who is considered the father of american policing
August Vollmer In the ensuing years, Vollmer's reputation as the "father of modern law enforcement" grew.[1] He was the first chief to require that police officers attain college degrees, and persuaded the University of California to teach criminal justice. In 1916, UC Berkeley established a criminal justice program, headed by Vollmer.[2] At Berkeley, he taught O.W. Wilson, who went on to become a professor and continued efforts to professionalize policing, by being the first to establish the first police science degree at Municipal University of Wichita (now Wichita State University).[3][4] This is often seen as the start of criminal justice as an academic field.
Law enforcement in the United States Law enforcement operates primarily through governmental police agencies. There are 17,985 U.S. police agencies in the United States which include college campus police, sheriff departments, local police, and federal agencies. The law-enforcement purposes of these agencies are the investigation of suspected criminal activity, referral of the results of investigations to the courts, and the temporary detention of suspected criminals pending judicial action. Law enforcement agencies, to varying degrees at different levels of government and in different agencies, are also commonly charged with the responsibilities of deterring criminal activity and preventing the successful commission of crimes in progress. Other duties may include the service and enforcement of warrants, writs, and other orders of the courts.