In 1935, Michigan State Agriculture College established the first Bachelor's Degree Program in Police Administration in the United States.
This is a historical explanation of national, state, and local events underlying the establishment of the program. The developing program was examined from 1935 to 1963, at which time the School of Police Administration and Public Safety had developed a programmatic foundation suggestive of the current title--School of Criminal Justice.
It was concluded that the Police Administration Course was promoted by Michigan Police leaders familiar with national issues surrounding police education, able and willing to forge the political, institutional, and personal relationships for such a pioneering endeavor.
The "Land Grant Philosophy" developed by the Michigan State Agriculture College influenced the 1935 decision to establish the program.
Recommendations for future relationships between university education and criminal justice agencies are based on this unique philosophy.
It has been claimed that there is no history until it is produced by the historian, but that would be impossible without the preservation of historical artifacts. Therefore, I would like to recognize the personnel of Michigan State University, University of Michigan, and State of Michigan Archives for their stewardship of history, and assistance to those who explore the past.
The written record provides a foundation, but the oral testimony of those who participated in the School's early development supplied the color and spirit that makes current history a rewarding pursuit. Professors Robert Scott, Ralph Turner, Arthur Brandstatter, Louis Radelet, and Leon Weaver gave freely of their time and were willing to share with me their early experience at Michigan State. Many thanks to Dennis Banas of the School of Criminal Justice for his assistance in developing a historical methodology, supplying leads and help with the analysis of historical situations.
The members of my Thesis Committee, Professors Kenneth Christian, Vincent Hoffman and Robert Trojanowicz provided the counsel that makes study at Michigan State University a happy and memorable event. Professor Hoffman displayed his own interest in criminal justice history and provided a very helpful examination of my work. Professor Trojanowicz encouraged me to attempt this historical project. Special thanks goes to my Committee Chairman Professor Christian who burned the late night oil reading my many drafts and constantly reminding me that the goal was to "finish the project."
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter.
I. INTRODUCTION
Scope and Purpose
Education for Police
II. THE
LAND GRANT PHILOSOPHY: A MICHIGAN PRODUCT
The Michigan Land Grant
Call for Federal Help
Michigan State Philosophy
III.
19TH CENTURY CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
Early Criminal Justice Research
Civil War, Industrialization, and Transportation
IV. THE
ROARING TWENTIES
Prohibition and Corruption
City and State Reform
College and Cops
V. THE
CRIME COMMISSION MOVEMENT AND THE STATE CRIME COMMISSION OF MICHIGAN
Federal, State, and Local Commissions
The Michigan Commission
Pre-crime Commission Training Efforts
Chiefs of Police Assist Crime Commission
Gathering National Data
Police Training Recommendations
Michigan's Police Training Experiment
Development and Implementation of a National Body of Police Knowledge
VI. THE
1930'S: CORRUPTION EXPOSED, DEPRESSION HITS, PROHIBITION ENDS, FBI AND
MICHIGAN STATE LEAD TRAINING AND EDUCATION EFFORT
Signs of the Times
Scientific Crime Detection
Cause for Study
The Report on Police
The Attorney General's Conference on Crime
Michigan Delegation
Roosevelt Speaks
Training at Land Grant Colleges
The Michigan Coalition
The Leadership of Dr. LeMoyne Snyder
Olander's State Police
The Football Connection
The Michigan State Philosophy in Action
January to September 1935, The Critical Time
VII.
1935-1941 THE DEVELOPING PROGRAM
Bremer the First Director
Recruiting Students
The Academic Program
Science and Art
Administrative Concepts
Technical Concepts
The Training Director
Major Instructors
Homines Legis Organized
Selling the Graduates
Conclusion 1935-41
VIII.
1941-1946 THE WAR YEARS
Tom King: "Banking the Coals
College Reorganization
IX. 1946-1956 THE SUPERSTRUCTURE DEVELOPS: IDENTITY
IS SOUGHT
Arthur Brandstatter Returns to Michigan State
Student Organization Revived
Seeking Identity
Criminalistics at MSC
Broadening the Base
Highway Traffic Administration
National Institute on Police and Community Relations
Security Administration
Early Considerations
First Formal Courses
Security Moves Forward
Stabilization
Campus Based Police Training
X. ANALYSIS,
CONCLUSIONS, PROJECTION
1925-1945 Pre-history and a Fast Start
1946-1956 Stability and Refinement
1957-1963 The Winds of Change
1964-1984 A Research Perspective
1985 and Beyond
A Final Word
APPENDIX A - The Ralph F. Turner Criminal Investigation Thesis
APPENDIX B - Harold D. Smith - Michigan Municipal League
APPENDIX C - Albert A. Carroll - Grand Rapids Superintendent of Police
APPENDIX D - Chronology - MSU and School of Criminal Justice
The history of the events leading to the Police Administration Program, now the School of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University, and the social, political, and professional framework of the developing years, has never been adequately documented and analyzed. The purpose of this research was to test the proposition that the Police Administration Program, at Michigan State College was influenced by national ideas and events, and that its futuristic character and speed of implementation was a result of Michigan's unique criminal justice leadership, and the pioneering philosophy of Michigan State College.
Further, it is proposed that: the success of the program prior to World War II, was derived from the fact that Michigan State, with its five year program, was turning out an elitist product, backed by a strong marketing program and supported by both high ranking college and police personnel; the program had been implemented as an article of faith and the originators had their own reputation on the line; and, they had to make every effort to make the program succeed.
The main period examined in this study covers the years 1925, to September 1935, as an analysis of events leading up to the implementation of the program, and September 1935 to September 1963. A brief review is also included covering the origin of the "Land Grant Philosophy", and early Michigan criminal justice research.
The first period included exciting and memorable years in the development of scientific crime detection techniques, and the formulation of police training and educational theories throughout the nation. It was the period during which Michigan criminal justice leaders experimented with police training programs and developed personal and professional relationships with key educators and administrators at Michigan State College.
The later period was one of program development with an interruption during World War II, and then a period of rapid development and growth as high school students and military veterans flooded the campus. The year 1963 marked the start of a new era of thought and broadening service to the entire criminal justice system. Further a major change in the institutional setting of the program was forthcoming. Therefore, 1963 marked a logical place to halt this historical examination.
In the spring of 1935, a new program was being proposed for Michigan's land-grant institution, Michigan State College. By September, the new program was in place and Michigan State was the first college in the United States to offer students a scientific police training course leading to a Bachelor of Science degree in Police Administration.
Since that fall of 1935, when thirty-nine adventurous students enrolled, the fame of the program and its graduates has spread throughout the world1. The original goal was to provide scientific training and education to future law enforcement officers, and security officers and investigators for private business2. That goal was kept in view until it became evident that the entire criminal justice system could be served by the Michigan State College program.
What forces suggested a role for institutions of higher education in the training of police officers? Michigan, up to 1935, had never produced a police executive with a national reputation for encouraging education for police officers. How then, can the swift developments from spring to fall of 1935 be explained? Were the founders aware of national movements to educate police officers, or was the program at Michigan State a home grown product? What was the nature of the leadership that enabled police, education, legislative and executive officials to propose, plan, approve, and implement a revolutionary educational program in such a brief time span? These questions have never been fully explored. This paper will attempt to more fully examine and answer some of them.
Evidence will be presented supporting the proposition that the founders of police education at Michigan State were well aware of national recommendations for educating police, encountered the opportunities to communicate with recognized police leaders of the time, gained the interest of a pioneering educational institution, and had a desire to not only establish a program of police education in Michigan, but also to be first in the nation.
This is a slightly different conclusion than was reached by Professors John H. McNamara and Victor G. Strecher, of the School of Criminal Justice, in their 1976 history of the School, prepared for the National Criminal Justice Educational Consortium. They argued that the Michigan State program developed in isolation.
Up to 1935, August Vollmer, from California, was one of the most recognized police leaders in the nation. McNamara and Strecher spoke of his work in California and Chicago, his contributions to a national examination of crime, and his influence on other training programs across the country. Based on the recollections of former graduates of the early program who had, "no memory of Vollmer's or other programs...at the time", they concluded that there was, "no trace of these influences in the beginnings of the Michigan State Program".
McNamara and Strecher's historical account of the School focused primarily on the operation after the start in 1935. In their summary of those early developments, they stressed the involvement of the Michigan State Police (MSP) as a, "co-sponsor and provider of instructional system." They said the program, "reflected the values and interests of law enforcement in that period." Their evidence suggests that the law enforcement interests were those of the MSP. However, the facts now indicate the program was a restatement of local, state, and national thoughts on police training and education in the United States up to 1935.
McNamara and Strecher were amused by the speed of program development after the idea was proposed to college authorities. They said, "The delightful simplicity and speed of this development and approval are striking in this day of trilevel committees ..."3 Current evidence suggests the apparent speed was a result of several years of experience and possibly a belief on the part of the promoters that they would not be first with a college degree program.
It is somewhat misleading to examine decisions at official meetings of public agencies and assume, as in the case of the Police Administration Program, that the speed of development was a result of simpler times, mutational political behavior, or social spontaneous generation. A seed will not germinate and develop fruit when put to rest on barren rock, and the same can be said of the generation and growth of ideas.
The fact that the program at Michigan State was a first in the nation testifies to the conclusion that conceptual germination of police education found fertile soil and favorable environment at Michigan State. The first task of this research, then, is to review the development of Michigan State as an educational institution and of the so called "Land Grant Philosophy" as a theory of mass education and community service.
A student, visitor or new employee cannot be at Michigan State University for any great length of time before some activity will be explained as resulting from the "land grant philosophy." But just what is this so called "land grant philosophy?"
Answers come from many points of view. To some it may mean education for all regardless of wealth. To others it could mean a tradition of practical applied subjects. And to still others, it may represent a revered tradition, but without any idea of what land grant institutions were all about. The Land Grant College System is often dated from the Morrill Act signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1862 giving a substantial grant of land to each state, the revenue of which was to be used for the development and support of agriculture schools.
An example of the Morrill Act as a foundation for community service and educational action can be found in the two year research project that led to the establishment of the Highway Traffic Safety Center at Michigan State in 1955. The authors of the report, in recommending the development of the Center as a way to meet the present and future needs of traffic safety said, "We are abiding by the great principle of the Morrill Act, the promotion of the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions of life." Senator Morrill, they said, "was a man of vision. He knew that the Land Grant College Act should be worded so as to include services and research impossible to imagine in the nation as it was then (1862)" 1.
Senator Justin S. Morrill may have been a man of vision, and was a very influential person but, the inspiration for the Land Grant College Act came from the Michigan Congressional delegation in support of the recommendations of college President Joseph R. Williams.
Michiganders were determined to keep the struggling Michigan Agriculture College (MAC) moving forward and to use its own land grant financing scheme as a method of future financial support. A national program would insure revenue for Michigan. President Williams distributed his arguments to members of Congress and spent much time in Washington making personal contacts. He worked very close with Senator Morrill. The Senator's only speech in support of the Land Grant Bill included statements provided him by President Williams2.
Actually, the political climate for education in Michigan was set forth in the ordinance of 1787, for the government of the Northwestern Territory. MAC President Theophilus C. Abbot in an early history of the school quotes the pertinent passage "Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged." 3 Abbot, writing in 1883, pointed out that MAC had already supplied department heads for schools of agriculture in ten other states and had research results accepted in England and Europe. This tradition was repeated later by the graduates of the Police Administration Program.
While the administrators of Michigan Territory did not mention agriculture when they called for the development of the University of Michigan, when the University of Michigan was established in 1837, a department of agriculture was required. Michigan's constitution was the first state in the Union to require the appointment of a State Superintendent of Public Instruction. The first Superintendent, Rev. John D. Pierce, appointed in 1836, recommended in 1839, the establishment of an agriculture college.
When the State Normal College in Ypsilanti (the forerunner of Eastern Michigan University) was established in 1849 for the prime purpose of training teachers, it was also required to "give instruction in the mechanic arts, and in the art of husbandry and agricultural chemistry." 4
On April 2, 1849, the Michigan legislature approved an Act setting up the State Agriculture Society to which John C. Holmes became the first Secretary, and according to Abbot, the most influential person in the quest to set up an independent college of agriculture at East Lansing. Due in part to Holmes' leadership, the new Michigan Constitution of 1850, commanded the establishment of such a school. Article 13, section 11 stated:
The Superintendent of Public Instruction and the Chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture recommended the Ag School be attached to the Normal School, (teachers college). The University reacted by establishing an agriculture program to prove they were worthy of the funds.
What was required however, was to convince the State Agriculture Society led by Holmes. The Society was impressed by both schools, but the developing farm lobby prevented action in favor of either school6.
The society was leaning towards the University of Michigan. But the society had, since 1849, focused on the possibility of a separate agriculture school. The decision against the University of Michigan arose from the fact that they refused to develop a practical program and a system to provide information to non-student farmers7.
In January, 1855, Governor Kingsley S. Bingham thought the "soon as practicable" time stated in the Constitution had arrived and he came out in full support of taking the appropriate action. Various bills were submitted, and debated, but on February 12, 1855, Act 130, establishing the agriculture school as an independent entity and located near Lansing was passed into law.
President Abbot gave high praise to John C. Holmes as the most influential person in the fight to set up the school as defined in Act 130. Holmes had all the answers. He had collected information far and wide and was ever ready to bend the ears of legislators and other persons interested in the idea. Later in 1857, '59 and '61 he did a turn as professor of horticulture.
With the establishment of the Agricultural College near Lansing the state went ahead with the sale of the public lands, but by the start of the second year of school, 1858, the money was nearly gone and at the close of 1858 the College was $13,000 in debt8.
Meanwhile the Michigan Congressional delegation was busy in Washington trying to gain Federal help. Substantial federal land holdings remained in most states and the idea was to replicate the 1855 Michigan Land Grant financing system on a national basis. President James Buchanan, who could not find the courage to dissuade the South from leaving the Union vetoed the Land Grant Bill. It was left for President Lincoln to save both the Union and agriculture education, the latter when he signed the Morrill Act in 1862.
For Michigan State, the Act was signed just in time, as the 240,000 acres provided $22,000 per year at least up to 1883. With the increased financial support, interest developed in moving the college from the Lansing area.
The final push came in 1869, when the University of Michigan sponsored a Bill to move the College to Ann Arbor and make it a department of the university. The politics were with the farmers this time around. The Bill was defeated and a $70,000 appropriation Bill for the college was passed by the State Senate 22 to 8. With this defeat of the University of Michigan, the urban newspapers turned around and supported the College at Lansing9. It was never again challenged.
During this ten year battle to gain independent status and identity, an interesting scenario took place that was to solidify for all time the fundamental philosophy of the Land Grant college system. During the hard times of the late 1850's a proposal was made to turn the College into a technical school. Action was taken in 1860 in this direction but met with strong opposition from the agriculture interests. Farmers, according to Abbot, felt, "that in their own institution, their sons were to receive an education not inferior to that given in any college." 10 This led the State Agriculture Society to push for a separate governing board, and in 1861 the College was reorganized and the State Board of Agriculture created as the administrative body. In other words the agriculture community wanted both the practical arts and the theories and philosophies that provided the foundations for the practical pursuits. This combining of the practical and the theoretical was the hallmark of the land grant college movement, and remains so to this day.
Michigan State became an independent college of agriculture because there was a geniune need to improve agriculture, support by leaders in the agriculture societies, belief that education must be open to all qualified students, belief that it should be a mix of theory and practical application, and finally, belief that it should be taught by people who had practical experience. Further, Michigan had elected leaders willing to risk their political futures on unproven theories.
This last ingredient is why Michigan State is recognized as the first successful independent college of agriculture, rather than New York, which intended to rely on private endowments, and failed, rather than authorize support from the state.
In 1915, Dr. William J. Beal explained the learning theory of practical work and study that had existed since the founding of the College. He said, "The student who could get work at the garden under my supervision, considered himself fortunate, for he learned to do things well ..." 11 Recently Professor Emeritus Ralph Turner, of the School of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University, in restating his own philosophy of a professional school said, "it is a place where people learn to do things well." 12
The success of Michigan State did not spring from extensive surveys of need, and years of precise planning. Instead, it came from the acknowledgment of an idea by bold leaders in the field of agriculture, responsible public leaders, and its ability to provide tangible results to agriculture producers. A unique mental chemistry compounded from ideas, visions of the future, the practical service role of education, the mixing of theory with practice, the notion of education unrestricted by social status or wealth, recognition of social issues, response to the needs of clientele groups, and responsive political leadership produced the "Michigan State Philosophy".
With the enactment of the Morrill Act in 1862, and the growth of other agriculture colleges, this outlook on education became known as the "land grant philosophy." This partnership with people was continued as other programs outside of agriculture developed. As each succeeding administration developed its own style and programmatic interests, the Michigan State philosophy of responding to peoples' needs continued through a series of administrators infused with the founding spirit of Michigan State.
While the state and the embryonic agriculture college were developing, theories of crime and punishment were being discussed in Michigan. Again, as in agriculture, the practical mind of Michigan pioneers can be viewed in the issues surfacing as Michigan became one of the first states to abolish capital punishment. The Michigan Legislature abolished capital punishment in 1847 and, as the state grew and crime increased, the age old question of the relationship of crime to capital punishment was argued.
In 1869, Jackson Prison Agent (now called Warden) Henry H. Bingham, issued a report on Michigan criminals from 1839 through 1869 to demonstrate the changes from capital punishment to solitary confinement for life. From 1847-1869 58 persons were convicted of murder and sentenced to solitary confinement for life. By 1869, 29 were still in prison. During this time, 13 died, 6 were discharged for new trial and were not reconvicted, 4 were pardoned, 2 escaped, and 4 had their sentences commuted from solitary confinement to simple imprisonment for life1.
In 1849, prison authorities had been given the discretion to move prisoners from solitary confinement to the general prison population. So, by 1869, only five were still in solitary confinement, three of these were insane. These people had been insane or at least a little insane when they came in, so that while prison officials conceded that "long confinement ... has a depressing effect upon the intellect," research indicated that "no case has occurred in this prison where a convict has become insane while in solitary confinement." 2
Along with the problems of capital punishment was the question of whether or not crime was on the increase. Bingham admitted that it was, but that it was due to the increase industrialization of the state and not the abolishment of capital punishment. In fact, he had statistics to show that except for the years following the civil war, per capita crime went down3.
The point here is that Michigan criminal justice officials were venturing into the world of research on crime and delinquency about the same time that Michigan State College was being developed. Even though no indications were present at the time to suspect that the college would, a generation later, serve the criminal justice community, the seeds of collaboration were being formed in the minds of enterprising people of the time.
The second half of the 19th century brought a dramatic change in law enforcement problems and in society' s response to these problems. The push west with the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825, was accelerated in the 1840's and '50's. The development and spread of railroads brought forth a more mobile criminal. The mobility of the police, however, remained static and more or less confined to local jurisdictions. In the 1850's as criminal gangs obtained bigger and bigger hauls from the railroads, the voids were filled by private security. One of the more famous railroad crook chasers was Allen Pinkerton. Pinkerton, as a young businessman was an anti-slavery proponent. When he left his short stint as a Chicago police detective, he obtained a lucrative contract with a railroad also assisted by a lawyer named A. Lincoln. Thus, Pinkerton became an expert in security, and connected with the right political organization. Pinkerton gained fame by protecting Lincoln on the way to his inauguration and later operated the first spy system for the new president. He was not as skilled in infiltrating the enemy camp as he was in tracking down criminal gangs, he left government service in some disgrace, but his private detective agency became very successful in the years following the Civil War4.
After the war, police organizations grew in response to the increase in population and crime in the large cities. The corruption that accompanied this growth eventually led to citizen reform movements to control the corruption resulting from gambling, alcohol, and other vice activities.
One of the attempts at reform in the late 1800's was the New York City effort by a citizen's group that resulted in Theodore Roosevelt being appointed President of the Police Board in 1895. In two years of office he gained a national reputation for ridding the police department of graft and corruption5.
The year 1919 marked the end of a seventy-five year fight to prohibit the sale of alcoholic beverages in the United States and the beginning of a lawless epoch that brought into being modern organized crime and police work, widespread corruption, innovative police administrators, and citizen reform groups. The fourteen years of American prohibition wrought profound changes on the American social fabric and on the operation of the police function in the United States.
August Vollmer, a giant among giants in the modern police movement was tinkering with the idea of making use of the colleges for training police. In 1916 he published his ideas on the role of a police training school and noted that "a school for the special training of police officers is a requirement of the times."1 His recommendation involved the selection of qualified candidates and a school under the direct control of the police department.
While Vollmer did not rule out the future possibility of persons attending a police training program prior to employment, it was not in his plan at the time. He was very interested in using the colleges, but only to the extent that they could be controlled by the police. He was impressed by the English and European police systems. His police training and education philosophy was very close to the system still used in England where the university training of police officers is encouraged after they have proven themselves in the field2.
For the next 30 years, Vollmer traveled the United States in various capacities such as studying police departments, teaching police administration, and attending and providing leadership at the annual meeting of the International Association of Chiefs of Police. In 1920 he addressed the Annual meeting held in Detroit. In spite of his unquestioned leadership, he was never able to became part of a team effort such as that which put together the Police Administration Program at Michigan State in 1935.
In 1919, the improved technology from the recent World War was helping Henry Ford turn out his Model T by the droves for consumers hungry to take advantage of this advance in transportation. "Any color as long as you order black," was the slogan, and legend has it that Ford told his engineers to design the Model T so that a farmer could get a milk can in the back seat. In 1920, that milk can in the back seat was hauling a much more interesting, though illegal, liquid than that recommended by the agriculture specialists at Michigan State.
Along with the cars came drivers who were careless with their own lives and contemptuous of the lives of others. Soon the police were involved in the control of traffic and the investigation of motor vehicle accidents3. In Michigan, the State Troops had performed well as a home guard during the war; Governor Albert E. Sleeper in his address to the legislature on January 2, 1919, recommended that they be employed on a permanent basis - the state police organization was born in Michigan.
On July 26, 1919, a football letter winning collegian from Ferris Institute, left college and joined the Michigan State Troops. This college educated man, Oscar G. Olander, was not a likely candidate for the horse mounted troops of the legendary Col. Roy Vandercook, but he would have been just what Vollmer envisioned. At 5 foot nine inches tall, moderate build, quiet and retiring, but with a strong temper that could surface when pressed, Olander soon gained the attention of Vandercook for his focus on detail and diplomatic ways.
These were the formative years of the Michigan State Police (MSP). They were praised by many; others tried in vain to have the force discontinued. Eventually, the State Troops earned their right to remain as a full fledged state wide police organization.
The development of the MSP during this period is the story of the personal leadership of Commissioner Oscar Olander. He took a "rag tag" group of stout hearted men and guided them into a modern police organization of high international standing. From 1923 to 1947, the name Olander meant the Michigan State Police.
