August Vollmer, the founder of "professional policing", was born in New Orleans, Louisiana on March 7, 1876. In his early years, Vollmer had a variety of jobs including firefighting, a coal and feed business, a private in the military, and a mail carrier. In 1905, he became the town marshal of Berkeley, California and in 1909 became the chief of police for Berkeley.

In the wake of years of police corruption and brutality throughout the United States, Vollmer sought to increase the professionalism of police. During his tenure as police chief, Vollmer began to revamp the Berkeley Police Department by making changes that would transform policing across the nation. Vollmer instituted police training, advocated using college-educated officers, and promoted the use of new technology for fighting crime such as fingerprinting, polygraph machines and crime laboratories. In addition, Vollmer equipped the Berkeley Police Department with radio communication and in 1914 established the first automobile...