11 Facts About August Vollmer

In July 1890, the August Vollmer family moved across the bay to Berkeley.

In 1904, August Vollmer became a local hero when he leapt onto a runaway railroad freight car on Shattuck Avenue in downtown Berkeley and applied its brakes, preventing a disastrous collision with a loaded passenger coach at the Berkeley station.

In 1909, Berkeley created the office of police chief, and August Vollmer became the first to hold that office.

In 1921, August Vollmer was elected president of the International Association of Chiefs of Police.

August Vollmer left the Berkeley Police Department for a brief stint as police chief of the Los Angeles Police Department from 1923 to 1924, but returned upon being disillusioned by the extent of corruption and hostility towards leadership coming from outside the department.

In 1926, August Vollmer played himself in the silent serial Officer 444 which was filmed in Berkeley under the direction of John Ford's brother Francis Ford.

August Vollmer contributed to sections of the Wickersham Commission national criminal justice report of 1931, namely to the fourteenth and final volume, The Police, which advocated for a well-selected, well-educated, and well-funded professionalized police force.

August Vollmer was the 1931 recipient of the Benjamin Ide Wheeler Medal.

August Vollmer retired from the Berkeley Police in 1932 as his eyesight began to fail.

August Vollmer was among the five people elected as the first directors of the East Bay Regional Parks District in 1934.

August Vollmer authored the 1936 book The Police and Modern Society.