Oscar G. Olander was born in Cadillac, Michigan, and won a football letter before leaving Ferris Institute and joining the MSP on July 26, 1919. No one can say how much his early college training contributed to his rocket like rise to the head of the organization, but he went through the ranks of Corporal and Sergeant in 1920, was promoted to Lieutenant in 1921, and Captain and Deputy Commissioner June 1, 1923. Civil service was not on the scene at that time, and administrators were free to choose officers according to their own judgment or as bent by politics. There is no indication at this time that his rise was dictated by politics. Nevertheless, he was appointed Commissioner in 1926 when he was 26 years old4. He was reappointed by several governors of both parties and remained Commissioner until his retirement in 1947.
Olander's personal dedication to developing courteous, citizen-oriented police officers placed an indelible stamp on every state police officer during his tenure and for the next thirty years of the organization. This zeal for a well behaved officer was transmitted to Japan when he was called by General Douglas MacArthur to reorganize the police system of Japan in 1946. His success in that mission, where others had failed, was probably because of his people oriented philosophy, rare in police administrators at the time5.
In 1919, the horse was still the main transportation method used by many police departments. This was especially true of the State Troops. As roads opened up and motor vehicle traffic started to grow, new methods were called for and the motorcycle became the way of life for both city and rural police officers. Thanks to prohibition, the MSP were able to obtain cars, for their only source of this type of transportation was the confiscated cars of bootleggers.
The State Capital, located in Lansing as a result of a legislative practical joke6, and Michigan Agriculture College at East Lansing became a source of motor vehicle traffic from Detroit and a route of bootleggers as they made their deliveries and continued on their way to Grand Rapids. The attraction of the MAC campus and the need for traffic control through East Lansing was about to have its impact on the future Police Administration Program.
In the fall of 1921, Donald J. Bremer, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Rudolf Bremer of Howell, Michigan, and first director of the Police Administration Program, started as a freshman at Michigan Agriculture College (MAC) . While MAC was the ideal college for a young farm boy from Livingston County, he was not interested in farming and enrolled in the liberal arts program and majored in literature.
Bremer joined the local chapter of the Aurora Literary Society, an off campus fraternity. National fraternities had been banned by the State Board of Agriculture in 1897. The rule was rescinded in 1920 and in the spring of 1922, the Aurora society petitioned the national office of Delta Sigma Phi for a charter as a local chapter. About 2,500 students were enrolled at MAC and the society projected the college could grow to "3,500 students within the next five or six years." Robert S. Shaw, Dean of Agriculture, and Frank S. Kedzie, Dean of Applied Science both submitted letters of approval to the application. Sometime later it was approved. Bremer was listed as freshman and a member of varsity boxing and All-Fresh Baseball Squad7.
While he apparently enjoyed the exclusivity and social activity of fraternal life, he also had a flair for excitement and physical combat. He became an accomplished boxer on the teams of MAC pugilists. He also boxed semi-pro in the tavern bouts in nearby cities. He was about six foot tall, with a slender build that allowed him to fight as a welterweight, thus giving him a reach advantage over many opponents8.
Bremer needed extra money to stay in school, so in April of 1922, he joined the East Lansing Police Department as a motorcycle traffic officer. In addition to his job with East Lansing, he at one time held down a part time job as a campus traffic officer, and soon became known as "East Lansing's Famous College Cop", about the same time as Vollmer's Berkley recruits were making their marks as "College Cops."
Motorcycles were effective against the vehicles of 1922, but they were dangerous machines then as now. In June of that year Bremer was chasing a speeder down Farm Lane toward Grand River (at that time Farm Lane continued its present path and exited on Grand River) when a driver on Grand River Avenue, turned into the campus and hit him head on. He and his bike crashed through the windshield and he was severely injured9. He carried facial scars for the rest of his life. He received other serious injuries in the line of motorcycle duty, but always seemed to bounce back and continue his work. The injuries did interfere with his college progress, so that he did not graduate until 1927.
It was during Bremer's college years that the College name was changed. The original title, Michigan State Agriculture College, was an accurate description of what the original college was all about. By the 1920s, programs outside the field of agriculture had been added. In the early days, the most common name used for the institution was the Agriculture College. In some cases it was called the State Agriculture College, but as other similar colleges developed around the nation, the name became Michigan Agriculture College (MAC). To correct this adaptation and to reflect the growing scope of the educational programs, the name was officially changed to Michigan State College by the Michigan Legislature and signed by Governor Alexander J. Groesbeck, May 13, 1925.
On January 8, 1927, after reaching the rank of Captain, Bremer resigned from the East Lansing force to study full time so that he could graduate that year. The Lansing State Journal noted on that date that he had spent nearly five years on the department and was specializing in personnel management at the College. According to the State Journal article, "Bremer conducted his two man-sized jobs with considerable success." He was credited with making a large number of traffic arrests and working hard to catch bootleggers. His biggest haul was the capture of a truck loaded with "2,500 pints of whiskey, beer, and ale;" it was the largest single confiscation up to the time in East Lansing. While he found the motorcycle activity exciting, he did not envision his future life as a police officer10.
On January 26, 1927, his home town paper, the Livingston Democrat, discussed his career as a police officer and called him the "bane of speeders, the Nemesis of traveling bootleggers and the famed 'student cop' of Michigan State College." 11
Bremer did not stay retired for long and on April 21, 1927, he was hired as day traffic officer for the College by board Secretary H.H. Halladay. The Detroit Free Press noted that "This is the final move on the part of the authorities to persuade students to obey traffic regulations, so that cars will not have to be banned on campus." 12 Bremer graduated in the summer of 1927, and was employed full time as the College Chief of Police. By 1933, the police and security responsibilities had increased and two more officers had been added to the force.
The Michigan State News was very supportive of the work done by the campus "private police force" headed by Bremer. Another MSC graduate, Dick Rogers, (later Chief of Police at East Lansing and Midland) and former Air Force officer Tom Higgins rounded out the organization employed to police a campus of 3,000 students. They were responsible for issuing 575 parking permits a year, and supervised a daily flow of 1,000 cars, and 10,000 during Farmers Week.
Other duties included standard night watch activities and a commitment to patrol the College property at least four times a night. The officers had a number of duties similar and not so similar to those experienced by current campus officers. They had to keep lovers from parking on the remote lanes of MSC and to dispatch wild dogs that threatened the College's flock of sheep13.
The College paper was favorably impressed with the understanding of student life on the part of the officers and noted a firm but tolerant attitude on their part. This quiet but steady approach to campus policing was in contrast to the publicity of Bremer as a "speed demon cop" during his stay on the East Lansing force. His flexibility must have impressed College officials and probably helped in his later appointment to head the Police Administration Program. Another indication of the trust President Shaw had in Bremer was the fact that he had Bremer and his wife stay at the President's home when he and his family were out of town on vacation14.
All was not quiet and peaceful for Bremer and his "College Cops" as they were called. On Tuesday May 21, 1929, Michigan State's baseball team beat the University of Michigan and the celebration that evening turned into what the paper called a riot. According to the report, 7,800 students, (twice as many as actually were enrolled) took part in the hi-jinks including an attempt to force their way into an East Lansing theater. Lansing and State Police officers were called to assist; and in the end, four students were arrested. Two students were injured when they contested Bremer's authority. Bremer came out of the situation better than a Lansing officer who challenged the students to a fight and was knocked out when the students hit him with a head of cabbage15.
Some time after taking the full-time job as campus chief, Bremer began studying law under the experienced eye of Circuit Judge Leland Carr. Carr was holding regular lecture classes attended by a number of East Lansing students. Another of the early developers of the School, Dr. LeMoyne Snyder, also obtained a law degree under the tutorship of Judge Carr. A better choice of teachers could not have been made. The Carr family has enjoyed a long personal and professional relationship with the college; Judge Carr's son was and continues to be general counsel to the College. As prohibition came to an end, Bremer went quietly about his job as campus chief and law student. He completed his studies and passed the Michigan Bar in 1935, just in time to be thrust into the start of a major revolution in police education in the United States.
Bremer had a good relationship with the Michigan State Troops. He was the type of person who gained the respect of their leadership, a courageous officer in the field and one who even after being seriously injured more than once kept coming back to the action. He was also able to come through the most riotous period of the prohibition era without any blemish on his personal integrity, not a simple task considering those problem times.
But, while Bremer studied law and gained experience in law enforcement, another Michigan farm boy had entered MAC in 1922 and decided to stick with agriculture. John A. Hannah, son of a Grand Rapids chicken farmer, entered MAC in 1922 and, after graduation entered the Agriculture Extension Service to teach farmers how to cull uncooperative chickens and how to improve their flocks so to gain the higher prices during the winter season. He became a nationally known expert in poultry science. Hannah did not play collegiate sports, but he was an avid fan16. This sports interest in the late 1920's brought him into contact with another great football and baseball fan, Oscar Olander, commissioner of State Police.
Olander's meteoric rise in the ranks put him in major control of the State Police in 1923, and full control in 1926. It placed him in the historical position to view from the top the problems of law enforcement during the prohibition era, the rapid technological changes and scientific applications to crime. He also was able to wield power, based on the support of bipartisan political leadership, to the extent unknown by the leaders of similar state wide forces of any other state. Olander was well read, and in most cases, had studied and digested the issues long before staff ideas and reports were brought to him17.
Before examining some of the issues that led Michigan into pioneering efforts in police training and education one must examine national events. One of the most important criminal justice reform movements of the 1920's was the crime commission movement.
The crime commission movement of the 1920's was an outgrowth of city and regional attempts to look at crime and corrupt public officials. Two distinct types of crime commissions have developed in the United States. The most prevalent is the watchdog type funded by citizens. The best known commission of this type is the Chicago Crime Commission. It was established in 1919 and, still active today, was a model for the nation.
The other major form of crime commission is the government supported organization. Here again both single issue and broad brush agendas can be found. While both types may have similar goals, reducing crime and improving the criminal justice system, evidence suggests the citizen groups have motivated elected officials to develop government supported organizations1.
The local crime commission movements led in 1925, to the creation of a citizen funded group called the National Crime Commission. Because George W. Wickersham was a leader in this and in President Herbert Hoover's government commission, the roles of the separate commissions are often missed.
Probably the most significant result of the National Crime Commission developed because of a letter sent to the governors of each state in the spring of 1926, urging them to create crime commissions2. The influence on the establishment of the Michigan Crime Commission is not known. The legislative history, if kept, perished in the 1951 fire of the Michigan Archives or exists in the papers of individual commission members.
The Michigan Legislature created the State Crime Commission of Michigan in 1929. The Commission was given broad powers to: investigate crime in Michigan, prepare a codification of the criminal laws of the state, look into the activities of all criminal justice agencies, and make recommendations on legislation, and operating rules of any state agency involved with the control of crime. It was also required to report to the Legislature at the start of the bicennial session and at any other time so ordered by the governor or the legislature3. This Commission was very active in influencing the direction of crime control in Michigan from 1930-1938, when the last report was made. It just disappeared as World War II brought forth a much more serious national problem.
The Michigan Crime Commission held its organizational meeting in Lansing, August 15, 1929. Attorney General Wilbur M. Brucker, as required by law, was chairman. Four citizens were appointed by the governor, two senators by the President of the Senate, and two representatives by the House Speaker. Nine subcommittees were created with each chaired by a commission member. Commissioner Charles H. Culver, a House member from Detroit, headed the Committee on Police and Sheriffs.
In preparation for its work, the Commission members studied the crime surveys conducted in other states including Illinois, California, Missouri, New York, and Pennsylvania4. Shortly after the Commission's first meeting, the Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police appointed a committee to work with the Commission and identified training as their first priority.
The Michigan police chiefs did not arrive at the training priority overnight. They had nearly ten years of frustrations and false starts as a result of police training legislation - Public Act 211 of 1925.
The Michigan State Police became interested in training as Olander started to exert more influence on the organization. He understood the need for training and was aware of leaders such as Vollmer. By 1923, he was deputy Commissioner and in a position to push the training issue. While it may be mere speculation to see Olander's hand behind training legislation in 1925, it is a reasoned speculation based on his political acumen and life long interest in training. Further, given the general opposition of local police officials to grant control of statewide training functions to the State Police, it is hardly plausible to explain the 1925 training legislation as originating with local authorities.
In any event, Senator Howard Baxter, on March 10, 1925, introduced Senate Bill 175 that would "Authorize the Department of Public Safety to establish and conduct a training school for police for the instruction of law enforcing officers and to make appropriations therefore." 5 The idea was not immediately popular and on the first vote, April 8, 1925, it lost by one vote. Some very strong persuasion took place overnight because on the next day the bill passed by a 28-0 vote. The House of Representatives concurred with a title modification and on May 6, 1925, Governor Alexander J. Groesbeck signed into law Public Act 2116.
The law set forth some very interesting requirements, some of which exhibit a great deal of understanding regarding the nature and needs of police training. The law stated that the school was to be held in Lansing, described who was authorized to attend, provided for a certificate of graduation, and proposed a method for the selection of instructors. However, the most fascinating part was the specificity of course work to be covered.
The Act required the following subjects to be addressed:
The newly organized Crime Commission provided a timely opportunity for the Michigan Chiefs of Police to renew attempts to obtain training for their officers. The week following the Commission's organizational meeting, the Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police (MACP), held their sixth annual meeting at Escanaba on August 20, 21, and 22, 1929. Chief John Tolan of Escanaba, 1929 President of MACP, hosted the conference. Other officers included: First Vice President Caesar J. Scavarda of Flint, formerly with the State Police, who would later rejoin that department; Second Vice President Roy Reynolds of Ferndale; and, Secretary/Treasurer Donald S. Leonard, a Michigan State Police Lieutenant in charge of the Detroit District8.
The issue of police training was given considerable attention by the chiefs at this meeting. Chief William I. Cross of Highland Park and Superintendent Albert A. Carroll of Grand Rapids addressed the convention on the needs of training, but a solution to the training problem was suggested by Harold D. Smith, Director of the Michigan Municipal League. Reviewing the national scene Smith said, "One of the significant advances in police training during the past year is the interest shown by various universities in police training and police administration."Smith had obviously been in contact with his counterparts in New York, Massachusetts, and other states, and was also impressed by the University of Chicago, "when that institution established a chair of police administration and chose Chief August Vollmer, known to all of you, to take charge of the work." He mentioned a "zone" plan of taking the training out to small departments in New York State and said the Russell Sage Foundation had helped finance the New York training. He suggested the Municipal League and the Michigan Chiefs could co-sponsor training in Michigan9.
As a result of these discussions, the chiefs appointed a committee to work with the newly established Crime Commission, to develop and finance police training. The goal of the Chiefs was clear. In their resolution they said, "It is our opinion that such instruction should be made uniform throughout the state..." incoming President, Caesar J. Scavarda, appointed MSP Commissioner Oscar Olander as chairman. Others on the committee included: Lt. Donald S. Leonard, elected Secretary; Chiefs Robert Alspaugh, Pontiac; William I. Cross, Highland Park; Peter Hansen, Muskegon; Caesar J. Scavarda, Flint; John Tolan, Escanaba; and Superintendents Albert A. Carroll, Grand Rapids, and James Sprott, Detroit10.
The Committee on Training met with Charles H. Culver, a member of Crime Commission in charge of police. He agreed to make them members of his committee.
It was not mere accident that led to Charles H. Culver's appointment to the Crime Commission and to become chairman of the police committee. Before becoming a State Representative he had been a member of the Detroit Police Department11. He was also a member of the state legislature in 1919 and supported the permanent establishment of the State Police12. This gave him both interest in the subject of training and credibility with the police representatives invited to work with the Commission; it also helped him in his contacts with police agencies outside the State of Michigan.
Mr. Culver spent September and October 1929, visiting the police training programs of the New York City and Boston Police Departments. Culver also had communicated with Cornelius F. Cahalane the director of the very innovative New York State Training Program.
While Culver was absorbing the state of the art of police training through his travels, the police chiefs were busy on their own agenda. Their newly appointed committee met October 16, 1929, and instructed Secretary Leonard to get information on the national state of the art by writing to the New York State Police, the cities of Detroit, New York, San Francisco, and Berkeley, and to the University of Wisconsin13. At the October 30th meeting, Chief Cross suggested the State Police should not be in charge of the schools, but that it be made independent.
Because there was a law on the books, PA 211, requiring the MSP to conduct state-wide training, even though funds had never been appropriated for this purpose, it was proposed to repeal the law. Lt. Leonard suggested that they go ahead and start the school under the State Police and then change the law later. This idea was accepted, and Chairman Olander appointed Chiefs Cross, Scavarda, and Lt. Leonard to develop a training curriculum.
The committee had sent questionnaires, "throughout the country and to all police and sheriff offices in the state." It was found that the vast majority of the Michigan Chiefs were in favor of the training ideas14.
On January 11, 1930, the Committee met with the Crime Commission and delivered its final report. They recommended a Central School for recruit training, a Zone School to take training out to the remote areas, and a Continuation School for the purpose of keeping officers up to date. It was recommended that the Central School be held at East Lansing, as "it was thought that the State College might provide classrooms for this purpose."
The report recommended the State Police Training Act, Public Act 211 of 1925, be repealed and a state training act passed to set up an independent school. This would allow the director to be nominated by the State Crime Commission and appointed by the governor. They also recommended a law allowing the State Police to be assigned to local departments while local officers were in school. This last idea was passed by the legislature in 1931.
Commissioner Culver had brought Cornelius F. Cahalane, the spark plug of the New York State program, to this meeting. He had very little new to offer except to recommend the "zone" part of the training plan. The Chiefs had done their homework, and the Crime Commission approved the basic plan, including letting the State Police direct the operation until different legislation could be passed15. On January 30, 1930, the State Administrative Board released $10,000.00 to the State Police to conduct police training schools.
It should be noted that MSP Commissioner Olander acted the part of a Committee Chairman according "to the book." He was never recorded as saying anything for or against proposals to remove training from the State Police. This, it turns out, was typical of Olander. He has been described as a very attentive listener, and spoke only when it would do the most good. He did, however, know how to use the legitimate power of the Chair, and the office of State Police Commissioner.
Chief Cross, who had started the move away from MSP directed training, was appointed to the curriculum committee. On April 1, 1930, he resigned as Chief of Highland Park and was sworn in by Olander as a Captain of the Michigan State Police and given the title of Training Director16. No further efforts were made to take the training away from the MSP.
While the appointment of Cross may have been a good political move by Olander, it was an excellent move for police training in Michigan. Cross had shown by his presentations before the Chiefs' meeting his dedication to the cause of training. He, therefore, had their support and worked tirelessly toward bringing the best training to all parts of Michigan.
The first school under this program was held in Kalamazoo April 1, 1930, with "35 officers from Battle Creek, Kalamazoo, Three Rivers, and special officers from the Grand Trunk and Michigan Central Railroads attending." By the end of 1930, the first year of operation, 550 officers of all ranks and in all parts of the state had been trained. During the next three years hundreds more police officers from all parts of Michigan were provided training under the ever popular Captain Cross17.
In 1931, the Commission obtained additional legislative support for the training of local police officers. As had been predicted by the police chiefs, small departments could not release their officers from duty to attend the schools. In 1931, the Legislature amended the training act to allow the State Police to replace local officers while they were in school.
This act also mandated the training of fourteen specific subjects and left others to be added at the will of the State Police Commissioner. It may have been the first mandatory state wide police training curriculum in the United States18.
Although the Michigan Crime Commission had studied crime surveys and police training methods nationally, their records do not mention the Wickersham report. But, the chronology of events would lead to the conclusion that they were aware of the issues being prepared for the Report on Police, and were hot on the trail to meet the expected recommendations. An example of this attitude is the fact that Culver brought the New York State training expert, Cornelius F. Cahalane to Michigan a year and a half before the Report on Police was published, in which his "Zone" plan of state wide training was recommended.
The training program very quickly became recognized nationally. George H. Brereton, Under-Sheriff of San Diego County, California, said in 1930, that the Michigan State Police training program, "probably is one of the most elaborate schools of its kind in the country."19
There is evidence, however, that Cross was seeing a bigger picture than police academy training. In 1931, Cross pointed out that the MSP now required a high school diploma and that, "college trained police officers are needed in law enforcement." He added that many recruits in the last MSP recruit school were college men. Cross had also said, "College athletes make ideal police officers...and a college trained man can listen, absorb and plan action." Further he said the educated man could, "cope with scientific crime through an individual knowledge of science." 20 Unfortunately, dedication and forward thinking does not always insure the life of a public program.
The depression caused a shortage of state funds and the State Police also felt the cutbacks. Troopers were laid off. Ranking officers were demoted to save money. When the legislature failed to appropriate funds for the training program, Captain Cross was forced to leave and the glorious experiment ended June 30, 193321.
McNamara and Strecher found little direct influence from August Vollmer on the development of the Michigan State Police Administration Program. Based on this proposition, they also implied that the program was a result of local rather than national ideas.
But what is a national idea? And, how does an idea become national? Did Vollmer personally think up all of the innovations he was noted for? Or, was he just adept at implementing the ideas of others or synthesizing constellations of ideas and publishing them in a manner to influence others?
It is not the purpose of this research to thoroughly explore these propositions, but Vollmer's attention to writing for publication and his urging of his officers and friends to do the same is well known. His understanding of the importance of publishing as a major strategy for technology transfer may ultimately prove to be the real genius of August Vollmer.
A more profitable line of inquiry is to examine the leadership of Michigan police leaders to see how they contributed to the development and implementation of national police thinking during the 1920's-- the period of Vollmers' direct influence on national ideas. The role of State Police Commissioner Olander and other State Police administrators have been examined, but there were other Michigan police executives such as William Rutledge of Detroit, Albert A. Carroll of Grand Rapids, and Alfred Seymour of Lansing, who were active in the development and implementation of national police ideas.
Detroit Superintendent Rutledge had attended all but one of the annual meetings of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) from 1919 to 1929. In 1930, upon his retirement from Detroit he became the IACP's first full time Executive Secretary. Indeed, other than Richard Sylvester, it is fair to state that Rutledge had more impact on the development of the IACP than any other single police chief in the history of the association.
Part of this influence was due to his leadership in training, records, and communication developments for the Detroit Police Department, and partly due to his ability to obtain substantial funds for the operation of IACP programs. It was Rutledge who secured the Rockefeller Foundation funds to employ Bruce Smith for his research on crime records, research that led directly to the establishment of the Uniform Crime Reports that were eventually administered by the Federal Bureau of Investigation22. The IACP had, for years, struggled with the need to finance a full time executive, but it was Rutledge who obtained the promise of outside financial support and was rewarded with the job of Executive Secretary23. Rutledge operated the national IACP office from Michigan, therefore Michigan police chiefs in the early 1930's had a first rate opportunity to contribute to the pool of national ideas and to take advantage of new ideas from throughout the world.
