O. W. Wilson | Biography

O.W. Wilson was born in 1902 in South Dakota. His family moved to Berkeley, California, where he enrolled at the University of California and completed his degree in criminology in 1924. In order to pay his tuition, Wilson took a job as a patrolman with the Berkeley Police Department under Chief August Vollmer, also a professor at the university. Wilson became Vollmer's protege and most influential student. After his graduation from Berkeley, Wilson became chief of police in Fullerton, California, on Vollmer's recommendation. From 1928 to 1939, Wilson served as chief of police in Wichita, Kansas. In World War II, Wilson was a colonel and chief public safety officer in Italy, England, and Germany from 1943 to 1947. Wilson also taught as a professor of police administration, like his mentor Vollmer, at Berkeley from 1939 to 1960. Wilson was dean at Berkeley from 1950 to 1960. From 1960 to 1967 he became a reform-minded superintendent of the Chicago Police Department. His book, Police Administration, was one of the most influential police administration textbooks used by police management at the time. Like Vollmer, Wilson was unique in that he held multiple roles as a practitioner, educator, scholar, and consultant.

Wilson attracted national attention by reorganizing the Wichita, Kansas police department initiating such innovations as marked police vehicles, two-way radio dispatch, and the use of lie detector machines and mobile crime laboratories. Wilson became known for his ethical behavior and for eliminating police corruption. He taught that the police could not prevent crime because they had little control over social causes, such as poverty and neglect. However, the police could repress and control crime through aggressive tactics such as preventive mobile patrol. Until the 1930s, foot patrol was the dominant focus for police work. As part of the professional crime-fighting model, Wilson promoted motorized patrol as being more effective than the traditional foot patrol. Officers on foot were limited in their ability to respond, especially when weather or other conditions impeded their action. It was believed that officers utilizing mobile patrol could cover more territory, respond more quickly to criminal incidents, and provide greater deterrence. Wilson did not foresee officers remaining in their vehicles for most of their shifts and becoming isolated from the public. He believed that officers would still observe, talk to, and interact with the community for whom they were responsible. Later studies (Kansas City, 1978) also showed that increased random patrol did not serve as a deterrent for criminal activity.

Wilson carried out Vollmer's approach to police professionalism. He saw corruption as the by-product of poor organization, inefficient planning, and an unorganized command structure. Police managers were encouraged to separate themselves from local politics, utilize rigorous police hiring practices and training, and learn how to use the latest technological innovations available to law enforcement. At the time, these innovations included marked patrol cars, radio communication systems, and enhanced record keeping.