ex-

tensive specialization.4. Heavy teaching loads that can develop

in academic departments. A PLS studyindicates that 18 hours a week is not un-common. Some have as many as 21-25hours.

5. The number of different preparations forinstructors. One political science studyrevealed that one man taught 20 differ-

ent courses, five each semester over afour semester cycle.

6. The adequateness and compatibility be-tween the educational preparation ofthose selected to teach courses and thesubject matter assigned.

7. In terms of organizational arrangements,the assignment of police education as asubordinate unit of study in anothermajor teaching program.

8. Adequacy of library acquisitions. Howmany volumes should an undergraduatelibrary contain in order to meet the mini-mal needs of the teacher in police edu-cation?

In summary, organizational arrangements,teaching or duty loads, educational prepa-ration, scope of offerings, scholarly asso-ciation, and the adequacy of library materialsare important factors to be considered in de-veloping a quality educational program.

If police education is to achieve the statureit seeks in the academic community, it mustbe considered as a part of the criminal jus-tice process which has its own area of hu-man experience to analyze, its own body offactual and descriptive data to gather, itsown conceptual ideas to formulate and test.Our challenge is to develop police educa-tion within this context.

1 Radzinowicz, L. (1961). In Search ofCriminology. London: Heinmann. p. 115.2 Ibid. p. 115.3 Ibid. p. 114.4 Journal of Criminal Law, Crimonology andPolice Science, 44(1), May-June 1953. p.101.5 Journal of Criminal Law, Crimonology andPolice Science, 52(1), May-June 1961. p.103.6 Ibid. p. 114.