August Vollmer had been president of the IACP for the year 1921-22 and his influence can be seen by the number of college professors who were invited to address the annual convention during his term. After Vollmer's term it was a Michigan show for the next ten years. Rutledge held the president's chair in 1923-24, and Albert A. Carroll of Grand Rapids in 1924-25. Alfred Seymour of Lansing was president of the Association in 1932. This Michigan involvement in the leadership of the IACP during the 1920's and early 30's is convincing evidence that Michigan police leaders had personal and professional relationships with west coast leaders such as Vollmer.
As to the implementation of ideas, Vollmer was clearly the leader in recruiting scientific help from the colleges to assist in crime detection. A friendly biographer can, however, project his subject into a larger than life role. Alfred Parker, in his story of the Berkley, California Police Department credits Vollmer, in 1921, with putting into service "the first radio equipped patrol car in the world." 24 It may have been true, but in a report to the 1929 meeting of the IACP, Rutledge pointed out that Detroit placed its first radio equipped car on the street in early 1921. He was not trying to claim that it was the first on the street, but only that "Detroit was among the early pioneers in police radio development."
He went on to state, however, that "it was the first department in the country to have a municipally owned station operated by licensed police operators and devoted exclusively to police work." 25 He then told the delegates of the many problems he had with the Federal Radio Commission, and that it was 1928, before the station was operating to his satisfaction. Rutledge credits Commissioner Higgins from Buffalo, New York, as suggesting the benefits of police radio at the IACP convention in 1920. Who was suggesting new ideas to whom?
At the 1930 IACP Convention, Rutledge again addressed the delegates on the progress of police radio and recited the details of the battle between the Federal Radio Commission and the State of Michigan. His account also demonstrated that Michigan police officials were able to, time and time again, implement ideas that others merely talked about. This was because they could cooperate to influence the political system in the name of good "non-political law enforcement."
Rutledge became aware that Commissioner Olander was asking the State Administrative Board to release money for radio service at his State Police Posts. On March 19, 1929, Rutledge wrote to Governor Green asking that state radio sets be placed in city and county sheriffs offices. He said he would support legislation to that effect. Olander supported the idea, and in June of 1929, Governor Green signed into law a bill setting up a state wide radio system and using state money to place receivers in city police and sheriff offices26.
Michigan police leaders and other officials were also active in making presentations before the IACP conferences. In 1927, Rutledge covered the topic of standardized records. He was chairman of the committee on records and eventually obtained the funds to design and implement the Uniform Crime Report program. Another prominent Michigander also addressed the convention in 1927. John Barker Waite was at the time an instructor of law at the University of Michigan. He later became Dean of the Law School at U of M. He published police texts on criminal law and was active at the Attorney General's Crime Conference in Washington in 1934. At the local level, Waite was also very influential in preparing the Michigan Youthful Offender Act. In 1927, however, Waite's contribution was a severe reprimand of the police for not being more courteous in everyday contacts with the public27.
Also at the 1928, IACP Conference, Chief Carroll of Grand Rapids made a presentation on the Michigan Concealed Weapon law. In 1929, C.J. Scavarda as Chief of Police at Flint delivered a paper on identification bureau operations and Commissioner Olander put forth a proposal to regionalize police work in the states by having the state police handle all police work outside of cities under 25,000 population. He also proposed that chiefs in all cities and the state police commissioner be appointed by a police commission. The chief would hold office unless removed for legal cause by the commission. This was a radical proposal and was not given much support until proposed again in the 1950's. But, still only a handful of regionalized departments have developed. Olander had a good chance to make it work in Michigan, and while the issue could benefit from more historical analysis, Olander's chance and Michigan's chance for this type of broad change in local police service disappeared when Olander was unable to remove his corrupt officers prior to the election of Governor Kim Sigler28.
Lt. Donald S. Leonard of the MSP discussed local and state police cooperation at the 1930, meeting, and Leonard, with his lawyer's knowledge of parliamentary procedure, made decisive statements that defeated a West Coast attempt to defeat the proposal for a full time IACP executive29.
This sample examination of the IACP annual proceedings supports the proposition that Michigan police officials took part in the give and take of idea exchange with their counterparts across the nation. It also illustrates the difficulty in establishing the precise genesis of new ideas in police work as in any other field.
The Detroit Purple Gang had criminal activities going their way in early 1929. Not only did they supply illegal liquor in Detroit, but in other states as well. During the first part of February, that year, they received word from "Big Al" Capone that he needed another load of whiskey from Michigan to meet the market requirements of Chicago. Nationally, Capone was still America's top gangster, but trouble was brewing in Chicago.
The gang of Bugs Moran felt Capone was slipping and started hijacking his liquor to supply their own customers. The Purple Gang's whiskey was due in Chicago February 14, 1929. The Moran gang heard about the shipment and were in the Capone warehouse waiting to capture it. Big Al was doing great, so he decided a trip to sunny Florida would be good for his health, but he took special care to be publicly visible on this special Valentines Day.
Moran's boys did not fare too well. Someone must have tipped off the law, because suddenly the police crashed into the warehouse and lined the crooks up against the wall. Then instead of the usual arrest procedures, an act took place that was to be known in the annals of crime as "The St. Valentines Day Massacre."
The men dressed as police officers turned out to be members of Capone's mob, and with machine guns chattering they mowed down several members of the Moran gang. Bugs was tardy that day and it saved his life. When he arrived at the warehouse he thought it was a police raid, so he left before the shooting started.
In Florida, Capone held a celebration, but what seemed a great victory was really the beginning of the end. Big Al had gone too far, America had, had enough. The nation wanted its alcohol, but without the accompanying violence and corruption spawned by prohibition1.
The St. Valentines Day Massacre, is often viewed as a benchmark in American scientific detection of crime. Chicago officials and private citizens were outraged. They sought out New York firearms expert Calvin Goddard and asked him to work on the case. His work led to a solution of the crime, and with the aid of private funds, he employed other scientific experts, and a scientific crime laboratory was set up at Northwestern University.
Ralph F. Turner, Professor Emeritus at Michigan State's School of Criminal Justice points out that, in addition to the publicity gained for scientific investigation from this infamous crime, a publication was started to disseminate the results of the work accomplished by the outstanding scientists employed at Northwestern2. The Michigan State Police took a small part in the Moran investigation and became acquainted with the work of the Northwestern Crime Laboratory. When Northwestern started their short course in scientific investigation, MSP officers attended.
Cause For Study. President Herbert Hoover had called prohibition, "an experiment noble in motive and far-reaching in purpose," but after ten years of enforcement and over three hundred thousand convictions, drinking alcoholic beverages was more popular than ever3. Hoover had tried to enforce prohibition, but the vast corruption and rise in common crime called for new ideas.
As early as 1925, a citizens' effort organized a National Crime Commission under the leadership of George Wickersham, U.S. Attorney General in the administration of President William Howard Taft. The National Crime Commission called for each state to organize an official crime commission to advise the governor on matters of crime control4.
President Hoover then picked up the idea and appointed Wickersham to lead his National Commission on Law Observance and Enforcement. This Commission was later known by the name of it's chairman and in 1931 the Wickersham Report was made public. Several volumes documenting the crime problem in the United States were published.
The Report on Police was produced under the direction of August Vollmer, Chief of Police, Berkeley, California. He was on leave from his department and held an appointment as a professor of Police Administration at the University of Chicago5. The Report was the direct product of David G. Monroe and Earl W. Garrell of the Department of Political Science at the University of Chicago, working under the direction of Vollmer.
Three issues dominated the Report on Police: the tenure of police executives, the need for new methods of police communications and the lack of police training and education. A major complaint regarding training was expressed as follows, "No pains are taken ... to educate, train, and discipline for a year or two the prospective patrolmen." Later on the report states: "This literature...shows that police is rapidly becoming a scientific procedure in which men are given professional education, are trained to use the latest resources of modern science..." 6 The report mentioned the need for education several times and pointed out the two year program at San Jose State Teachers College in California. Finally, the authors recommended that states establish state controlled schools, "which will allow statewide schooling and then, for the man who wishes a scientific college training, urge the universities to join the work." 7 This last recommendation is a bit misleading. Vollmer was asking the universities to help, but only after police officers had been selected, trained and indoctrinated by police officials. The programs at San Jose and at Wichita State both reflected this view. They were implemented by two of Vollmer's most famous disciples, William Wiltberger and O.W. Wilson. Michigan State became revolutionary because it reversed the process - education followed by training.
The police recommendations met with favor from the police community, but other reports showing widespread corruption throughout the criminal justice system were all but ignored by many officials. With the nation deep into the Great Depression, and a change in political leadership in Washington, little progress was made on the basis of the Wickersham revelations and Federal funding was not forthcoming. While the seed of police education had been planted and was growing in the minds of police and crime commission leaders across the nation, a conference was held in Washington D.C. that was to bring the idea into full bloom.
Michigan Delegation. The election of President Franklin D. Roosevelt brought an end to prohibition, but the problem of crime still existed. His attorney General, Homer Cummings, sponsored a meeting called the Attorney Generals Conference on Crime, December 10-13, 1934. The meeting brought together 600 of the most distinguished figures in the field of criminal justice, with the exception of August Vollmer, who had authored President Hoover's Report on Police8. Another notable police leader not invited to the conference was Michigan's progressive Commissioner of State Police, Oscar Olander.
Since the FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, would have certainly had a hand in inviting police personalities to the meeting, it is not surprising that Olander was not invited, as Olander had been very critical of FBI foul ups during their spring 1934 bouts with the infamous fugitive John Dillinger. The New York Times quoted him thus: "The failure of agents to cooperate with the Michigan State Police probably accounted for Dillinger's safe passage through the state last week." 9 The track record of the Michigan State Police was too much to ignore, however, so Captain Donald Leonard was invited to address the conference.
Included in attendance as a prosecutor, was a future Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, Earl Warren of California. The then Dean of the University of Oregon Law School and a future U.S. Senator, Wayne Morse also attended. Future Senator Allan Bible came from Nevada. In 1968, Senator Bible would chair the U.S. Senate's Select Committee on Crime and produce one of the best studies ever conducted on the subject of crime against business.
The Michigan Delegation was well represented at this conference. Attorney General and Chairman of the Michigan Crime Commission, Patrick H. O'Brien, and Louis S. Cohane of Detroit, Chairman of the American Bar Association's Committee on Criminal Law were in the audience10. Captain Donald S. Leonard of the Michigan State Police delivered a major address on the progress of the Michigan State Police. It is interesting to note that Captain Leonard covered the work of the Michigan State Police from A to Z, but said nothing about the training innovations undertaken in Michigan11.
The University of Michigan was represented by Orlando W. Stephenson, School of Education, and John B. Waite of the Law School. Others from Michigan included Police Superintendent Albert A. Carroll of Grand Rapids, John R. Watkins from Detroit, C.L. Stebbins of Lansing, and a Wayne County Assistant Prosecutor, Herbert E. Munro.
Training was clearly on the mind of the sponsors of this conference. While many other topics were discussed, one could conclude that the real purpose of this meeting was to gain political support for the establishment of a new FBI training center.
Roosevelt Speaks. President Roosevelt, set the stage for the training agenda in his opening remarks to the delegates. He sympathized with the police by pointing out that the, "bandits have been better equipped...than the officials who are supposed to keep them in check." He then put major blame for not being able to fight crime because law enforcement lacked, "facilities for training skilled men for the work of detection, apprehension, and prosecution of accused persons..." 12
Attorney General Cummings in his address asked support for a national training center and brought up the possibility of "a degree granting academy."13 FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover then held the crowd spellbound with tales of FBI confrontations with gangsters; and, he mentioned the need for scientific police training, college training, and a national training school14.
The program was well directed. Andrew J. Kavanaugh, Chief of Police at Fairport, New Jersey, and later the Chief at Miami, Florida, represented the International Association of Chiefs of Police. He called for "training in the scientific tools which have made policeman's work indeed a profession." He called on the federal government to establish a West Point type program of four years duration and leading to a Bachelor of Police Science. He also asked that state schools be established and that the instructors be graduates of the national school. Further, he recommended that the state schools "be maintained separately from the State Constabulary." 15
Training at Land Grant Colleges. In an attempt to demonstrate the democratic process, a few persons were allowed to make remarks from the floor. Mr. Luke S. May of Seattle, Washington, representing the Northwest Association of Sheriff's and Police was one of the few voices of the 600. He noted the recent Supreme Court action allowing the continuance of the R.O.T.C., reserve officer training program, at the land-grant colleges. He was not interested in building a federal empire of training schools. Instead, he thought the police could be trained at the currently available, "accredited institutions of learning." 16 He suggested that the conference sponsor a resolution urging Congress to fund the land-grant colleges with coordinators similar to the R.O.T.C. program. That is the last the conference heard of Mr. May's suggestion.
Less than a dozen of over one hundred proposed resolutions were reported from the resolutions committee. The training ideas reported back to the delegates focused on a national police training academy.
If you were a Michigan State Police officer or a member of the Michigan Crime commission, the message was clear. There would be a national Police training school, but if the states did not want federal officers running their schools they would have to get to work back home. Mr. May from Seattle, had a good idea about the R.O.T.C. program. The Michigan delegation knew the race was on and they knew just what to do.
Back in Michigan, efforts got under way, in early 1935, with the spadework of finding fertile soil for the new ideas. It was not hard to find. State Police Headquarters was adjacent to Michigan State College, a land grant institution. It had the required R.O.T.C. program and could furnish the discipline recommended by the Wickersham Commission. The State Police had been using Army Captain Ernest John, from the R.O.T.C. program, since at least 1928, to teach firearms and they were pleased with his work17. Scientific education was available at the College and the State Police were authorized by law to facilitate police training. Michigan's Crime Commission was supported by the state legislature, the governor's office, the State Attorney General, and the Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police. A potential winning combination existed in Michigan. It would also seem reasonable to assume that all these forces were anxious to reinstate the training halted because of the depression.
The political, professional, and experiential winds of change were moving rapidly in that spring of 1935, but, as is often the case, a final catalyst is sometimes needed to solidify ideas and actions. In this drama of police education, Dr. LeMoyne Snyder played an important role.
Dr. LeMoyne Snyder's personal and professional leadership and dedication to the cause of scientific crime detection played an important part in the establishment of the Police Administration Program at Michigan State College. Dr. Snyder's father, Jonathan L. Snyder was President of the College from 1896 to 1915, and it was on the Michigan Agricultural College campus that LeMoyne Snyder was born and raised18. Later, he attended the University of Michigan Medical School and then transferred to the Medical School at Harvard. During his internship in New York City he was present when the notorious gangster Legs Diamond was brought in shot full of holes. It was enough to impress the young physician as to the results of human violence.
When Dr. Snyder returned to East Lansing to practice, he continued his interest in the legal side of medicine. He studied law under Leland Carr and was later admitted to the Michigan Bar.
Investigation of violent death became an important part of Dr. Snyder's interests, and in 1933, he became formally recognized as the Medico-legal Advisor for the Michigan State Police19. Dr. Snyder attended special schools concerning this emerging field and soon became recognized as an authority on homicide. By 1934, he was acquainted with the major contributors in the field of scientific crime investigation, and was determined to establish, in Michigan, a school for police officers with a focus on the medico-legal aspects of investigation.
Because, according to Dr. Snyder, he had a soft spot in his heart for the University of Michigan Medical School, he approached University of Michigan (U of M) officials with a plan for a training program20. In 1934, a very successful pilot program was conducted at the U of M under the direction of the Division of University Extension.
James Bruce, Vice President for University affairs, MSP Commissioner Olander, O.W. Stephenson, Professor of Education, and Dr. Snyder made up the planning committee. It was Dr. Snyder's program however, with Olander merely lending his support from his position at the MSP. The program consisted of a series of sixteen lectures on medico-legal subjects taught by outstanding experts in the field; it was divided into four sessions from March 5, to April 16, 1934. One hundred thirty officers attended this course at the University of Michigan21.
It was Snyder's intent to expand this program and to set up a program similar to the Bureau of Criminal Investigation at Northwestern University. University officials were not interested in pushing the idea, so, Dr. Snyder felt it would be better to turn to Michigan State College.
By 1935, Oscar Olander had been at the helm of the MSP for nearly 10 years and had maintained good relations with local police officials, state and local politicians and college personnel by way of a football connection. He took an active part in professional organizations and allowed his ranking officers to participate as well. Through his leadership, the MSP had, by 1935, met or exceeded the three major recommendations of the Wickersham Commission's Report on Police regarding training, tenure, and communications.
In 1935, he had convinced the legislature to put his troops under civil service, a good five years ahead of other state employees. As a result of this legislation, Olander also became tenured and removal required impeachment by the Michigan Supreme Court. Other advances made by the MSP during his tenure included:
Olander had played football at Ferris Institute and his position as Commissioner gave him an opportunity to continue his interest in football and to help the MSC football program by giving jobs at State Police Headquarters to players in need of extra money.
He is reported to have spent time watching football practice thus becoming acquainted with the coaches. Coach James Crowley, one of the famous Four Horsemen of Notre Dame, was the Michigan State coach from 1929-3224. Olander was known as a "pal of Jim Crowley, " 25 as was future College President John Hannah26. In 1934 Olander was made an Honorary member of the MSU Varsity Club.
When Crowley left, in 1933, Charles W. Bachman took over and brought Tom H. King from Notre Dame as an end coach. King eventually became the second director of the School of Police Administration and later turned it over to one of its early graduates and former football star Arthur Brandstatter27.
Brandstatter was encouraged to come to Michigan State by John Hannah, prior to Hannah's becoming Secretary of the College. Brandstatter was one of the football players who had been given a job by Commissioner Olander. It was, according to Brandstatter, the reason he became interested in police work and transferred to the new Police Administration Program in the fall of 1935. Olander later joined forces with Hannah to bring Brandstatter back to East Lansing and Michigan State. Hannah appointed Brandstatter Director of the Police Administration Program in 1947, a position he held until his retirement in 197628.
As we begin to understand Olander's method of operation, it seems reasonable to speculate that he probably said a favorable word or two at a football practice or other social function. Although President Hannah cannot recall Olander talking about college education prior to the formal action in 1935, we can be certain that he was kept advised of the progress by Captain Scavarda and Dr. Snyder.
Olander's word was important for another reason. Like all institutions in 1935, Michigan State College was hard pressed for funds. Olander promised instructors from his staff, free of charge to the College. He kept his word until he left office in 1947. What did the State Police have to gain from support of the program? A review of employment of the early graduates will show that only a small proportion entered the ranks of the MSP, and yet they continued to support the program.
James Enyart, Olander's Chief Clerk (today the position is Director of Business Administration) was asked if Olander's support was based on his desire to employ college graduates. Without hesitation he replied, "No, Olander didn't care about hiring college graduates, he wanted to upgrade all police." 29 Again Olander's public statements pledging aid and cooperation to all police agencies were followed by action.
As was the case in agriculture, numerous attempts had been made throughout the nation to develop degree programs in law enforcement. The most energetic early activity was in the period from 1925-1935, by August Vollmer and his disciples such as Orlando W. Wilson, and William Wiltberger. Wilson while Chief of Police at Wichita, Kansas, was able to initiate a program at Wichita State that involved primarily members of his department30.
Wiltberger was employed by San Jose State to develop a super recruit or pre-employment training program. Students at San Jose State could complete their bachelors degree at a sister institution, but the real purpose of the program was explained by T.W. MacQuarrie, President of San Jose State in 1930. He said they had developed "a program of semi-professional training for immediate employment." He further enlarged upon this statement by explaining that, "we have no idea of attempting to turn out chiefs, captains, or experts of any kind." 31
Clearly the San Jose program was a complete reverse of the one that developed at Michigan State. At San Jose, entry training was provided and if students passed they could go on to obtain an academic degree. At Michigan State, students would have to complete over more than three years of solid academic subjects before being allowed to enter the police training phase of the program. At Berkeley, August Vollmer was teaching police subjects at the University of California, but was not ready to push for a full degree program in police administration. In a 1933 letter to Wiltberger, he expressed his belief that a program should not be implemented until near perfection was achieved. "It is of major importance", he said, "that we do nothing until we are positive we are right."32
In the spring of 1935, Michigan State was about to consider a program in response to a demonstrated need and let perfection come later. Again this was very similar with the way in which the Agriculture College started in 1855. Text books on agriculture had not yet been written, theories not developed, nor instructors trained, but the program began.
In 1935, O.W. Wilson had not yet written his famous book on police administration, and science was a relative newcomer to the problems of American Criminal Justice. But students learned science from the established college program, law and medico-legal science from practicing experts, and police practice and administration from the Michigan State Police, known nation-wide for efficiency33.
We are not privey to the informal discussions that went on among the members of the Michigan State Police, the State Crime Commission, and Michigan State in early 1935. The papers of Captain Donald S. Leonard do not reveal any reports made to Commissioner Olander nor do the available papers of Olander reveal any discussions with Leonard regarding the Washington Meeting called by Attorney General Homer Cummings. MSU President Emeritus John Hannah, who represented Michigan State at those discussions does not recall details but remembers that it was a good idea and they all agreed to act on it34.
By June 1935, informal discussions had reached the point where the Crime Commission felt comfortable in making an official recommendation regarding the establishment of a school. On June 13, the Commission adopted a resolution putting the wheels in motion. The first section identifies the impact of Attorney General Cummings' December, 1934, crime conference. It states, "The attention of the Michigan Crime Commission has been called to the recommendations made at a recent Conference on Crime held in Washington D.C., for scientific police training."
The next paragraph implies that informal discussions had occurred on establishing a program at Michigan State. It read, "It appears to this Commission that there is a possibility of instituting such training in the State of Michigan, through the cooperation of the Michigan State Police at East Lansing and the Michigan State College." The chairman of the Crime Commission was then requested to appoint three members to meet "with the State Board of Agriculture (governing board of MAC), the faculty of the Michigan State College, and the Michigan State Police...to work out a suitable course of scientific police training". The resolution closed by urging the "committee to confer at the earliest possible date ... and report back to this Commission at its next meeting."35
Michigan State needed no further prompting, for on June 19, 1935, Michigan State President Robert Shaw appointed Deans Huston, Anthony, Dirks, Emmons, and College Secretary John Hannah to the college committee. The interested parties held a joint conference on June 26, at the Crime Commission office. Jay W. Linsey, Harry G. Gault, and Herbert P. Orr represented the Commission; State Police Commissioner Olander, Lt. Van Loomis, and Dr. Snyder represented the State Police; and Dean Huston and John Hannah represented Michigan State College36.
An attempt was made to gain information regarding personal papers of the Crime Commission Representatives. Jay W. Linsey, was a prominent trial attorney from Grand Rapids. He practiced law until his death in 1971 and to date family members have not been able to locate any papers regarding his work on the Commission37.
Harry G. Gault was, at the time, a prosecutor in Flint and most of his work on the Commission involved criminal law issues. His law firm is still active in Flint, but he died in 1975, and no papers regarding MSC have been found38.
Herbert P. Orr, was a State Senator from Caro. He was killed in an auto accident in 1937 and his personal papers were destroyed when his home burned a few years later. His brother, Myron David Orr, a lawyer and author, born in 1896, and still living in 1984, was a member of a mounted police force in Michigan prior to 1917, the accepted date of the first Michigan State Constabulary. He recalls the work of the commission, but not in detail. He does have a vivid memory of Oscar Olander. He called him the "best State police Commissioner ever." In response to a question regarding what made him so good he replied, "Because he was a square shooter. If he told you he would do something he would do it." He said Olander was a very persuasive person who could, "sell refrigerators to Eskimos", but if someone suggested something wrong, he could get very angry39.
Another member of this team has also been described as one who could get his point across. John Hannah was described by Arthur Brandstatter, the long time director of the Police Administration Program which later changed its name to the School of Criminal Justice under his direction, "one of the most persuasive people I have ever known." 40
And so the stage was set, with the Crime Commission acting as the State of Michigan's legitimizing agent. On center stage were highly qualified staff, supporting dynamic persuasive leaders, and MSU sport fans, John Hannah and Oscar Olander. Olander was at his peak of influence in Michigan police circles, and Hannah was just entering the administrative arena where his name and Michigan State University (MSU) would become nearly synonymous.
It should be noted here, that the Crime Commissions resolution did not mention anything about developing a degree program. The goal was to provide scientific police training. What the exact nature of the staff attitudes going into this meeting might have been we do not know, but the results reported from that meeting put police education and training on a higher level than anywhere in the United States. The vital points were sized by Dean Huston as follows:
One interesting side play in this drama was a simple, but important compromise reached by the two organizations. Olander's State Police would provide room and board for students during their field training, and the State Board of Agriculture, led by Hannah would waive the tuition for the last two courses of military science42.
The State Board of Agriculture approved the program on July 13; faculty approved on July 23; and, the final go-ahead was given by the Crime Commission, State Police and the College on July 31, 1935. In September, 1935, twenty eight Freshmen, and eleven Sophomores and Juniors who had transferred from other programs entered this new landmark program43.
On the day the Board of Agriculture approved the Police Administration Program, July 31, 1935, they also named Donald Julian Bremer as the first director. Bremer was still employed by the College and while the board did not identify the Position they approved an additional $2,500 in salary for his extra duties as Director of the Police Administration Program1.
It seems clear however, that he was still Chief of Campus Police. The State Journal,2 in an article about his passing the Michigan Bar Examination in the spring of 1935, stated that he was Chief of the Campus Police Department at the time he passed the bar examination, and that the department "included a group of patrolmen and watchmen." The results of the bar examination were made public May 27, 1935. A total of 147 people took the examination. Bremer and six other local residents were among the 89 persons who passed the test.
Bremer's appointment came without the complicated search process often associated with present hiring procedures. The fact is, however, his credentials met the highest standards of the times and would have been hard to meet by a nationwide search. He came from a rural farm background that fit well into the philosophy of an agriculturally dominated college. He possessed ten years of solid police experience during some of the most trying times in recent police history, a degree in business administration with an interest in personnel administration, campus police and administrative experience, and a proven ability to get along well with students and college officials. Finally, he gained a license to practice law under the tutelage of a judge with the highest standing in Michigan legal circles. These achievements totaled to high standards by any measurement. His appointment also kept with the goal of land grant colleges by bringing in the proper mix of experience and educational qualifications.
The financial situation for government and institutions in 1935 was not a rosy one. State Police training funds had been cut back, and the Michigan legislature cut $300,000 from the Michigan State College budget3. President Shaw's support of the new program was a vote of confidence in his staff people who worked so hard to bring the program on line. The program was approved too late to be included in the 1935 catalog so ad hoc promotion was required on the part of college faculty and advisors.
The mainspring in this effort was Dean Ralph C. Huston, whose Division of Applied Science had been selected to manage the Police Administration Program. There were two main reasons why Huston's division was the most appropriate one to house this new idea. First, the 1930's brought with it the notion that science could solve most of the problems of life on this planet. The 1933, world's fair in Chicago had developed the theme of "The Century of Progress" wherein the main focus had been on the scientific achievements of the past 100 years and how they would solve the next generation's problems4. The past five years had been extremely fruitful in the area of scientific aids to crime solving. It was a logical and common sensical approach to have future police officers and leaders trained in the scientific method and the science of the times. Second, and perhaps equally important was the fact that the physical education program was also under the supervision of the Division of Applied Science. This gave Huston contact with college athletes who dominated the early police administration classes.
Some students, such as Arthur Brandstatter, made the switch as soon as the opportunity came along; he had already become enamored with police work while sweeping out the detective bureau at State Police Headquarters, a job, as noted previously, that had been created by Commissioner Olander to support members of the football team.
Other students transferred because their advisors told them they stood a better chance for employment in police work than in their current majors. Robert Bouck, class of '39, was an example of this method of recruitment. He was an engineering student and well on his way to his degree. Engineers were not being employed in 1935 and the end of the depression was nowhere in sight. His advisor told him there would be little chance for him to get a job in his chosen field and, without any real basis for such advice, told him he would do better in law enforcement. Bouck has had an extremely fruitful career in law enforcement, but when discussing the incident recently, noted with good humor, that at the start of World War II engineers came into great demand5.
Other students such as Coy Ecklund, who already had his eyes set on his future career goals, may have selected the police administration course to gain wider experience in an area close to his chosen field. Ecklund, who was described by one of his contemporaries as a "real entrepreneur from the start", was selling insurance while attending college. He stayed with insurance and became president of a major American insurance company6.
Hardly any campus attention was drawn to the Police Administration Program as it was developed during the spring of 1935. But, when students returned to school in the fall, it made the front page of the State News with humorous, but very supportive treatment. Frederick C. Olds' well researched article said students in the program would graduate with the title of "Police Administrator". This may have been a bit of wishful thinking on the part of a prospective student, but it did reflect the administration's hopes for the future graduates. Olds went on to point out the broad based education that the future officers would receive and then advised future traffic violators not to be surprised if "you find your traffic ticket written up in perfectly rhymed Spencerian stanza." He also included a very perceptive statement from Director Bremer who said, "While police training was an innovation in educational circles, there has been a definite need for such trained men and other colleges undoubtedly will install similar courses in the future." 7 In October 1935, Michigan State hosted the Michigan Crime Conference at the Union Building and, as mentioned earlier, was well represented by Dean Huston.
Huston, as a division administrator, was ever conscious of cost. He took pains to point out that the police program had been started without any extra cost to the college. While this may have resulted from some, in todays terms, "creative budgeting", most of the courses were taught by currently employed instructors and by free instruction from the State of Police. In fact it was the State Police who were being "creative" with their budget. As the Board of Agriculture records indicate, the State Police not only assigned their people as instructors, at no cost, but transferred money to the college for part of Bremer's salary. While this kind of maneuvering might seem a little strange today, it gives testimony to what can be accomplished when administrators and politicians see eye to eye on a program. After all, this program included as co-sponsor a Crime Commission made up of legislators and led by the Attorney General. They had to make it work, and a suggestion from Olander to transfer funds or personnel would have no opposition.
August Vollmer, had struggled for years to interest the universities in police education, and with some considerable success. Yet he had never been able to put together such a coalition of interests as gathered together for the Michigan State program.
Another small but vital incentive for prospective law enforcement students was the possibility of financial aid. In discussing the academic program, Robert Bouck described Bremer as very effective in the teaching of criminal law and willing to assist students when possible. Bremer's other college duties required him to deal with traffic problems during football games, Farmers week, and other campus events. Law enforcement students were called upon to help and also gain experience. Bremer made Bouck a supervisor in the traffic detail at the handsome salary of 50 cents per hour8.
Science and Art. From 1935 until World War II, the Police Administration Program was the closest approximation to a police West Point program ever to be developed in the United States. The West Coast schools led by San Jose State were more interested in entry level training, whereas Michigan State was clearly proposing a school for leaders and administrators.
It was a very complex program when one considers the regimen of five years of full time work to complete a bachelor degree, as contrasted with the normal four year duration of most programs. There were three strong dimensions that contributed to this complexity; first, the heavy concentration on the physical sciences; second, the full four year program in ROTC leading to a Reserve Officer Commission; and third, the classroom and extended field training in police work.
There is also some evidence to suggest that the germ of lateral entry was in the minds of some police administrators as the original field training students were promised, but never granted, an Honorary Reserve Commission in the Michigan State Police. Even though the police structure did not accept this idea, the early graduates did move to top positions very quickly.
The Division of Applied Sciences, led by an experienced academic leader and research scientist, was home base for the Police Program. Dean Ralph C. Huston, Ph.D., came to Michigan State in 1911, as an assistant professor of Chemistry. By 1925, he was Professor of Organic and Bio-Chemistry, and in 1930 he was appointed Dean of the Division of Applied Science. The Departments of Botany, Chemistry, Entomology, Geology, Physics, Physical Education, Physiology, and Zoology were all under his direction. Four programs led to a Bachelor of Science Degree: Applied Science, Physical Education for Men and Women, and Police Administration. The intention of the Applied Science course was to provide a "sound fundamental knowledge of the sciences...and the application of the science in the fields of industry, agriculture, and the arts."
Authors of the 1939 college yearbook, the Wolverine, said the new Police Program was growing and lauded the cooperation with the State Police. Graduates were said to be "placed with federal, state, municipal, or industrial police forces, usually in the capacity of technical experts."9
The original police concentration included five formal courses in addition to the field experience requirements; they can be broken down into two general areas, law and police operations. Two criminal law courses were offered: criminal law and criminal evidence. These two courses have remained as a fundamental core of the program to this date (1985). The quality of the legal instruction has always been a hallmark of the Michigan State program and became a standard adopted by other leading schools of police administration and criminal justice. Bremer taught the first law classes, and with the exception of one year during a change in the program, the law courses have always been taught by law school graduates.
The Police Science courses, later called Police Administration, require more than a cursory examination to gain an understanding of the conceptual foundation they offered. Care must also be taken not to attempt a direct comparison between 1935, and 1985. A more appropriate comparison might be to compare these two ends of the continuum with the epistemological state of police science and administration existing during each time frame. In other words, to what extent did the courses in 1935 deliver state of the art knowledge and theory in comparison to that delivered in any other time periods including 1985?
While it is not the intent of this research to make such a time line comparison, it is important to keep the time dimension in mind as a closer look is taken of the 1935 program. The first police operational courses were designated as Police Science 301, 302, and 303. McNamara and Strecher cited former School Director Arthur Brandstatter, from an earlier study, as indicating that these courses were "related to skills and police procedural matters", and that no public administration concepts were included until the program revision of 1946 - 48 the period when he became director of the program. They did note however, that "police administration predated public administration on the Michigan State Campus" and that "Today's (1976) commonplace elements of police administration, traceable to O.W. Wilson's initial textbook, were still to be developed." Strecher concluded that "the linkage of police administration and public administration clearly had not taken place." 10 Based on information other than programs and textbooks, that conclusion may not be fully justified.
One student in the pre-World War II program advised that the one serious drawback to the police courses was the lack of textbooks; yet another 1939 graduate, Robert Bouck, recited from memory some of the text books he had read on technical subjects such as fingerprints and ballistics11. The differences in recollections may well be related to the particular interest of the student. Bouck, a former engineering student, was probably more taken up with technical issues where more information was published, whereas others were more interested in administration. The three Police Science courses can be better understood if administrative and technical concepts can be viewed apart from each other.
Administrative Concepts. O.W. Wilson's text was indeed a monumental step forward because it put on paper his experience and thoughts as well as the ideas he had gained from his mentor, August Vollmer. The Michigan police officials teaching administration to Michigan State students shared much the same value base of professionalism, integrity, and training as Vollmer and Wilson, but they were not so inclined to put the concepts and principles that guided their actions into print. The State Police instructors were experienced police and public administrators. They were operating on concepts gleaned from the field by trial and error, association with other business and public leaders and the available literature.
Olander was a master bureaucratic politician, - able to survive several governors of both parties, and successfully defeating constant threats to the life of the State Police organization. Eventually he gained solid support from municipal and county police agencies, the extent to which has never been duplicated by his successors. His relationship with legislators was a regular one. For example, he was a regular at the bull session table at the former Olds Hotel in Lansing where legislative deals were reputedly cut as often as in the halls of the capitol building. Legend has it that, as opposed to many administrators, when the check came he paid his share, so as not to be "in the pocket" of legislators and lobbyists12.
He was able to dominate the State Police organization in a way similar to that which Hoover did in the FBI, but in a much more open and decentralized fashion. He seldom interfered with the work of subordinates once they were appointed, and many field officers in his later administrative years criticized him for his lack of field leadership, as opposed to some of the more colorful uniform division leaders. During the corrupt times of the 1930's Olander, at the request of local authorities, had members of the department sworn in as police chiefs of these troubled cities until the city fathers could gain control of the situation. In one of these situations a State Police officer acted as chief of police for the city of Hamtramck for several months when the entire city government was found to be corrupt.
One of Olander's close associates, who was similar in his service orientation to policing, but much more given to colorful speeches and actions, was Caesar J. Scavarda. In the late 1920's he resigned his State Police position and became the chief of the Flint Police Department. He then did a turn as Flint City Manager before returning as director of training for the State Police where he played an influential role in the development of the Police Administration Program at Michigan State. After retirement, Scavarda was recruited by the United States State Department and became Director of Public Safety for West Berlin under the occupation forces13.
Olander and his Chief of Detectives Harold Mulbar were also requested by the State Department to study rural policing in Japan and make recommendations. Their service style of policing was accepted by the Japanese Government while a more rigid system proposed by a retired New York City Commissioner was rejected. After retiring, Mulbar returned to Japan as a police consultant and died in that country14.
Olander's concepts of service and cooperation extended to the decisions as to where State Police posts should be established. Complaints about traffic problems and criminal activity contributed to these decisions, but local posts were not established unless there was visible support and an invitation from the local communities. He would not recommend a new post unless the local jurisdiction would furnish to the state a location and a building to house the operation. He knew that when the local taxpayers bought into the system they would appreciate the good service and would be more forgiving of bad incidents than if he had imposed his will on the area, based on crime statistics.
Early in 1930, citizens in the Reed City area asked the State Police to establish a post in their area. Olander said he would help them out if they would purchase a police vehicle and provide an office and sleeping quarters for the officers. On July 1, 1930, the citizens agreed to the proposal and one week later officers had been sent to the area and a post established15.
August Vollmer was interested in the idea of police radio --Michigan made police radio a reality. The Detroit Police Department had been one of the first cities in the nation to use police radio on a regular basis. But, to meet the Federal Radio Commission (FRC) rules they were supposed to provide time for entertainment. The Detroit Police radio station KOP met this requirement by broadcasting a line of Yankee Doodle prior to broadcasting messages to their officers. The State Police picked up the idea and Olander convinced not only the state legislature to appropriate money for the project, but obtained pledges of money from the Michigan Bankers Association; he told them it would help cut down bank robbery. On this point he made good. The police radio and a new blockade system devised by Lt. Van Loomis, cut Michigan bank robberies to zero in one year, while the FBI was being frustrated in their attempt to catch John Dillinger16.
Michigan had the first state wide police radio system in the United States, but they had to fight a FRC determined not to let the police have a dedicated channel. Olander assigned Captain Leonard, who had earned a law degree, to assist Attorney General Wilbur Brucker in the preparation of a proposal for Governor Fred Green. When the FRC resisted, Green then declared that he was going ahead with the police radio scheme regardless of the decision of the FRC. The Federal Radio Commission threatened to jail the Michigan Governor if he let the state operate a radio without their permission. Governor Green countered by stating he would arrest anyone who interfered with the police authority of the State. The Federal Radio Commission caved in; following Michigan's lead other states quickly developed their own plans for state wide police radio17.
This openness of administration, trust of subordinates and delegation of considerable autonomy to complete a job was effective, but it had its drawbacks. While Olander was in Japan for the State Department, a grand jury indicted one of his top administrators for gambling graft. This officer, Captain Lawrence Lyons, was sent to prison for his part in accepting bribes in the Ingham and Oakland and Wayne county areas.
Olander had tried to fire Captain Lawrence Lyons several years before, but his style of management had allowed Lyons to gain political support to the extent that Olander could not fire him. When Lyons was caught "dirty", Olander was held responsible by Kim Zigler, a reform talking Governor18.
Olander resigned rather than take his case to the Supreme Court. He was succeeded by Donald S. Leonard who had been given a free hand by Olander to carry out duties for the State Police consistent with his law training. But, Leonard had used the authority to build his own political power base. Leonard came to power as Governor Kim Zigler's "Mr. Clean", and made sweeping changes in the State Police organization19.
Leonard clearly wanted to be Commissioner, and it was also clear that Olander had been preparing him for the job. Olander, however, was only 46 years old and even after 20 years as Commissioner, showed no intention of retiring. He had legislative tenure and could not be fired except by impeachment by the Michigan Supreme Court. Leonard could not wait and the Lyons affair gave him his opportunity.
Leonard did not like civilian experts and the informal methods of Olander. He was much in the mold of J. Edgar Hoover and the professional model of O.W. Wilson. He was less trusting than Olander and tried to professionalize police work through regulation and control of discretion. Both Leonard and Olander were dedicated and honest administrators who wanted the best for Michigan and the State Police, but their contrasting styles make interesting studies in administration and theories regarding the relationship between the police and the policed. One officer put it this way "Leonard was as hard as Olander was soft." 20
The irony of this historical clash of style is that today the O.W. Wilson - Donald Leonard closed type of administration is no longer the accepted model. More attention is being paid to the Vollmer professional model and the people oriented model of Oscar Olander. This brief encounter with the changing State Police philosophy is important to this study because of the State Police impact on early police administration students and the changing relationship between the college and the State Police as each developed a new identity in the 1950's and 60's.
One of the most colorful and service oriented officers in the State Police was Caesar Scavarda. He had more direct impact on the teaching of Olander's concepts than any other instructor. In fact, Captain Scavarda was teaching "race relations" to MSC graduates in 1946, nearly ten years before the first police-community relations seminar came to campus21.
We can be assured that these service oriented, community based concepts were being taught in the police administration course in 1938 by State Police instructors, but they were overshadowed by the more formal classes of the ROTC program and the lack of reducing these concepts to stated propositions.
Scavarda and his other state police instructors taught the service orientation as a matter of policy rather than concepts; commands as to what to do were taught, rather than entertaining scholarly discussions of the conceptual basis for their community based policies. Today we can forgive them for their mesmerizing methods used to develop courteous people oriented police administrators, rather than publishing their concepts in text books.
Technical Concepts. In the technical area, books did exist and students were required to study texts on firearms, fingerprinting, and criminal investigation. Here again the best learning resulted from student interaction with instructors who were real experts in their fields.
The 1943 catalog was the first to identify the State Police instructors in the program, however, a 1939 MSC Bulletin described the program and listed members of the State Police used to teach in the program. Some of the members of the State Police team were technically oriented and others had a bent for administration. Two of the instructors in 1939, Joseph Childs and Donald Leonard rose in the ranks to became head of the department. Others were pioneers in technical areas of police work and could offer students state of the art information on fingerprints, records, communications, and public relations.
The Training Director. The team was led by Captain Caesar J. Scavarda. Scavarda was born in 1900 in upper Michigan and joined the Michigan State Troops at a very young age. He always claimed he was only sixteen years old at the time and had given the wrong age in order to be accepted. He stayed in the organization when it became the Michigan State Police. In the later part of the 1920's he left the State Police and became Chief of Police for the City of Flint. It was during this time that he was on the training committee for the Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police. He then spent about two years as City Manager of Flint and returned to the Michigan State Police as Captain and Director of Training in 1934. Scavarda was an outspoken supporter of police training and had witnessed the rise and fall of the early efforts to develop state wide police training.
Scavarda was a strong supporter of the people oriented police philosophy of Oscar Olander and very proud of the work of the State Police. He also had some family competition in the police business as his brother was a Captain on the Lansing Police Department during the same years and held a command officer's rank perhaps longer than anyone in the history of the Lansing Police Department22. Olander and Scavarda were an interesting study in opposites. While Olander was the quiet business like persuader of legislators and governors, Scavarda was a more direct action oriented person displaying the stereotypical emotionalism of second generation Italians. He was a tough disciplinarian and had two professional subjects that could stir from him a storm of colorful language to show his displeasure. One was crooked police officers, and the second after his experiences in Flint - politicians. The later developed when he had to fight hard to clear his name during a political investigation of Flint corruption23. In spite of their differing personalities the two leaders teamed up to provide training and discipline based on a philosophy of police as courteous service-focused representatives of the people.
Scavarda was an avid hunter and a very sociable person to have in camp. He could tell stories with the best about the exploits of police officers. An interesting sidelight to this is the fact that he seldom related gossip about State Police administrative problems to his non-police friends24.
Scavarda lectured to Michigan State students on race relations, police courtesy, management, honesty, and dedication to the police profession. In addition, he managed the field assignments of student officers and encouraged them in their pursuit of jobs. When Robert Bouck '39 was considering an offer from the Secret Service, Scavarda, in spite of his loyalty to the State Police, encouraged the young graduate to go with the Federal government. Bouck recalls him saying that the Secret Service job paid more than he received as a Captain. Bouck was never sure that it was true, but he took the advice and never regretted it.
During the 1930's, the motorcycle was a major mode of transportation for patrol officers in the State Police. Chasing speeders over bad roads and in all kinds of weather on a motorcycle, was dangerous business, and took a terrible toll on officers of the State Police. Scavarda was concerned about this problem and apparently saw the need to make changes in this type of patrol on the open highways. He once saw student Brandstatter trying to learn how to ride a motorcycle. He asked Brandstatter what he was trying to do. Brandstatter advised him that he wanted to learn to ride because he thought that was what a good police officer should be able to do. Scavarda then told him a series of "war stories" about officers who had been killed or injured for life on bikes and advised him that if he wanted to avoid such a fate he should never let anyone know he could handle a motorcycle. Brandstatter never did, and was forever grateful for the advice. Brandstatter had the chance to return the favor over ten years later. In 1950, Brandstatter, then Campus Police Chief and Director of the Department of Police Administration, was offered the job as Police Chief for the Allied section of occupied Berlin. John Hannah did not think it appropriate for Brandstatter to take the leave from Michigan State. Brandstatter recommended Scavarda for the job. Scavarda had retired in 1948 and was working as a public relations officer for the Michigan Trucking Association, but he missed police work. He took the job in Berlin and died there in 195525.
Scavarda and other members of Olander's staff had, on many occasions over the years, been called on to help with management problems in local police departments. They had also assisted a number of states in the development of state police organizations. This, coupled with his city experience in Flint, convinced him that supporting the educational program at Michigan State was an effective and efficient way to help improve law enforcement on a wider base than could be effected by the State Police acting alone.
He worked tirelessly to further the goals of the Police Administration Program. It is quite likely that he treated the students similar to State Police recruits when indoctrinating them into the ethics of honesty and public service. If he could not win with logic he could strike terror in the hearts of recruits with description of Hades for anyone who did not live up to his vision of a police officer. Several persons were interviewed who had known Scavarda and, in every case, the mention of his name brought forth a sense of mirth when recalling this colorful, friendly, passionate supporter of the State Police idea of training and education for all police.
When Olander was fired by Governor Kim Zigler in January of 1947, for not detecting the graft involving his second in command, Scavarda like most officers in the State Police felt a deep sense of betrayal. However, Scavarda displayed his loyalty to Olander and an attitude of understanding in his typical manner. In response to a question of how Olander could let Lyons get into the inner circle of administration, he replied, "When the Lord picked his twelve apostles, he ended up with Judas -- can we expect more of a police commissioner?" 26
Major Instructors. Donald S. Leonard was another member of the teaching staff in 1939. It is doubtful if he spent a lot of time with the classes because he was, at that time, Captain and commanding officer of the Detroit District. Leonard had joined the Troops a short time after Olander, but as a young trooper had suffered a motorcycle accident that required his assignment to non-hazardous duty. He was one of the few entering police work at that time with a college degree; and with the permission of Commissioner Harry Jackson, he was allowed to do office work at the Detroit Post and attend law school27. He was an excellent student and after passing the bar remained with the State Police. He was active in the promotion of police training and represented Michigan before the FRC hearings, the victory bringing state wide police radio to all states. He became an expert in Civil Defense during World War II.
He taught the criminal law to State Police recruits and would have been an impressive addition to the lecture staff of any college. After retirement he served as Detroit Police Commissioner and later still as a Recorders Court Judge. As a politician, however, he was no match for the popular G. Mennen "Soapy" Williams when he made a run for the governor's office.
Another dedicated but non-political police officer teaching in these early classes was Joseph Childs. Childs came up through the ranks by specializing in traffic control. In 1939, he was in operators license administration. He was a serious non-dramatic speaker who was an expert on his subject and did much to further the cause of traffic safety administration in the State of Michigan. After the Michigan prison riots in 1952, Leonard retired from the State Police and Governor Williams selected the more mild mannered Childs to lead the department. Commissioner Childs commanded the State Police during one of the most dramatic expansions in its history. It was based on the idea of cutting down traffic accidents with enforcement action. The students at Michigan State were being taught by a true leader in the field of traffic safety.
Lieutenant Harold F. Mulbar was a respected member of Olander's team in the field of criminal investigation. A non-scientist himself, he did much to support the idea of scientific crime detection. Later in 1946, he was selected by General MacArthur's staff to go to Japan with Olander to advise them on rural police operations. He gained the respect of the Japanese and, after retiring from the State Police, returned to Japan to work and to retire.
One of the technical experts who put Michigan ahead in criminal investigation was Sgt. LeRoy Smith. Firearms identification as an important and court accepted practice was fairly new in the 1930's. Sgt. Smith was at the leading edge of this technique. Students attending his sessions would come away with the latest knowledge in this area. While they themselves would not be experts, they would know enough about the area to be able to employ such expertise in departments they would later administer.
Of all the experts that the State Police had to parade before the Michigan State students in 1939 none had become as legendary as Captain Ira H. Marmon head of the Bureau of Criminal Investigation and Identification. As a trooper he had become interested in the possibilities of fingerprint identification and started his own personal file of prints. Tradition had it that he kept this file in a box under his barracks bed, and as interest grew in his work other officers and departments started sending him prints; thus the State Police identification bureau was born28. Marmon's influence on fingerprint identification was an important part of the program and offered real state of the art expertise, as his operation pre-dated the identification bureau of the FBI.
James E. Enyart was Olander's Chief Clerk (Director of Business Administration). He was tutored under Olander who had been the Clerk for Colonel Vandercook, the first Commissioner of State Police. Enyart was a civilian employee, but held in high regard by the sworn personnel because of his constant interest in their welfare29. He was known for his tight monetary control and his ability to save budgeted funds so they could be transferred to areas of need. In other words, he got the state their money's worth from funds sent to the State Police. Part of Olander's success with the legislature can be attributed to his accurate accounting of funds and honest presentations to elected officials.
Dr. LeMoyne Snyder was, as has been pointed out, associated with the State Police as their Medico Legal Director. He was the first person in any United States police department with this title. In 1933, Olander had put him on an annual retainer to work for the State Police . In 1938, Snyder proposed a medical examiner system for Michigan, but failed to win legislative approval30. Then in 1948, he urged the consolidation of the State Police and State Health Department crime labs-a fact that has been finally accomplished in recent years. Olander was very receptive to Snyder's ideas of expanding the crime lab, however, his successor Donald Leonard was not technically oriented and was quite upset when Snyder pointed to the lack of progress in the lab operation31. Leonard soon found an excuse to cancel Snyder's contract with the State Police, an act that met with severe criticism from the Michigan Press, and a local prosecutor32. Snyder went onto international fame in the area of homicide investigation. His recommendations for crime lab development were 30 years in advance of his time, and another example of the forward thinking instruction presented police students in 1939.
Snyder was an example of civilian expertise that Olander would bring in when he thought it would help his organization. Other examples included a radio engineer he hired away from the company that installed the state wide radio system, and Orin Lucus, who was an expert in highway safety statistics. These and other sworn and civilian experts were included in the instructional program when required.
The 1939, "Police Administration Bulletin" also listed the names of Detroit Police Commissioner Heinrich A. Pickert, Superintendent Fred W. Frahm, and Director of Police Training, Lieutenant Claude Brome. Detroit was involved in the internship program and this listing recognized their participation.
The Police Administration students organized a professional fraternity in April of 1938. The fraternity was open to police students who had gained junior status. They called the organization Homines Legis (Men of the Law) . The stated purpose of the fraternity was to "instill in its members a greater interest in scientific police work and administration, and to facilitate and promote cooperation and fellowship among them and between members and those men who have already made their mark in the field of administration of police activities." Part of their format was to invite local police authorities to speak at the meetings and to travel to various departments to view 'the practical application of what has been learned in the class room." 33
Forty-five students joined and elected officers as follows: F. H. Backstrom, Commissioner; C.L. Jenson, Captain; C.J. Hamilton, Desk Sergeant; M.J. Rockwell, Sergeant - at - Arms. Faculty Advisors were D.J. Bremer and Dean R.C. Huston. This was clearly the first law enforcement fraternity in the nation and was to remain active until the end of 1942, when the war depleted the Police Administration Program. After the war Homines Legis was not reconstituted. The origin of the fraternity is not clear, but it must be remembered that Bremer had been a member of a very strong fraternity and may have influenced the students in that direction.
In 1940, the fraternity changed its membership rules and opened it to sophomores with at least a 1.2 average on a 3.0 scale. One of the purposes explained in the 1941 yearbook was to foster contacts with future employers; it appears that this effort did lead to jobs. In 1941, the fraternity showed its appreciation to the State Police by granting honorary membership to several officers34.
The Police Administration Program had been started, in part, because police and college officials had projected the idea that there would be a market for educated police candidates. Therefore, considerable effort was expended to make this projection a reality. Starting with the 1939 graduating class, the college produced a brochure to be sent out to all prospective employers. A graduation picture and a brief listing of the activities of each student was included and employers were instructed to call the College or Commissioner Olander for more information35. This tactic worked very well, as it put the graduates into direct contact with the professional network. Robert Bouck was a good example of how it worked. Olander's office had sponsored him for a position and further study at the Traffic Institute at Northwestern University. His background in engineering would have made him a natural for this position. In the meantime the U.S. Secret Service had heard about the program through the brochure or other means and had written Olander asking about the program and if he could recommend anyone. Olander recommended Bouck and, as stated before, Scavarda influenced Bouck in that direction. There were only 200 agents in the Secret Service when Bouck joined. With the United States entry into World War II, the organization grew very fast and Bouck soon found himself in charge of personnel. He hired so many men from Michigan State that he was charged in a friendly manner as having created a Michigan State Club. He was responsible for hiring H. Stuart Knight who just recently retired as Director of the Service36.
Up to 1941, nearly all of the Police Administration graduates were hired prior to graduation so that the predictions of the program developers were justified. World War II changed the entire College as it changed everything else in the world.
In 1941, the entire graduating class was called to active duty. Austin VanStratt said that he and six other graduates had joined the State Police after graduation in 1940, and were all called into the service. He was the only one who returned to the State Police after the war. The others stayed in the military or found other jobs. He retired from MSP and now teaches Criminal Justice at Northwestern Michigan College at Traverse City37.
In April of 1941, Bremer resigned his position with the College to take a security job at the Reo factory in Lansing. In July, Tom King was appointed to direct the program along with his other administrative duties. The first phase of the program had ended. Bremer was involved with security for most of the war years, during which he was a consultant for security at air installations. The end of World War II found him in Indianapolis, Indiana. In the early 1950's he returned to the small town of Holly, Michigan, which is a short distance from his boyhood home in Howell. He became the Chief of Police and the City Attorney. All he lacked for a clean sweep of the criminal justice system was an appointment as the judge. Bremer's days as police chief in Holly must have taken him back to the roaring twenties and his experience chasing bootleggers, because just outside Holly was a resort run by the notorious gambler Red Allen38. Red was a friend of Joe Louis and later Muhammad Ali, and in the early 1950's people coming to the resort caused considerable trouble in Holly. Bremer called Allen to his office and told him everyone was welcome in town, but if the trouble did not stop he would make it hard on Allen even though he was outside the Holly jurisdiction. After that Allen enforced the rules and there was no more trouble in Holly.
Eventually Bremer's law practice picked up and he became a respected member of the Genessee County Bar. He died there in 196539.
Tom King: "Banking the Coals"
Police work prior to World War II and for many years after was, by custom and law, a man's world. The type of men qualified for the program were all taken into the military, and in 1945, there were no graduates from the program. The person responsible for keeping the program alive was former football coach and administrative specialist Tom King.
Tom King was born in 1896. He graduated in 1918, from Notre Dame where he played football under Knute Rockne. He coached high school football at Louisville, Kentucky, in 1924, and the next year went to the University of Louisville, where he had winning teams. He also coached basketball at U of L and produced championship teams in 1928 and 1929. While at the University of Louisville he found time to study law and earned his LLB in 1928.
He came to Michigan State as an assistant football coach under Charles Bachman in 1933. In 1940, he left athletics for administrative work. During the war years and shortly thereafter he could be called a "firehouse administrator" for the many jobs he held. He performed outstanding service in all cases. In 1941, he was appointed Head of the Department of Applied Science, Professor of Law, and Professor and Administrator of the Police Administration Course. In 1942, while keeping these positions, he was appointed Director of Placement, and in 1944, Director of the Personnel Office was added to his duties. In 1948, he ended up with one job-Dean of Students. He worked in the alumni office from 1964 until his retirement in July of 1966.
After retiring from Michigan State, King and his wife moved back to Louisville where he was soon involved in helping to raise money for football scholarships. In 1968 he was U of L's consultant in alumni relations. He died in Louisville January 4, 1972, at the age of 761.
The records indicate that King's role in the Police Administration Course was mainly one of keeping it going until the men returned from the war. MSU President Emeritus John Hannah alluded to this suggestion in a recent interview2.
King did, however, teach the criminal law courses until 1947, and because of his other jobs was effective in placing students. It was not King's style, however, to be just a caretaker, and he was looking for ways to expand the program during the low tide of World War II.
The war had hurt the program in addition to the call up of nearly all able bodied men. Because of the tie to the ROTC program, the stronger ROTC regulations kept the numbers low. From 1941 on, students were required to earn "a 1.5 point-credit ratio in basic Military Science to be selected for advanced Military Science by the President of the College or his representative, and the Professor of Military Science and Tactics. Students also had to pass the standard State Police physical examination and be at least 5'10" tall and weigh at least 160 pounds. This cut the program even more than the military drafts. It is obvious that the catalog descriptions and facts about the program were not updated until the Brandstatter era. The catalog was still stating, in 1946, that the program included the cooperation of the Crime Commission3. The fact is that the Crime Commission, which helped start the program, had not existed since the end of 1939.
During the 1944-45 year a major college reorganization took place with the development of the School of Business and Public Service. The new School was divided into departments which included: Business Administration, Hotel Administration, Journalism, Physical Education, Police Administration, Public Administration, and Social Service4.
In 1945, while the program was at low ebb, Tom King, trying to come up with ways to maintain the program and extend its practical services to the police community, suggested a short course program for recruit training and refresher courses5. This idea was placed on the back burner, but came into being in a major way during his successor's tenure.
With the end of the war and the enactment of the GI Bill of Rights, returning service personnel streamed to the campuses. Colleges all over the nation were short of classroom and dormitory space to say nothing of married housing to accommodate returning servicemen, their wives and children. Michigan State, thanks to the insight of President John Hannah and his staff was ready for the crush.
The first Police Administration students graduated in 1938. Arthur Brandstatter was one of the three who graduated that year; he took a job as a Detroit police officer. His fellow graduates were Edgar Jones and Ralph Orcutt.
Brandstatter was born in McKees Rock, Pennsylvania, and later moved with his parents to Ecorse, Michigan, where he became a high school football star. His athletic ability gained the attention of Agriculture Extension agent John Hannah who recruited him for Michigan State1. When Hannah became Secretary to the Board of Agriculture in January of 1935, he was still single; he sub-let a room in his house to Brandstatter2. As Brandstatter progressed from promising freshman to an established football star, Oscar Olander maintained his interest in the football player, who had started his law enforcement career cleaning the State Police Detective Bureau. Both Olander and Hannah were to have a profound influence on Brandstatter's future career at Michigan State.
During his last year on campus 1936-37, Brandstatter was a member of the MM Cavalry Unit and Secretary-Treasurer of the MSC Varsity Club. The Varsity Club members not only played good football, but knew how to party as well. They were credited that year with putting on "one of the best formal parties of the winter term with "Blue Barron and His Syncopating Sons." 3
Brandstatter's next year was spent in the MSP field training program and after that the Detroit Police Department. As was the case with other Police Administration graduates he was called up for active duty in World War II and assigned to Military Police duty.
In 1944, Art was sent to Chicago to attend Security Intelligence School. Classes were held at Chicago Women's Club on llth St. The instructor in charge was Major Robert H. Scott of the Provost Marshal General's office.
Brandstatter learned that MSC President John Hannah was in Chicago on business and made arrangements to meet him for dinner. Afterwards, they engaged in an in-depth discussion of the MSC Police Administration program. Brandstatter presented some of his own ideas about the future of the program, but did not realize until several years later the positive manner in which his views were received by President Hannah4.
After completing the Security School, Brandstatter was sent to MacArthur's Far East Command and then to Korea to help develop the Korean police system. Since 1909, Korea had been occupied by Japan and the Japanese police organization. Therefore, the new government of Korea was in need of assistance in the development of their new civilian police responsibilities.
MSC, in the fall of 1946, was feeling the impact of the returning veterans. The Police Administration Program was starting to grow and Tom King was needed by President Hannah in other areas. Hannah had been impressed by Brandstatter's ideas two years previous during his Chicago meeting, but Art was still in the military and out of the country; he needed to do something fast. Hannah also had another administrative problem in the area of police work. The East Lansing Chief of Police, R.W. Rogers, had resigned to take the Chief's job in Midland; his resignation affected police operations on the campus. In 1937, the East Lansing and MSC police operations had been reorganized and under the new Chief, former State Police officer Harold Haun; the East Lansing Department provided police services to MSC. MSC's governing board, the State Board of Agriculture, helped finance the Chief's position and therefore, had a responsibility for input into the employment decision making5.
President Hannah had apparently discussed the East Lansing Police situation with Commissioner Olander, because Tom King later related to Brandstatter the fact that Olander had suggested to Hannah that he should try to get Arthur Brandstatter, who had graduated at State about ten years before. After joining the Detroit Police Department in 1938, Brandstatter does not recall ever talking with Olander prior to returning to MSC-another piece of evidence of Olander's ability use his influence at just the right time.
Hannah took the suggestion and had Tom King try to find Brandstatter. A cable was sent to Korea, but Brandstatter could not be found. Hannah urged King to keep trying and after a call to Mrs. Brandstatter, it was learned he could be reached by Air Force radio. The call went out and Brandstatter accepted the job on condition that he could gain early release from the Air Force. He was turned down but, after an appeal, won the early release6.
East Lansing city records indicate that Brandstatter took over as Chief of Police February 18, 1946. On February 21, 1946 the Board of Agriculture approved his appointment as Chief effective February 157. His stay at East Lansing was brief, as he resigned the East Lansing title effective September 1, 19468. Shortly after Brandstatter's return to East Lansing, Hannah made his move to replace Tom King in the Police Administration Program.
At the August 15, 1946, meeting of the MSC Board, Brandstatter was appointed Associate Professor and Assistant Head of the Department of Police Administration effective September 1, 1946. Another MSC graduate Charles Pegg, class of 39', was appointed East Lansing Chief. Later MSU decided to handle its own police responsibilities and Brandstatter was appointed to the chief's position in 1947. He remained as Campus Police Chief until 19609. A little over a year later, November 20, 1947, Brandstatter was promoted to Professor of Police Administration and Head of the Department10.
While this would seem to be a very rapid move upwards, it should be understood that the delay in making Brandstatter the head of the Department was a mere formality because, according to D.R. Rodney, Dean of the School of Business and Public Service, Brandstatter was brought in and "was being prepared to take over eventually the direction of the department." Rodney further reported that the FBI had started recruiting their graduates and this was the first time - the Bureau had taken persons without training in law or accounting11.
Student Organization Revived
Brandstatter assisted King with the program in 1946, and during that year a new Police Administration student organization was formed. The pre-war fraternity was not reorganized and its successor was now called the Police Science Association. The Police Science Association claimed to be "one of the first student organizations of its kind in the country". The goal of this group was a bit different than the Homines Legis Fraternity. The 1948 yearbook, The Wolverine, described its "ultimate aim is to bring to the student and citizen a greater appreciation of police problems." 12
Later it was learned that V.A. Leonard at Washington State, Pullman, Washington, had Organized the Alpha Phi Sigma Police Science Honorary. Michigan State joined Alpha Phi Sigma in 1948 as Beta Chapter and described the honorary as "one of the first student organizations of its kind in the United States". 13 Again the stated purpose was somewhat different than the other "first of a kind student organizations." Now the stated purpose was to promote "a sense of unity among students of police administration, science, and crime prevention." 14 In 1951 women were admitted into the fraternity. Daisy Kim became the first member as well as the first women graduate of the Department of Police Administration.
Brandstatter agreed on the need to take more direct command of the police instruction part of the program. Up to this time the only classes taught on campus were the two criminal law courses that had been taught by the attorneys, first Bremer and then King. Enrollment in the program was increasing and it was clear that the State Police could not, and should not, carry the burden and responsibility for the academic part of the program. In addition, the State Police leadership changed in January of 1947. While the new MSP administration continued its cooperation with MSC, it was less informal in approach than the more open administration of Commissioner Olander. Commissioner Leonard was seeking a new image for the State Police. He was also faced with increased activity as return to civilian manufacturing of automobiles and the elimination of wartime gas rationing and speed limits brought thousands of motorists to the highways.
But Commissioner Leonard, trained not only as a police officer, but in the adversarial ways of the law, could react negatively to policies and friendships established by former Commissioner Olander.
It is as clear today, as it was to the MSC and MSP administrators of 1946-47, that the Police Administration Program at Michigan State had to stand on its own; and, while the cooperation would continue long into the future, the question of law enforcement leadership would cause some strain between the State Police and MSC.
Brandstatter's first task in developing independence and identity was to employ additional staff. He was faced with two major instructional tasks if he was to move the major police subjects to the campus. Of the two major subject areas, police administration and scientific investigation, he was most qualified in the area of administration. The logical move and the one he made, was to teach the police administration course and seek his first new instructor in the scientific area. This was eventually accomplished with the employment of Ralph Turner.
Turner was a trained scientist, had practical experience at the Kansas City Police Crime Laboratory, and had important contacts with nationally known criminalists associated with the early days of the Chicago Scientific Detection Laboratory of Northwestern University. One of the early members of that group was C.W. Muhlenberger who left the Chicago Lab and set up the toxicology crime lab for the Michigan Department of Health in 1941. Muhlenberger had the respect of the Michigan State Police and soon Turner, as fellow scientist, also gained the support and respect of operating agencies as well as academic administrators.
Ralph F. Turner earned his Bachelor of Science Degree in chemistry from the University of Wisconsin in 1939. His mentor, Dr. J.H. Mathews, Chairman of the Chemistry Department was one of America's pioneers in the field of scientific criminal investigation. He was in close contact with the Crime Detection Laboratory at Northwestern University and had not the Great Depression cut the funds for the Chicago Lab, there is little doubt, but that Turner would have joined that organization. During his search for a job, Turner interviewed at Northwestern and while they were not able to offer him a job, the contact with the scientists at Northwestern provided career long professional and personal relationships. Turner was able to land a job in the crime lab of the Kansas City, Missouri Police Department later that year and remained at Kansas City until coming to Michigan State in 1947.
Turner and his colleagues at the Kansas City Laboratory gained national reputations for their effectiveness in crime scene search and the analysis of evidence, but Turner was interested in teaching and made inquiries to the University of California at Berkley. Nothing became of this approach and so he wrote to Tom King, the World War II director of the Police Administration Program at Michigan State. King advised Turner that, because the war had so depleted the student body, no new positions were anticipated at that time. Turner made an annual contact with King and in the mid 1940's was able to visit King at Michigan State.
When Brandstatter took over the program and the need for additional staff developed with the increased enrollments after the war, the files left by King revealed Turner's persistent interest in Michigan State.
During the same ROTC encampment at Ft. Sheridan where Brandstatter first talked to Robert Scott about corrections, he invited Turner to Chicago to talk about scientific crime detection. Turner and Brandstatter met at the Blackstone Hotel and discussed the state of the art of scientific crime investigation and how an instructional program could help advance the cause of modern police administration. This time Turner's goal to teach at Michigan State was realized and his appointment as Assistant Professor of Police Administration was made effective September 1, 1947. With two full time faculty members in the Police Administration Program, curriculum changes moved forward. Turner proved to be extremely versatile; in addition to teaching scientific investigative techniques, he was willing to tackle law and administrative courses.
For the 1947-48 academic year, the original 301-303 Police Administration series taught by the State Police was maintained, but a new course, Police Administration and Organization, was developed by Brandstatter to start the weaning process. He also taught the criminal law course. And, to make sure he was on top of the latest law rules, he attended the State Police classes in law conducted by lawyer Commissioner Donald Leonard.
Turner designed and taught the new course Principles of Investigation. This course established a theoretical approach to the investigation process, and then attached to the theories the scientific technologies used to discover, preserve, and analyze crime scene and other evidence.
To supplement the lecture class on investigation, Turner developed a laboratory class called Scientific Crime Detection. These two classes proved to be a mainstay for the program and remained a vital part of the program for over 20 years. Turner also developed and taught Police Records and Criminal Evidence during his first year at Michigan State.
Based on his physical science background and the reigning neo-Freudian psychology, Turner built an optimistic theory of criminal investigation. His theory encouraged enthusiasm for the investigative process, innovation in the search for investigative methods, and the idea that with work and the application of scientific principles--crime could be solved. Turner also designed another course during his first year at Michigan State. The course, titled Police Seminar (319), was designed to allow the in-depth study of a special subject of interest. The seminar concept was a first step in the development of courses where upper level students could pursue professional type instruction and relationships with their instructor. This hallmark of a professional program, started by Turner, is a continuing trait of the Criminal Justice program15. (See Appendix A for more on Turner's investigative theories.)
As a result of Brandstatter and Turner's first year of operation, substantial headway had been made at identifying specific courses from the general categories of police courses formerly taught by the State Police. Starting in the Fall term of 1948, State Police instructors were used only in the case of specific courses identified by Brandstatter as falling outside of the time or experience of regular instructors.
By fall of 1948, Turner had developed a three term laboratory sequence leading to a criminalistics concentration. He also developed the seminar concept into individual research with a course called, Thesis (450). Further development toward specialization continued in 1948 when Brandstatter brought Robert H. Scott to MSC to teach criminal law and to develop a specialty in corrections and delinquency prevention.
Robert H. Scott was born and raised in Albany, New York. He earned his Bachelor Of Arts Degree and reserve lieutenant's commission from Yale University in 1931, and his LLB from the Albany Law School of Union University in 1934. He was admitted to the New York Bar later that year.
Scott then moved to Cambridge, New York, and started his general practice of law in the firm of Lawton and Scott. Cambridge provided a small town environment in the pleasant, historically important regions of the Northern most part of New York State. It was the kind of place a young attorney could serve a community, understand the people, raise a family, and eventually retire with a sense of satisfaction and pleasure. In 1941, World War II changed this very predictable pattern for Robert Scott and others in similar communities across the nation. On December 8, 1941, the day after Pearl Harbor, he volunteered for duty and on January 29, 1942, Lt. Robert Scott entered active duty and soon became Chief, Department of Law and Administration, Provost Marshal Generals School. During the war years, he had a variety of duties including instructing in military law, Trail Judge Advocate, acting as Defense Counsel, and Law Member of General Court Martial. This position was similar to the Position of a circuit court judge. In the later part of the war he was assigned as Director of Training for the Security Intelligence School in Chicago where he met Military Police (MP) student Arthur Brandstatter.
After the war came to a close, Scott was assigned to the program at the University of Michigan with the academic title of Assistant Professor of Military Science and Tactics with a focus on the Military Police unit. One of his duties in this position was to attend the annual ROTC, MP exercises at Ft. Sheridan, Illinois. In the summer of 1947 during the PDT encampment, Scott had an interesting reunion with former student Arthur Brandstatter. Brandstatter had remained active in the Army Reserve and had accompanied the MSC, ROTC MP Unit to Ft. Sheridan.
The war time experiences of administering military justice had exposed the up and coming country lawyer from upstate New York to a wide range of human imperfections. Military manpower requirements had drafted into the nation's service the willing and unwilling, the good, bad, and indifferent, the courageous and the weak, and forced the honest and trusting to live side by side with the human predator of the pre-war world.
The conflict, confusion, clash of culture, and paranoia of total war provided the grist for the mill of military justice. For the military tribunals, the available choices were not always in the interest of the nation or of the youthful violators. Behavior that disrupted the military effort could not be allowed, but at the same time, to place all violators in prison for the duration of the war deprived the front line generals of needed manpower.
As a way out of this dilemma, the military instituted a program where selected violators could, over a three month period, earn their way out of confinement and back into active duty with the prospect of having a clean slate upon discharge. Robert Scott had been involved in developing this process. It was obvious to him that if the good results he had experienced in the military could somehow be transferred to the civilian world of crime and criminals, many young people might be spared a life of crime. He was convinced that he could transfer the military model to civilian corrections. This was the thrust of the discussions he had with Brandstatter during the ROTC encampment16.
Brandstatter was now faced with an interesting possibility. During the first ten years of the Police Administration Program, the emphasis was on catching criminals, and while a few graduates had drifted into the world of corrections, here was the possibility of improving correctional training and perhaps preventing delinquency as well. Brandstatter could see the possibilities of growth in such an idea. In addition, the man with the idea, Robert Scott, had another dimension that the school needed--he was a lawyer. A lawyer to teach the law courses would continue the tradition and relieve Turner and himself to pursue their own subject areas. Brandstatter, in the style of his mentor, John Hannah, offered Scott a position at Michigan State. He would teach the law courses and develop his ideas to be used in the development of new courses. Lt. Col. Scott resigned from the U.S. Army in time to accept an appointment as Associate Professor at Michigan State for the fall term 1948.
During the year 1948-49, Scott taught the two criminal law courses and completed his research in the area of delinquency and crime prevention. During the next academic year (winter term 1950) he implemented two new courses Crime Prevention (324) and Custody and Detention (328). In the spring term Juvenile Law (433) was presented. This developing program gave an opportunity for women to enter the Department of Police Administration. About six women signed up for Crime Prevention, including Daisy Kim, a 1951 graduate and the first woman graduate of the Police Administration Program.
Scott continued to develop his correctional and delinquency courses and teach the three law courses. In addition, he also helped out in other areas by teaching Evolution of Police Administration, Interrogation and Case Preparation, and on one occasion, Traffic Administration and Organization.
As was the case in the police area, the service philosophy of Michigan State came together with Scott's interest in assisting practitioners. A number of training programs were conducted in cooperation with the Michigan Department of Corrections.
One direct result of his work was the development of a new career position --- Correctional Counselor. This program was quite successful--so much so that Scott was asked, in 1954, to take an eighteen month leave of absence from Michigan State to assist the Department of Corrections to develop their youthful offender program along the lines he had suggested.
This offer was too good to pass up, because it gave him a chance to put his theories into practice. At about the same time his assignment with the Department of Corrections was being proposed, another major development was taking place within the Department of Police Administration. Louis Radelet from the National Council of Christians and Jews (NCCJ) in New York had proposed that Michigan State, through its Police Administration Program put on a conference relating to police and community relations. Scott was assigned to coordinate the development of the proposed program. He accepted the correctional assignment, but from the spring of 1954 until the First Annual Conference of the National Institute of Police and Community Relations, held at Michigan State in the Spring of 1955, Scott held numerous meetings with faculty, Radelet from NCCJ, and other interested persons trying to hammer out a program for the police community17.
In leading the planning sessions, Scott used his penetrating legal training to force participants to examine justify, and support every facet of the program they were about to launch. As a result of the intense planning, the initial program was not offered as exploratory, but as a fully developed organization called the National Institute on Police and Community Relations. The Institute was launched in 1955; and, in addition to fulfilling a much needed service to the police and to the people they served, it provided a showcase activity on the part of the Department of Police Administration for the centennial celebration of the founding of Michigan State College18. Scott was named head of this Institute and handled this responsibility effectively and efficiently in addition to his work at the Department of Corrections.
The eighteen month correctional assignment turned into an eighteen year career with Michigan Corrections. As Deputy Director in charge of the Youth Division, he was responsible for the development of parole camps and camp programs for youthful offenders. In 1964, Governor Romney appointed him to develop a state planning agency, and in 1965, he became a member of the Michigan Parole Board. In 1972, after eighteen years of putting into practice the concepts he had discussed with Brandstatter, in 1947; Bob Scott retired from the Corrections Department to become, once again, Professor of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University. For the next ten years he taught corrections from both theory and practice, and in 1982 retired to become Professor Emeritus, Criminal Justice. His impact on the Michigan correctional system was publicly recognized in 1984, when Michigan named its first regional correctional institution in his honor, the Scott Regional Corrections Facility19.
Today Professor Scott keeps regular hours at his campus office and is in constant contact with public officials who seek his advice on correctional matters. He still has faith in the malleability of youth and the search for better ways to encourage young people, in trouble with the system, to enhance their own lives through lawful behavior. He attributes his success in corrections to the concept of "responsible administration". By this he means that while one may have a new idea or theory, practice resulting from these new ideas must result in a responsible consideration of all factors that impinge on a situation. Translated in correctional terms, he pointed out that, while he was dedicated to providing youthful offenders with opportunities to improve their lot in life, he always kept in mind the need to protect the public from crime20.
During his tenure with the Department of Corrections he was influential in developing legislation that led to what is now known as the Holmes Youthful Training Act.
Decision making during his career did not have the assistance of extensive quantitative research studies. Programs developed by Scott were the result of a keen ability to observe and understand youthful offenders and a willingness to take the many risks involved with experimental programs, and at the same time be guided by the need to be responsible for the safety of citizens.
From 1948-1951, Brandstatter, Turner and Scott made up the full time faculty and were assisted by the MSP in the area of traffic administration, and field service training. This was a period of stable growth and development, and the strengthening of the basic police administration, police science (criminalistics), and corrections areas.
By 1951, the slaughter on the highways was becoming a national disgrace and traffic safety movements were starting to put pressure on Congress and the State legislatures to take new actions in the face of this carnage. The Michigan State program had a traffic component almost from the start, but class offerings were limited mainly to the subject of police traffic duties. The National Safety Council had, for many years, recognized the role of Engineering and Education, in addition to Enforcement, as vital to a comprehensive traffic safety program21. In late 1951, Michigan State conducted research sponsored by the Association of Land Grant Colleges and Universities, funded in part by the Automotive Safety Foundation, to determine how a college could contribute to a state's traffic safety program. Gordon Sheehe was one of three persons responsible for the research. Following the first six months of the project, it seemed clear that there would be a role in traffic safety for Michigan State22. In anticipation of the recommendation to be published in 1953, Sheehe developed and taught a sequence of three courses in traffic administration starting in the fall of 1952. By the time the final report was published on October 13, 1953, the Police Administration Department had a full year of teaching the required courses.
The research report, however, called for a much more comprehensive program than could be accommodated by the police orientation of the Police Administration program. The research had been initiated as a multidisciplinary project and pointed out the need for training, education, engineering, public education, graduate and undergraduate courses, research, and field technical assistance.
The program was debated for the next year and a half. The grim traffic picture continued to deteriorate, so in the fall of 1955, Michigan Governor G. Mennen Williams called the legislature into special session to face the issue of traffic safety. The legislature passed a total package that included funding of $300,000 per year to establish the Highway Traffic Safety Center at Michigan State23.
Gordon Sheehe was appointed to head the Institute and continued to teach the traffic courses in the Police Administration program through 1956. Sheehe retired from the Institute in 1977, and resides in the local area. The Traffic Institute continues at a minimal level today (1985) with one class in traffic administration still being offered in the Criminal Justice program.
In the spring of 1955, the first program of the National Institute on Police and Community Relations was held at Michigan State. Police officers and citizen leaders met to examine themselves and each other in an attempt to gain some understanding of their prejudices and of the racial tensions between white police officers and minority citizens. But while the tenor of the times placed special emphasis on black/white relations, the underlying principles of the Institute's agenda were a broad based attack on prejudice, be it racial, ethnic, or socioeconomic based, and the fostering of a positive attitude toward the brotherhood of all persons.
The social problems that created the need for such an institute and the conceptual, financial, and planning process that produced the National Institute as a problem solving device did not occur overnight. America has a long and stormy history of racial conflict, but it also has a stronger history grounded in the pursuit of human rights. These rights were built into the lofty principles espoused by the Declaration of Independence and the Constitutional foundations of post-revolutionary government. They survived the crucible of American Civil War and were forged into the Constitutional revisions of Reconstruction. But the evils of prejudice do not disappear by fiat, and following the Civil War, the intentions of the authors of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution were neutralized by a succession of U.S. Supreme Court decisions that culminated in 1896, with Plessy V. Ferguson25, in which the Court held that separate but equal facilities for black and white would meet the Constitutional test of equality. Thus, for the next half century, state laws in both the North and South reflected in varying degrees the philosophy set forth in Plessy.
While the industrialization of the North brought more blacks and southern whites into contact with each other, it was World War II that increased this migration and the possibility of improved economic status of marginally employed persons from the agricultural South. This threat to the old order helped make it possible for a nation at war to take time out for racial strife manifested by such occasions as the Detroit race riot of 1943.
Black citizens were invited to fight for their nation, but in segregated units. The right to die for one's nation, separately but equally, did not sound right to the feisty President from Missouri; and on July 26, 1948, by Executive Order Number 9981, Truman, in a courageous but unpopular move, integrated the armed forces of the United States.
The joys of victory in Europe and Asia overshadowed the disheartening experience of returning non-white and religious minorities who, many times found the countries they had liberated to be more accepting of them as humans than the nation they had fought to protect. Still, for the most part, the battle for their own and their children's rights went forward in the courts and not the streets. The legal victory for equality came in 1954 when the school desegregation cases were decided by Brown vs. the Board of Education26. They specifically over ruled the separate but equal doctrine of Plessy vs. Ferguson.
Again, the legal victory did not change peoples' thoughts and actions overnight; and, those persons and organizations with years of experience in fighting prejudice mobilized for the problems they correctly perceived coming in the aftermath of the court's decision. This understanding and recognition that the police would be caught up in the rumblings of change inspired the notion of community relations training for police. The person most responsible for accepting the challenge of working with the police in this area was Louis A. Radelet, who at the time of Brown vs. Board of Education was the National Program Director for the National Conference of Christians and Jews, (NCCJ), stationed in New York City.
Louis "Lou" Radelet was born and raised in Green Bay, Wisconsin. In the late 1930's he entered the University of Notre Dame with junior status and focused his studies on sociology. He had his mind set on the study of law, but one of his professors encouraged him to consider a teaching career. He then settled on a program that would qualify him to teach college level sociology, one that would by-pass the Masters Program and lead directly to a Ph.D.
World War II interrupted this plan and he was drafted for the duration. It was during his military experience that he came across the organization that would become a major influence on his Professional career and to which he would contribute his energy and ideas for many years. One of the activities that allowed service personnel to avoid some of the less desirable duties was a program put on by the National Council of Christians and Jews. For want of something better to do, Lou went to a few of the sessions. The program focused on the problems of racial and religious discrimination and the need for all people to recognize the brotherhood of man. He was not impressed - not yet.
After the war, he returned to Notre Dame to teach and finish a Master's degree. In addition to teaching, he held a part time job in research for the local welfare department. During this period, a teaching colleague invited him to attend several meetings of the local NCCJ chapter. Initially, he attended out of curiosity as a result of his military experience. He soon became interested in the program and showed such interest that the organization offered him a part time job. It turned out to be a full time job in disguise, and he soon found himself with two full time jobs. NCCJ soon recognized his work and administrative abilities, and in 1950 offered him a full time position as a regional administrator with an office in Detroit.
One of NCCJ's programs was to provide training for teachers at all levels to help them cope with the problems of discrimination and bigotry that they experienced in the classroom. One of these meetings brought him into contact with Hoyt Coe Reed, Professor of Social Science at Michigan State University. Radelet's success in Michigan gained him another promotion-this time to New York where he eventually directed NCCJ's national effort in program development.
During his programs in various parts of the nation, he observed a few police officers attending the sessions. These officers were in special units and viewed themselves as teachers. They saw value in the anti-discrimination material being discussed.
As racial tensions built around the desegration cases in 1953 and 1954, police leaders under the banner of the International Association of Chiefs of Police held a joint meeting with NCCJ in Philadelphia. On the way back to New York, after what appeared to be a successful session in Philadelphia, Harold Lett, then a director of NCCJ, encouraged Radelet to think about developing a program for police along the lines of the one they presented to teachers27.
Where was the educational leadership in law enforcement in the 1950's? Schools of police administration were not household words, but Lou had heard something about the program at Michigan State during his work in Detroit. He had one contact at the campus at East Lansing -Hoyt Coe "Dick" Reed. He put a call through to Reed and a short time later, a series of meetings were being held between Radelet, faculty of the Police Administration Program, and other campus departments.
According to Radelet, the driving force behind the planning sessions was Robert Scott. He had designed and taught the courses in delinquency and corrections, and in addition had, on occasion, taught nearly every other course in the program.
As has been mentioned, the first Institute was held at MSC in the spring of 1955 with Robert Scott handling the local administration and Radelet representing the NCCJ, who provided most of the financial support. As the program became more and more popular and drew national attention to Michigan State, Brandstatter began to see the need for working the community relations concepts into the academic program. After several talks, Radelet agreed to accept an appointment on the Police Administration faculty and to head up the Institute program. In 1964, he offered his first course entitled Police and Community Relations. The course has been offered ever since28.
Police and Community Relations (PCR), is now standard fare in police and criminal justice programs across the nation. And, while the national institute sessions are no longer held each year at Michigan State, the substance of the program and current ideas regarding PCR are made available in the continued up dates of the major American work on the subject -- Police and Community Relations by Louis Radelet.
Early Considerations. Security administration was another special off-shoot of the Police Administration Program that obtained official recognition in the very productive period between 1950-55. It is generally recognized that the security program was established under the able direction of Dr. Albert C. Germann in the spring of 1955. The genesis of the program, however, traces to the very beginning of the police administration program. Dean Ralph C. Huston, in his first published statement in November 1935, stated, "Manufacturing plants and mercantile establishments have indicated a need for men trained in (police science). Insurance companies, banking systems, and law firms may find places for them as special investigators." 29
With so much of the early program design coming from the State Police, the question could be raised as to why the MSP would have shown an interest in security. This question would be pertinent today as police and security agencies often debate their respective roles and relationships to each other.
It is interesting and perhaps quite relevant to this study, to note the fact that the MSP originated as a security force to protect the Detroit docks and the locks at Sault Saint Marie in World War I, and their efficiency in that assignment, not general law enforcement work, led to their police status in 1918. During the Second World War their security and civil defense work took on an even larger role. Within a week after Pearl Harbor, MSP had secured plans for all utility facilities including power generation dams in the State of Michigan and had emergency plans made for their protection. Since the start of serious traffic accident investigation and traffic law enforcement in the 1930's MSP worked with insurance organizations to promote safety on the roads of Michigan. The banking industry support of state wide police radio is a classic study of law enforcement/business cooperation, even granting the fact that the banks had a special interest in gaining speedy response to bank robbery.
During World War II, the MSP was concerned, as was the FBI and other major law enforcement agencies, with the possibility of espionage and sabotage in the defense industries. This concern was passed along to MSC students in 1944, and perhaps even before, during Police Administration 302 and 303 held at the State Police headquarters. Captain Scavarda, Sergeant Robertson, and Trooper Valentine covered Civilian Defense, Protection of Defense Areas, and Sabotage and Espionage30. This was about the same time that security officers representing the defense industries were meeting with government officials; their efforts led to the formation of the American Society for Industrial Security.
In addition to the subject of security being included in the lecture sessions, the involvement of industry was evident in the very early Field Service Training Program. By 1946, the State Police placed the discussions of Industrial Plant Security first on the list of subjects in Police Administration 303. Instructors for this subject were M.B. Gordon, H.E. Purchase, N.O. Kiefer, and J.R. Stone of the Oldsmobile Motor Division of General Motors. These same officials were involved with the program through the late 1940's. During the 32 weeks scheduled for Field Service Training, two weeks were spent in Plant Protection at Oldsmobile, and two weeks with the Auto-Owners or other insurance companies31.
As the college took over the course work, specific mention of security subjects disappeared from the catalog listings, but remained in the description of the Field Service Training program. In 1950, when the field training was nine instead of twelve months, Plant Protection at Oldsmobile was included and described as "A study of the problems and procedures of industrial policing, fire protection, and safety, and participation in the duties of a plant protection officer including gate work, beat and plant control." Time was also spent at Retail Credit Company. This company developed into one of the largest credit bureau services in the world. Subjects covered included "commercial investigation work for national concerns including insurance, personnel reports and credit work." 32
First Formal Courses. As Brandstatter, Turner and Scott continued to examine and expand the program in the early 1950's it became clear that a sizable number of graduates were entering the field of security. In 1955 Brandstatter met with representatives of Ford, Chrysler and General Motors. They verified the need for college trained personnel in private security. These findings along with the clear evidence that police administration graduates were moving into security prompted the initiation of a new specialty-Security Administration33.
The introduction of Security Administration as a degree concentration in the spring of 1955, gave Michigan State the position of being the first college or university in the United States to offer a degree in security. The second course in the concentration, Prevention and Control of Accidents was offered in the winter term of 1956. Later that year, the first person in the United States to graduate with a degree in Security, graduated from Michigan State.
Brandstatter had assigned Dr. Albert Germann, who had both police experience and academic credentials, to develop the security program. He had been a police officer with the Los Angeles Police Department and received his Master's and Doctoral degrees in Public Administration from the University of California. He started teaching at Michigan State in September of 1954. His major area of interest was law enforcement, but he worked hard to develop the security area. Germann was a popular instructor and demanded high quality work from students. In addition to his teaching and course development, he found time to co-author with Frank D. Day and Robert R. J. Gallatti the text Introduction to Law Enforcement. This text was the first major introductory law enforcement text published in the United States and became the standard for police administration programs throughout the United States. Germann left MSC in 1957, for California State College at Long Beach and taught there until his recent retirement.
Security Moves Forward. Dr. Germann created considerable interest in the security program during the two years he worked on its development. It was now time to place someone in charge whose primary interest was security. Such a person was found in Robert Sheehan. Sheehan came to Michigan State with a graduate degree from Tufts College at Medford, Massachusetts. While in college, he worked as a police officer for the Everett, Massachusetts Police Department. He also gained practical security experience by working with several New England industrial plants. He entered the United States Army in 1955, and served as a Special Agent in the Counter Intelligence Corps until 195734. Sheehan started at Michigan State in the fall of 1957, as Assistant Professor in charge of the security program. He was at Michigan State for three years. In addition to teaching the two security courses and an interviewing and interrogation course, he developed a new course in retail security that was implemented in the 1959-60 academic year.
In the spring of 1960, Sheehan left Michigan State to head up the Department of Law Enforcement and Security at Northeastern University. He stayed at Northeastern until retirement.
Stabilization. While the security program was making reasonable progress, the frequent change in leadership had not led to the stabilization noted in other areas such as police science and delinquency prevention. Brandstatter was looking for an experienced administrator who could develop the security program and maintain relationships with governmental and private security agencies.
He found what he was looking for in Dr. Leon Weaver. Weaver came to MSU with nearly 20 years Federal government experience in military intelligence, strategic planning, civil defense and military/private business security.
Weaver received his doctoral program in Political Science at the University of Illinois in 1942 and then entered the War Department as a civilian in the personnel office. Later he was commissioned a Lieutenant in the Marine Corps Reserve and assigned to air combat intelligence. The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) gained his services to research and write on political intelligence involving nations of the Far East. After the war, he transferred to another section of the State Department and provided technical assistance to many policy committees involved with the occupation and normalization of both Western and Eastern nations.
In 1951, he entered the Federal Civil Defense Agency and continued in that agency until moving to Michigan State in 1960. At the time of his appointment, he was the Emergency Planning Consultant and Program officer, office of Civil Defense Mobilization and stationed at Battle Creek, Michigan.
Brandstatter had met Weaver at an American Society for Industrial Security (ASIS) meeting in 1957, and had discussed with him some points on security education. Several minor contacts were made with Brandstatter over the next year or two and in the spring of 1959, Brandstatter was showing a strong interest in bringing him to Michigan State. As a high ranking official in the Civil Defense establishment, and with many years of governmental service, the prospect of leaving government employment at that point was a major decision for Weaver. Brandstatter had the resources to compete and the offer of a tenured professorship was enough for him to get his man, and on September 1, 1960, Weaver started his teaching career at Michigan State35.
Weaver brought a new dimension to the security program. His administrative experience moved the program to a higher conceptual level than before and through the administrative approach, he revised the Master's degree in Security. The first Master's degree in Industrial Security Administration was awarded in the summer of 1963.
Weaver was a prolific writer in security and personnel administration. His articles have had broad appeal and range from security to political analysis and apartheid in South Africa. He produced a major security text book and prepared the article on security for the Encyclopedia Britannica.
The security program grew along with the other criminal justice programs and according to Hayes Larkins, eighty-one Bachelors of Science degrees in Security had been awarded through 1962, with over seventy students enrolled in courses on an annual basis36. Weaver taught the general administrative courses as well as security until he retired in 1979. He continues his interest in security and in the broader issues of political science.
The Security Program at Michigan State has had an interesting evolution from a major interest in plant protection and insurance, to the problems of business/government security problems spawned by World War II, and then to the broader concepts of security administration wherever managers were required to face the security issue. Today security is again in a period of transition, and while this study is not designed to enter upon that discussion, it can be noted that the period from 1963 to the present (1985), gave rise to new research in security and law enforcement. Today, security and law enforcement roles are being blurred in some areas, and in others more sharply defined. The need for professional security education has never been greater. Michigan State, by history and tradition, has an outstanding record for service to business and public organizations and is sure to meet the future educational and service needs of the security industry.
The 1945-55 period produced one other major project for the Department of Police Administration at Michigan State - campus based basic police training. While the program at Michigan State was never intended for recruit training, in the mode of the West Coast Community Colleges, Tom King had recommended some involvement in in-service training during World War II. Brandstatter was familiar with the extensive training developed for the Michigan State Police and the Detroit Police Department. But, with the exception of a few other large cities, basic police training, in 1946, did not exist.
The early history of the police training effort in Michigan has been covered earlier from the 1925, law allowing the State Police to provide local police training to the very good, but short lived, training from 1930-33.
According to Richard Wild, an attempt was made to start a police training program under the administration of the Detroit Police Department in 1937. Federal funds from the George-Dean Vocational Training Act were sought and the idea gained support from the Michigan Association Chiefs of Police, but the program never got off the ground37. Following World War II and Brandstatter's appointment as head of the Police Administration Program, interest in training was again aroused.
Brandstatter and State Police Commissioner Donald Leonard became heads of their respective organizations at about the same time. Leonard, appointed in 1947, to create a new image for the State Police, following the Carr-Sigler Grand Jury graft indictments, carried a "Mr. Clean" image. His administrative style was to keep very close control of the organization and at the same time rebuild public confidence. But, Leonard was putting all of his resources into the State Police organization and was not as interested as his predecessor in using the 1925 training act to train local police.
For Brandstatter, this was a time for building the academic program and placing the major teaching role where it rightfully belonged - in the college classroom and not at State Police Headquarters. While this move made sense to Commissioner Leonard, he still enjoyed the academic relationship with the College and issued his own press release each time a group of police administration students graduated. His news releases, of course, emphasized the State Police role in the program. This and the fact that the State Police Training Director held the trump card, in supporting or not supporting a particular graduate, did not help Brandstatter increase the stature of the College's role in job placement and student evaluation. There is a good chance that the State Police was judging all field service students by their own standards even though most students would not choose to join that organization. One leading State Police official of the 1950's put the situation thus, "if you were recruiting from the FBI, whose evaluation would you believe, a proven organization like the State Police or some academic at the college?" The answer would be quite clear to an officer with pride in his organization and confidence that the State Police way was always the best. The nub of the debate was the classic one between education and experience, and MSC had an obligation to students that went far beyond their field service training. In early 1950, Ralph Turner and Robert Scott were assigned the task of working out a solution to the problem and, as a result, field service training with the State Police went forward and continues to this day.
Brandstatter never doubted the viability of the State Police organization, but he did see it slipping away from the Olander model of serving all Michigan law enforcement. He urged Commissioner Leonard to provide local basic training as provided under the 1925, Police Training Act, and went so far as to suggest that in not providing the training, the commissioner was not acting according to law.
In the meantime, the Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police were attempting to get an in service training program of their own under way. They proposed to use the so called "zone" plan that had been used in the 1930's to cover the entire state. The Chiefs were not too enthused about the prospect of State Police control, so they started seeking other ways to promote the training of their officers; Michigan State provided the alternative.
Delegates to the Michigan Chiefs Convention, in June 1950, called for the establishment of a central police academy and with the director and staff under the direct control of the Executive Committee of the Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police38. They wanted the State Police to help but not "run the show". The Chiefs had a dilemma. They did not want the State Police to have total control over the school and yet they lacked the resources to incorporate an academy and raise the money for staff and operational costs. There is no evidence to indicate that the State Police would offer facilities and personnel to be placed under the control of the Chiefs.
By December 6, 1950, the reality of the situation had moved the Chiefs from setting up their own school to asking Michigan State to provide the coordination and hire staff39. Brandstatter had prepared the College for this development, and on December 14, 1950, he hired a coordinator for the training school who started work January 1, 1951. The Chiefs were very supportive of what they called their own program. The title: "Coordinator" gave the Chiefs a sense of program ownership and an understanding that they would participate in the decision making process.
Brandstatter selected Pontiac Police Chief, Charles Rhodes to coordinate the police training program. One cannot miss the similarity of Rhodes' appointment with the appointment of Cross by Olander in 1930. Rhodes was well respected by his fellow chiefs and helped further Brandstatter's and MSC's credibility with local police chiefs. The State Police cooperated with the program and assigned their very able training director, Captain Robert Murray to serve on the planning committee.
The first school of twenty recruits entered the basic training program on April 2, 1951. In commenting on the historical aspects of Michigan police training, Wild pointed out that "almost 26 years to the day after passage of the first police training bill in Michigan and after years of effort, a central police training school was established, but ironically not under the original police training bill."40 What Wild was not aware of was the fact that Commissioner Leonard, who did not want to implement the 1925, Training Act in 1950, had played a key role in promoting State Police training under the same act in 1930.
This first training school opened up a host of opportunities for Michigan State. While the basic schools provided the springboard, a host of special inservice training schools were offered in all parts of Michigan. In 1965, Wild conducted a survey of police chiefs and found that the program put on by Michigan State received very high marks from the chiefs.
The training program gained numerous friends for Michigan State and was a source of recruits for the degree program. From April 1951 through June 1965, 3,851 law enforcement officers were enrolled in training courses, including 1,082 who completed one of the forty basic police training courses held during the same period41.
While the State Police had resisted basic training under the 1925 Act, the training activity of the College stimulated their interest in specialized inservice training. On November 19, 1951, Commissioner Leonard announced that "Special classes in fingerprint identification and breaking and entering will be conducted by the Michigan State Police for municipal, sheriffs' and State Police Officers at a series of schools to be held throughout the state." The same release stated that "Schools in other subjects are to be held later." 42
Thanks to Brandstatter's leadership, and the resources he had available to him at Michigan State, the 1950's were productive times for police training and education in Michigan. For the most part the schools put on by the Michigan State Police were not duplicates of the ones at Michigan State. Michigan State no longer provides basic police training, but the tradition of transmitting new information to criminal justice practitioners by way of special training courses continues to this day. The rapid growth and diversity during this period led to a name change in 1956. The purpose of the change was to reflect the program's expanded role. The new program title was "School of Police Administration and Public Safety." Brandstatter's title was changed from Department Head to Director of the School.
The thesis of this research was to test the proposition "that the Police Administration Program at Michigan State College was influenced by national ideas and events, and that its furturistic character and speed of implementation was a result of Michigan's unique criminal justice leadership, and the pioneering philosophy of Michigan State College."
The evidence clearly supports this thesis. It has been demonstrated that Michigan police, municipal and state officials, and citizens were concerned with the need to improve police training a decade prior to the development of the prograrn at Michigan State in 1935. Evidence presented leaves no doubt that Michigan police leaders at the state and local level knew and associated with the recognized police education advocates of the 1920's and 30's such as August Vollmer. What was surprising, however, was the evidence that Michigan police leaders may well have played an important part in influencing the thinking and spreading the fame of some of these early national figures. Bruce Smith, for example, had his rising reputation accelerated when William Rutledge, a 35 year member of the Detroit Police Departnent obtained private funding to employ Smith for his landmark research on uniform crime records.
In examining the ability of Michigan police officials to cooperate to attain political ends, the fight for police radio is instructive. Police throughout the nation were tinkering with police radio during the 1920's, but an organized effort on the part of Michigan police officials convinced an independent thinking governor, Governor Fred Green, to tackle the Federal bureaucracy-and win.
History is replete with evidence that leadership and statesmanship is required to turn ideas into reality, and these factors have been placed in evidence as regards Michigan's progress in scientific crime detection and police administration.
The stereotypical anti-training and education attitude often associated with police administrators of the 1920's and 30's is absent in the pronouncements of Michigan chiefs of police of that era. Michigan was also one of the early developers of a State Police system; but its system, coming about as a result of World War I, was a fragile one until well into the 1930's. Oscar Olander's statesmanship like leadership was the genius that forged that fragile organization into a strong well respected police institution. But a key to his administrative genius was understanding the limits of his organization. He did not build a great organization because he simply aspired to build a strong State Police. The State Police became a strong organization because Olander's guiding principle was to serve the people directly and to help other police organizations to do the same. These were simple and direct motives, and can best be observed by the manner in which he provided personnel, facilities, and his departmental budget to insure the success of an educational program that, in the first years, seemed to benefit the federal law enforcement effort more than his State Police organization.
Olander knew what was going on nationally and had experienced an educational environment that helped in his own rise to the top of the State Police. He also had a good sense of timing. He had supported LeMoyne Snyder in his attempts to start a program at the University of Michigan and, when Michigan State showed a more solid long term interest in police education, he provided the key resources. The significance of that support must be emphasized. New programs were not possible because of the cut in funds due to the Great Depression. Dean Huston's remarks regarding the fact that the program was put on at no extra cost to the College must be interpreted as a public statement designed in part to stifle any critism of the college for starting new programs during the severe budget limitations.
It is quite unlikely that even Blander had a five year program in mind when first contacts were made with college officials. But Olander and other Michigan police leaders were in a position to evaluate the early and continuing efforts of Vollmer and associates to involve institutions of higher learning in the development of police professionalism. The evidence strongly suggests that Vollmer and O.W. Wilson wanted to take advantage of the status enhancement of college based training, but needed to be in full control of the course development of any college program.
The political climate in Michigan as regards chief of police tenure, was clearly different than in other states. The State Police organization and major cities such as Detroit and Grand Rapids provided long term tenure for their chiefs. The leadership gap was in the smaller cities where Olander had, for some time, been supplying troopers to act as local administrators when local chiefs were not able to deal with the problems of crime and corruption. A basic training program, even college-based, would not solve this problem. The real need in Michigan was a program to turn out administrative candidates.
There is no question but that August Vollmer led the way in seeking specialized scientific crime detection help from the college scientific comunity. A defect in the Vollmer approach, however, was once the benefits of science became clear, professors would have to become interested in crime matters on an individual basis and then only as a sideline business. By 1935 it was becoming obvious that the scientific approach to crime detection would have to be built into the overall fabric of police administration.
At this point it is essential to summarize the "Land Grant Philosophy" as developed at Michigan State College. Since the reorganization of the College in 1861, a general education followed by professional training became the hallmark of the "Land Grant Philosophy." It had been demanded by the original agriculture clientele group, and every governing board and administrator up to 1935 was so imbued with this idea, that any suggestion to reverse this process in 1935 would have been rejected on principle.
We must recall that it was Dean R.C. Huston in his first public report on the program who pointed out, in no uncertain terms, that "graduates of the course be first of all well trained college men," and that it was Huston who was the key college figure because he was the head of science, and physical education--important areas of training for the police interests.
Michigan State's insistence on basic education first, may not have been unique in the police education approach. Future research on the subject might well be directed to the question of how a similar stance at the University of Chicago and the University of California might have delayed their response to some of Vollmer's proposals.
In any event, it seems clear that Oscar Olander, LeMoyne Snyder, and members of the Michigan Crime Commission were faced with this educational priority at Michigan State. The situation was tailor made for an Olander type negotiation. With all of the problems of law enforcement resulting from prohibition, or at least seeming to, and the recent attention to police training and education by a new Federal administration, Michigan State was in a position to serve the people of Michigan. The State Police, backed by a politically based Crime Commission was in a position to offer personnel, facilities, and money to further the vocational/professional aspects of a program, if Michigan State would extend its current resources to provide general education. The deal was struck.
This spirit of working out a program to serve an important clientele group has been a proud tradition of Michigan State leadership, and demonstrates that even complex issues can be dealt with when a positive leadership attitude exists. President Hannah recently said that the "Police Administration Program was a good idea then (1935) and is still a good idea," but he reminded the author that administrators had a great deal more latitude in 1935 without a full time legislature and that "when a good idea was proposed we would just say, lets do it." 1
Up until the time of actual program implementation, the history of the School of Police Administration Course was the story of police administration and scientific crime detection in the United States and Michigan. After all, the college did not expand into police education on its own-it responded to a stated need from the field. To some, that may be viewed as a much too conservative position, but it does help insure the success of a program once it is established. It would, indeed, be very difficult to argue that a professional program could have any chance of success if not supported to a high degree by the field it intends to serve. Once the educational institution developed its own research base and professionally based expertise, its service and leadership roles became somewhat of a balancing act between leading and pushing new ideas on its major clientele group.
The education insitution that moves too far from the practical concerns of operational professionals will lose support, but if it falls behind it will no longer be able to serve the field. Therefore, it seems reasonable to propose that the most productive state of affairs is a constant interaction between a professional school and its clientele groups. The Police Administration Program performed this function remarkably well from 1935 through 1945.
The post world war period of 1945-1956 called for new approaches, and Arthur Brandstatter rose to the occasion with brilliant staff selections that met the professional and academic needs of the times. His own education and professional experience had been strongly connected to the police side of the School, but he quickly moved into other areas when it seemed appropriate to do so.
By 1956, Brandstatter had completed the work he set out to accomplish ten years before. Five areas of concentration in addition to police administration had been molded into the program, and to recognize this diversity, the name of the school had been changed to the School of Police Administration and Public Safety. All six specialty areas were managed by persons with sound experience and academic credentials. Enrollments were steadily increasing and in the off campus world, criminal justice agencies were going about their business with quiet resolve.
The baby boom children of World War II were experiencing some child rearing changes but they would not reach the crime prone age until the 1960's. The available crime statistics were reflecting some increases, and the development of police administration programs throughout the nation was picking up after the hiatus caused by the war.
Michigan State was the model being selected by other colleges and universities interested in developing programs in police administration. This favored status, and the slow but steady growth in police educational programs, was flattering to Michigan State, but it also created the genesis of the faculty turnover dilemma that surfaced in the 1960's.
The growing national stature of the School of Police Administration and Public Safety at Michigan State made it a good place to seek high status employment in education related to the administration of justice. The reverse of this situation, however, was that Michigan State was also a good place to recruit staff for new programs based on the Michigan State model.
Starting in the early 1960's, faculty turnover became a clear administrative problem2. Older tenured professors remained as a solid foundation, but as for new instructors, a short stay at Michigan State made them very attractive to other, developing programs. This turnover and the competition from other schools, forced Brandstatter to allocate more of his time to faculty selection and personnel administration. While he was still able to recruit outstanding instructors who met his field experience criteria, some were not able to present the academic credentials required by major universities. This problem was not unique to Police Administration.
As a result of the educational boom brought on by government paid tuition for returning war veterans, the pool of experienced professionals with advanced degrees could not meet the demand in many areas. This universal problem may have been one factor leading to the major college reorganization that culminated in the break up of the School of Business and Public Service and the attachment of the School of Police Administration and Public Safety to the College of Social Science. The business programs needed to compete salary wise to bring to Michigan State experienced business professionals. In general, business was known to pay higher salaries than could be expected in the public service area. If the School of Business could move the public service programs to another administrative unit, they might be able to justify higher salary schedules.
As the debate heated up in the early 1960's, it became clear that the Police Administration Program would have to find a new home. The emerging College of Social Science seemed to be a reasonable alternative. While many faculty members were not fully comfortable with the Social Science alternative, the prospect of facing the budget process as a small unit as opposed to becoming a part of a larger and stronger unit left no other practical choice3. When the reorganization was completed in 1963, the School of Police Administration and Public Safety was a part of the College of Social Science.
In addition to the growing pains of police education, Michigan State University was now changing rapidly from an agriculture college with other programs to a true university that expected to find its way into recognition with the great universities of the nation and the world. Leading this charge was President John Hannah who realized that each department must develop a faculty with high academic standing if Michigan State was to become recognized as a great university for teaching, research, and service.
President Hannah's leadership to bring Michigan State true university status and the attachment of the Police Administration Program--a professional school--to the more academically oriented College of Social Science, put the School of Police Administration and Public Safety in a bind. The pool of practitioners with advanced degrees had not expanded enough to fill the need. Eventually, Brandstatter was under pressure to consider new staff more on the basis of traditional academic grounds than on field experience. For the most part, however, this period was one of quiet development and it was not until the late 1960's and early 70's that national and world events would focus on Michigan State University and the School of Police Administration and Public Safety4.
The educational turmoils and changes of the 1960's and 70's, both good and bad, which were shared by the School of Police Adminstration and Public Safety (changed to the School of Criminal Justice in 1971) have not been included in this research. The history of that period remains to be explored at another time.
The dynamics that created those changes from 1964-1984 are numerous, complicated and elusive, and beyond the scope of this study; but, it is now time to begin that study while information is available and the memories of students and faculty are still alive to the precise issues and answers of that period.
It must be pointed out, however, that when the protests of the 1960's attempted to remove police education from college campuses, Michigan State held firm. Unfortunately, August Vollmer's dream at Berkeley died. When Federal money flowed into Criminal Justice education in the 1970's, Michigan State expanded accordingly to meet the challenge of the times. Whereas, it can be argued that some institutions went for the money with little regard for a sound foundation of practical relationships with the field to which they should have been committed. When the money went away, many of the programs foundered and instant criminal justice experts followed the money to other fields. Michigan State came out of the experience in a solid position to meet the challenges of the future.
Whatever the final analysis of that period might be, it does seem to this author that the role of Federal money in furthering program expansion and change should be carefully examined. Further, the sudden exit of Federal monies for criminal justice education and its impact on the program at Michigan State should be explored. Finally, it is suggested that a research hypothesis be formulated to test the proposition that the rise and fall of Federal money during the 1967-77 period was an anomaly that temporarily directed the School from the basic Land Grant Philosophy of education and research, as a direct service to an occupational field, to a prime focus on education as an instrument for change with less regard for servicing the percieved needs of line agencies. But, it would also seem that a similar hypothesis should be applied to operational agencies during this period, because it may well be the case that by accepting direct Federal money for research, innovation, and technology transfer, the occupational field may have neglected their partnership responsibility to help nuture their own university based professional educational program. All told, Michigan State, Michigan police and other criminal justice agencies survived very well this period of addiction with and then withdrawal of Federal funds.
The period 1925 to 1935 was certainly an exciting time during which strong police and educational and political leadership developed in Michigan. The apparent sudden development of the Police Administration Program can now be viewed as a longer term development that emerged in final form in July 1935. The development of the program from 1946 to 1963 was a natural progression toward developing a full academic base for police administration and an unfolding into other criminal justice areas as needs were identified and resources became available. The move into basic police training was in keeping with the technology transfer idea of the Land Grant College system, a combination of leading and pushing clientele groups into new directions.
The question of how this historical analysis can help in the future gets to the roots of questions concerning the relevance of historical analysis. The historical essay may be interesting and it may provide a bit of comfortable nostalgia, but how can it be used in the social science sense to predict the future? The answer is that historical analysis is not intended to predict in the sense of a regression analysis. While many similarities can be seen in the events of various historical periods, history does not, in fact, repeat, so why then would one propose to predict the future?
In terms of future guidance from this historical analysis, the first goal is to seek some understanding of the past-an explanation of the institutions, leadership styles, problems and available options that were used to develop unique problem solutions for the time under study. The second goal is to identify basic concepts that could be applied to future development, and finally, concrete suggestions as to how these concepts may be managed or utilized in the problem solving process.
The first goal, explaining the past, has been set before the reader for evaluation. As regards the second goal, an interpretation of the historical picture would seem in order. If any one concept could be used to describe the process from 1935 to 1963, it would be the goal orientation of the participants in the organizing and building process. As an institution, MSC was dedicated to advancing the goals of professional and occupational groups by providing a broad basic education and then furnishing or coordinating the technical education required of a particular clientele group. Educational proposals not in line with this goal would have little chance of moving forward.
Police leaders viewed education and training as a way to create more responsible and effective police administrators, and to improve their agencies' ability to meet public expectations through the scientific detection of crime. Program administrators in the 1935-68 period recruited staff who were professionally and academically oriented to meet the operational goals of line criminal justice agencies. It is clear that Brandstatter's staffing goal was to employ persons who could teach courses that appeared to be directly related to the professional concerns of client groups.
Another concept that was evident in the early program, and eventually moved to the background, was the personal stake operating agencies assumed by helping to insure the success of the program. In other words, the educational institution and the client group felt the need to make the program work.
Another concept at work during the 1950's and 60's was to link good ideas to a research base, with a high probability of implementing the research results.
Applying these concepts to the future is not the most simple of tasks. The reader is asked to take "judicial notice" of the fact that employment practices in and out of academia have changed dramatically in past 20 years.
Deans and department chairpersons of professional schools are often under pressure to fill positions based on social goals little related to the educational goals of clientele groups. This results in courses being developed around the needs of instructors rather than the needs of the professional field.
In criminal justice education, a maturity has developed that tends to isolate many criminal justice educators from their operational agencies. In the world of criminal justice education, Michigan State no longer dominates the field as it did in the 1950's, nor is there any need for it to do so. Further, not all criminal justice programs have the "Land Grant Philosophy" of education, research, and service that one finds at Michigan State. But as Michigan State is no longer the "master in the field", neither is it obligated to come under the controlling influence of the field of criminal justice education.
Michigan State University has taken its place with the great universities of the world. Its national and international contributions to the improvements of the human condition have been long recognized and are most likley to continue. The fact remains, however, that its first priority is to the citizens of the State of Michigan through the education of students, research aimed at improving the economic and personal health and safety of Michigan citizens, and service to the client groups attached to its professional schools. Granted, graduates of the School of Criminal Justice find careers beyond the borders of Michigan as often as they do within the State, but it is Michigan that provides major research environments and can gain the most through the utilization of research and technical assistance from the Schools faculty and staff. Future criminal justice problems and their solutions can no more be predicted than the past relived, but a renewal of faith in the historical concepts of a professional school built on the Land Grant Philosophy of full and uncompromising cooperation with its professional clientele, could make Michigan State the wave of the future as it was in the past.
The current administration of the School of Criminal Justice is steadfastly committed to the Michigan State Land Grant Philosophy of service. Now, in 1985, it is time for Michigan's criminal justice professionals to identify their research needs and educational priorities, and communicate them to their professional school--Michigan State. Together, the criminal justice challenges of 1985 and beyond can be met.
In the fall of 1985, a major celebration is planned for the fiftieth anniversary of the School of Criminal Justice. At that time the History of the School since 1935 will be recounted, debated, and memorialized by many of the over 6,000 graduates of the program. This discussion has tried to provide a background of the times, the needs, attitudes and philosophies of the individuals and institutions that led to the establishment of the Criminal Justice program at Michigan State University.
The final question: Why did MSU accept the challenge of police education at a time of financial depression, and when police education was not yet accepted as a college role? The answer may lie in that strange intangible called the "Michigan State" or "Land Grant Philosophy." In 1915, Beal expressed it as coming from, "strong men of vision who have seen the importance of giving instruction a practical bent." 4
The original program was administered by the Department of Applied Science. The Dean of that Departnent R.C. Huston had taken a leading role in the program's development. During the October 1935 Crime Conference, he expressed the Michigan State pioneer and visionary spirit of service. He told of being asked what the men would be qualified to do after they completed the course. In a humorous vein he said, "We might say we can tell better after they have completed it." And then in a more serious note he concluded his remarks by saying, "We feel that, if the experiment is to prove successful, our first problem is to train the men." 5
It has been suggested that the future of criminal justice education could be enhanced by strengthening the historical partnership between Michigan's Pioneering School of Criminal Justice and its clientele organizations in the State of Michigan and elsewhere. To para-phrase the skeptic of fifty years age, "what good would such an arrangement do?" The answer also echoes from history. "We can tell better after we try"; therefore, our first goal is to make the effort.
If indeed, one can view history as prologue, then the leadership of education combined with the world of criminal justice experience can produce the wisdom to meet the future.
Dr. Hans Gross, a criminologist at the University of Prague in the late 1800's, has been aptly called the father of modern criminal investigation. This tribute was based on his writings related to criminal psychology and his famous work "The System Der Kriminalistik", first translated into English in 1906.
The most widespread edition of his work was the 3rd Edition published in England in 1934. It was edited by an officer in the Metropolitan Police to take account of the technology existing at the time, but the investigative techniques are those of Gross. Gross wanted his investigators to gather and analyze facts about crimes and criminals. If these chores were properly accomplished criminals would be brought to justice. August Vollmer was an early reader of Gross and, according to Alfred E. Parker, obtained many of his ideas regarding scientific investigation from Gross1. The work that influenced Vollmer was Gross's Criminal Psychology, which pre-dated his later work on investigation. Therefore, Vollmer was influenced more by considerations of what makes criminals think and act than by the search for evidence. When Gross later turned his attention to the search for facts, the system was complete; now facts at the crime scene could be plotted against known criminal behaviors and thus suspects or classes of suspects could be identified. The problem, of course, was that the human personality is much more complex than Gross and the next generation of scientists could imagine, but the search for facts was an idea that survived some of the early conclusions about criminal behavior.
That classic line, from television's Dragnet series, "just the facts M'am," was an interesting depiction of detectives who seemed to know exactly what facts they were looking for and expected crime victims to also know the difference between fact and non-fact.
Hans Gross approached social science from the phenomenological point of view. He warned his investigators against taking facts and statements at face value because of the way the senses can be deluded by not always being able to immediatly detect the true meaning of the phenomena under observation. One of his most important cautions to investigators, and one that is essential today, was to avoid the preconceived idea of a crime solution before the facts are collected and analyzed.
As a true phenomenologist, Gross rejected the idea that science and social science in particular could be completely objective. Therefore, criminal investigation depended to some extent on the subjective evaluations of trained and experienced investigators. He pointed out that activities performed by investigators which appear as simple routines to non-investigators, may be the result of training and experience.
The 1934 edition of his work made a strong impression on leaders of scientific crime detection in the English speaking world. Physical scientists such as Ralph Turner and his instructors and colleagues were discovering numerous ways in which science could help solve crime through the analysis of evidence. But, the critical problem was the collection of evidence and connecting it to a suspect in a manner acceptable to the legal system.
This lack of evidence collection ability resulted in numerous works in the 1940's and 50's that addressed the problem of how to search for evidence. Most of these writings stressed the need for resourcefulness and innovation on the part of investigators, the development of experienced intuition, and an artful approach to the crime scene, victims, witnesses, and suspects. Lacking in most of the literature of the time, however, was a stated theory or comprehensive model that explained why evidence was left at a crime scene and why all crimes were not solved. Common sense dictated that a gun found at a crime scene should be submitted for analysis. But, what theory could lead to innovations by investigators when the obvious leads in an investigation came to an end?
As a result of Turner's field experience and interest in teaching, he felt the need to develop a conceptual framework to support a criminal investigation. Two abstract ideas were used to develop what Turner called his hypotheses for a criminal investigation. The first construct is sort of a meta-physical picture of good and evil that is believed to exist side by side in the personality of every individual. Developing this picture requires some interest in the Freudian personality theory, where there is that bit of good in all people that breaks out and forces the criminal to leave a clue. The other construct is more supportable via the physical sciences and involves the idea that the enviroment of a situation is changed by either an accidental or intentional intrusion into the situation. In the criminal situation, the identification of these changes become the clues that identify the criminal.
These two ideas are combined to support Turner's thesis as to why crimes can be solved. His thesis is set forth in what he calls two hypotheses as follows:
2. "If all the evidence is collected and properly analyzed, it will lead to the guilty party.
The second hypothesis is an optimistic conditional statement. Its power is revealed upon further analysis. This statement could be adjusted to state the case that "if some of the evidence is collected and some of the evidence is properly analyzed, it may lead to the guilty party." The reverse of the original hypothesis is also revealing, for it would state that, "If no evidence is collected or if collected evidence is improperly analyzed, it cannot lead to the guilty party."
The last two derived statements are probably more subject to verification than the original assertion. After all, we have sufficient quantitative evidence in support of the proposition that, "collected and analyzed evidence has led to guilty parties." Likewise, we have research indicating that cases are closed without arrest when no evidence is collected or collected evidence does not lend itself to adequate evaluation.
It must be recalled that Turner' s statement referred to all evidence and not just residual trace evidence. Investigative research during the 1960's and 70's distracts one's attention from this all encompassing hypothesis. One might forget, for example, that the police officer arriving at the scene of a reported crime and directed by a witness to "arrest that person I saw hold up the cashier," has been provided with evidence the interpretation of which may lead to an arrest. If the arrested person was in fact guilty, then the proposition is supported. If the arrested person turns out to be not guilty, the proposition still stands because the evidence was not properly analyzed by the officer. The important and far reaching signifigance of Turner's conditional statement on evidence collection is that while it may not be proven to a scientific certainty, neither has it ever been proven false. Further it provides an optimistic outlook for the future not found in the current literature on criminal investigation.
Research during the past fifteen years regarding the investigative process summarily dismissed art as a part of investigation2, and used as investigative standards, practices employed at the time of the studies without regard to how well those practices met theoretical propositions such as the Turner Thesis3.
The most recent criminal investigation research is now ten years old or more and has left students and practioners alike with a legacy of pessimism and despair, leading to the proposition that "most criminals do not leave clues and most clues left are not identifiable or capable of interpretation." This is ironic because it comes at a time when science is more capable than ever before to discover and properly analyze evidence.
Today the philosophers of science are rediscovering the phenomenological view that led Gross to his instructions on criminal investigation over 100 years ago. The Turner Criminal Investigative Thesis is also as up to date as it was twenty or thirty years ago and needs to be rediscovered and reconsidered in future research on the investigative process. It puts the art back in the art and science of investigation. It encourages innovation, invention, experience, and a belief that crime can be solved.
The 1929 convention of the Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police devoted considerable time to the issue of police training. One non-police speaker, Harold D. Smith, had some good ideas and seemed to know what was going on across the nation in the police training area. Smith represented the Michigan Municipal League (MML), which under his leadership was starting to have significant impact on Michigan legislative decision making.
The municipal league movement was a response to citizen reform movements of the late nineteenth century and resulted in the forming of the National Municipal League in 1894. The Michigan Municipal League was founded in 1899 to help cities and towns with problems of municipal administration.
The Michigan organization had some impact on the political system, but soon fell behind the efforts of other states because it lacked funds for a full time staff. By 1925, MML leadership realized the need for a full time staff and after a couple more years of struggle, the position of Executive Secretary was established. The first person to take this position was Harold D. Smith who took office in January, 1928.
Smith was an extremely energetic executive and put the MML on a sound track for the future. He quickly became knowledgeable in all aspects of municipal administration, and the police issues of the times led him to the problem of police training. When he appeared before the police chiefs he had done his homework and made a credible presentation. When it was organized, the Michigan Municipal League had a very close relationship to University of Michigan; this relationship continues today with the MML office located in Ann Arbor1.
Smith graduated from the University of Kansas in 1922 with a degree in Engineering and then obtained his Master's degree in municipal administration from the University of Michigan. He did research for the City of Detroit and consulted for a number of cities and states before taking on the job of developing the Michigan Municipal League. Smith developed a reputation as an expert in municipal finance and in 1937 Governor Frank Murphy appointed him as Michigan Budget Director.
When Governor Murphy was appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as U.S. Attorney General, Smith's expertise came to the attention of the Roosevelt administration. The President appointed Smith as Director of the Budget in 1939 and he served in that job until 1946. Smith gained a reputation in Washington of always having goverment financial information available at instant notice. This ability gained for him the utmost confidence of President Roosevelt3.
One of the main thrusts of the Wickersham Commission's Report on Police was the need to provide chiefs of police with substantial tenure so they could do a professional job. The Michigan State Police under Oscar Olander and the Detroit Police Department under the leadership of William Rutledge appeared, in the 1920's and 30's, to have achieved progress in this area. But Michigan's second largest city had also established a record of long tenure for its chiefs.
None was more successful in the pursuit of longevity than Albert A.Carroll who was Superintendent of the Grand Rapids Police Department From 1914 to 1936. Carroll was a strong supporter of police training. He was active in national police activities during the Vollmer era and attended the 1934 Attorney Generals meeting in Washington that led to the Michigan Crime Commission supporting the Police Administration Program at Michigan State.
The Grand Rapids Police Department has an interesting history of education and leadership. The City of Grand Rapids was a busy frontier town in the years following the Civil war. It was the center of the Michigan railroading and lumber industry, and a supply center for the expanding development of Northern Michigan. In 1856, the city population totaled 7,000 people, who were served by 200 saloons and a fine red light district. The leadership of the Police Department, like that in most cities of the time, changed with each election. Reform came in 1881 when a nonpartisian Board of Police and Fire Commissioners was created. While change did not come overnight, a good start was made when William Eastman, a lawyer, was appointed chief. He was able to hold on to the job for three years, during which he developed training manuals for the officers, and tried to steer them on the road to legal enforcement of the law. The manual continued long after his tenure in office.
The person who brought Grand Rapids into the world of modern police work was Harvey O. Carr who took over after lawyer Eastman resigned in 1893. Carr had no background in police work, but decided to learn, and so attended a meeting in Chicago where a number of chiefs were meeting to exchange ideas. The group liked Carr and made him charter secretary-treasurer of what was to become the International Association of Chiefs of Police. He held this position for nearly 25 years and is credited with moving Chief Carroll to the Presidency of the assocation in 1924. Carr remained as chief until 1914 and had both political and commission power to implement many of the new ideas of the time. He supported training and implemented a first rate record bureau and identification system. He also, developed a crime laboratory for the city and surrounding area.
Carroll was born in Iowa. His father was a homesteader and moved to Wisconsin when he was a year old. A few years later his father died. Shortly thereafter, he and his mother came to Holland, Michigan to visit an older brother in the lumbering business. The mother returned to Wisconsin to wind up the family buisness there, but, died leaving Carroll an orphan at age seven and in the care of his brother.
He left school at age 13, to work and help support himself, and developed into a strong athlete who neither smoked or drank. He was an amateur boxer, coached a local wrestling team and was a world class oarsman. He was successful in a number of business ventures but he had a strong interest in farming, and operated a farm near Grand Rapids all during his law enforcement career2.
Carroll was about 35 years old when he first entered law enforcement and politics. The Kent County Sheriff was having trouble with prisoners escaping and asked him to take a job as turnkey. According to news reports, "In three days he had whipped nine prisoners who attacked him in breaks for freedom." 3 This made him popular in local politics and he was later elected as a police court clerk and two terms as County Sheriff.
After his last term as sheriff, he retired to his farm and took no part in law enforcement activities until he was selected for chief upon the retirement of Carr in 1914.
Carroll was a self educated man who once said "I found unless I had something more in the head, it was the pick and shovel for me, and this started me on a course of reading and study." This personal interest in study led him to be one of the more progressive chiefs of the time. He was concerned about the problems of youth and made his officers stop using "third degree" tactics long before the Wickersham Commission exposed the problem on a nationwide basis. He was quoted as saying that, "the use of third degree methods is barbaric... it is possible to wring a confession from an innocent man." 4 Carroll pioneered in giving public recognition to officers who provided outstanding service and also gave them extra vacation time as an incentive for good work.
Superintendent Carroll was elected President of the International Association of Chiefs of Police during the Montreal convention July 14-18, 1924. He presided at the next years meeting held in Indianapolis, Indiana July 13-16, 1925. The convention that year went quite smooth and very little controversy was brought to the floor. One scenario was interesting regarding the future of police education.
Carroll had been advised by Chief William Wiltberger, then Chief of Evanston, Illinois, of an offer by Northwestern University to coordinate a summer police training school. Carroll asked Wiltberger to read the letter to the convention. Wiltberger then urged the Association to accept the offer. One speaker wanted to postpone consideration of the idea, but August Vollmer spoke in favor of the proposition and put forth a motion to have a committee appointed to work with Northwestern. The motion was seconded and after President Carroll added a favorable comment on it from the chair the motion was carried. In retrospect, one wonders how long Vollmer and Wiltberger had been working to obtain such an offer from Northwestern. The important point is, however, that Carroll had been part of the plot to get the IACP moving toward the use of college facilities. Later in the day, Carroll also used his authority as President to ask another speaker to make an unscheduled talk before the convention. He had heard of the presence of Professor G.T. Ragsdale from Louisville, Kentucky. Ragsdale came with the title of Director of Police School for the Louisville Police Department4. Ragsdale told of his activities as a non-police officer in bringing to the police department outside resources that could help police officers do their work. He was probably one of the first civilian directors of police training in the nation7.
The evidence makes it clear that "Ab" Carroll knew what was going on in the world of police training and assisted the work of the Michigan Chiefs in 1929. After attending the Attorney General's meeting in Washington in December of 1934, he would have been an advocate for the Police Administration Program at Michigan State College.
He gained national attention when after 20 years as head of the department, he was fired for political reasons in 1933. The case was watched by proponents of civil service, and a year later, he won his case before the Michigan Supreme Court and was re-instated. He retired February 1, 1936 on his own decision5. He ruled the department with an iron hand and there was never a breath of scandal regarding his administration for the nearly 22 years he was Superintendant of Police.
Albert "Ab" Carroll died January 7, 1941 at the age of 75 years. On January 29, 1941, Frank M. Sparks, editor of the Grand Rapids Herald published a tribute to Carroll. He had known Ab for 37 years and credited him with becoming "one of the most outstanding superintendents of police in the nation." He talked about Carroll's love of sports and then alluding to his record of professional integrity he said, "Ab was thoroughly impatient with anybody who didn't play a square game at all times." 6
1855- Agriculture College of the State of Michigan established February 12, 1855, by Michigan Public Act 130 of 1855.
1861- State Agriculture College re-organized with its own board of control called the State Board of Agriculture. In the years following the reorganization, the college was informally called Michigan State Agriculture College and the State Agriculture College of Michigan.
1909 - The name was officially changed to Michigan Agriculture College.
1925 - The official name was changed by the State Legislature on May 13, 1925 to Michigan State College of Agriculture and Applied Science.
1935 - The State Board of Agriculture approved the Police Administration Course on July 31, 1935, and appointed Donald J. Bremer as Instructor of Police Administration. Responsibility for the program was placed on the Division of Applied Science.
1937 - August 1, 1937, Donald J. Bremer was appointed supervisor of the Police Administration Course. His appointment was made cooperatively and on an equal basis with the Michigan State Police.
1938 - A course in Public Administration was established.
1940 - Donald J. Bremer was called the Coordinator of the Police Administration Course.
1941 - Bremer resigned and Tom King was appointed Professor of Police Administration and Head of the Course.
1944 - The School of Business and Public Service was established and Police Administration was made a Department within the School. Tom King was made Head of the Department of Police Administration.
1946 - Arthur Brandstatter appointed East Lansing Chief of Police February 15, 1946. On August 15, 1946, he was appointed Associate Professor and Assistant Head of the Department of Police Administration effective September 1, 1946. His resignation from the East Lansing Police Department was also effective on September first.
1947 - Brandstatter was promoted on November 20,1947 to Professor and Head of the Department of Police Administration.
1955 - Michigan State College was changed to Michigan State University of Agriculture and Applied Science.
1955 - January 1, 1956, the Department of Police Administration was changed to the School of Police Administration and Public Safety. The title of Department Head was changed to Director of the School.
1956 - Master of Science Program implemented. It was approved in 1955.
1963 - Michigan Constitutional Convention shortens the University's name to Michigan State University.
1963 - The School of Business and Public Service is disbanded and The School of Police Administration and Public Safety joins the new College of Social Science.
1971- The School's name is changed to the School of Criminal Justice.
198?- Might the School be organized into a College of Criminal Justice and Security Administration?
(1) Ralph C. Huston, "Police Administration Course at Michigan State College," Paper presented at the Michigan Crime Conference, October 9-10, 1935 reported in Report of the Crime Commission of Michigan, 1936 (Lansing: Franklin DeKleine, 1936)pg. 84.
(3) John H. McNamara, and Victor G. Strecher, "Michigan State Program," National Criminal Justice Education Consortium Report, 5 Volumes, Gilber H. Burns, and Carolyn O'Hern, eds. ("n.p.": National Criminal Justice Educational Consortium, 1976), 1:136-143.
(1) Gordon H. Sheehe, Leslie R. Silvernale, and David J. Luck, What Can the College Do About the Traffic Problem, (East Lansing: Michigan State College, 1953), p.13.
(2) Williams James Beal, History of the Michigan Agriculture College (East Lansing: Michigan Agriculture College, 1915), pp 36-40
(3) Theophilus C. Abbot, "The Michigan State Agriculture College," Report of the Pioneer Society of the State of Michigan, Vol. VI (Lansing: W.S. George & Co., State Printers and Binders, 1884) p. 115
(12) Interview with Professor Ralph Turner, MSU East Lansing, Michigan, May 11, 1984. See also Resource Analysis School of Criminal Justice MSU, Fall 1971, Prepared by Ralph Turner, "Professional schools are supposed to teach students to do things well," p. 9.
(1) H.H. Bingham, "The Abolishment of Death Penalty," Report of the Pioneer Society of Michigan,Vol. VI. pp. 99-102.
(4) James Horan, The Pinkertons (New York: Crown Pub., Inc., 1967), pp. 19-36, 115-122.
(5) Ralph G. Murdy, Crime Commission Handbook (Baltimore: Criminal Justice Commission, 1956), pp. 14-25.
(l) August Vollmer and Albert Schneider, "The School for Police as Planned at Berkeley," The Journal of the American Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology Vol. VII, The Northwestern University, (Chicago 1917), pp. 877-898.
(3) Walter D. Ladd, Organizing for Traffic Safety in your Community (Springfield: Charles C. Thomas, 1959) pp. 15-23, 52-58.
(4) Detroit (area), Daily Mirror, August 3, 1931, (Michigan State Police Files, Olander paper, Scrap Book Vols. 3&4, Record Group 79-45, State of Michigan Archives and Historical Collections, Lansing, Michigan.
(5) Interview (telephone) with John Oscar Olander (Commissioner Olander's son) Cleveland, Ohio, May 15, 1984. Mr. Olander said his father was a good listener and made his recommendations fit into the Japanese culture. This approach also verified by Ralph Turner, Note No. 12. Chapter II.
(6) Frank E. Robson, "How Lansing Became the Capital," Pioneer Society, Vol. XI, pp. 237-243.
(7) To Delta Siqma Phi, Application by the Aurorian Literary Society to became a local chapter of Delta Sigma Phi, East Lansing, ca 1922, pp. 2-24 (Donald J. Bremer collection, Michigan State University, School of Criminal Justice, 1985).
(8) Interview Donald Bremer (son of Donald J. Bremer) April 12, 1985.
(9) "Bremer Expected to Recover," Lansing, MI State Journal, June 4, 1922.
(10) "Student Stripes, Instead of Police Stripes, Bremer Goal," The Lansing State Journal, January 8, 1927, p. 3.
(11) "Student Cop Quits Chasing Erring Motorists," Howell, MI Livingston Democrat, January, 26, 1927, p.l.
(12) "MSC Appoints Traffic Officer for Flivers," Detroit Free Press. ca. April 21, 1927.
(13) "Work of College Police Includes Various Duties," Michigan State News, May 18, 1933, p.l.
(15) "2 Hurt, 4 held in MSC Riot," Lansing Capital News, May 22, 1929. P. 1.
(16) John A. Hannah, A Memoir (East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1980) pp. 110-114.
(17) Interview (telephone) James Enyart, May 14, 1984. Enyart was Olander's Chief Clerk in charge of business administration and worked very close with him.
(3) Crime Commission of Michigan, 1930, p. 5.
(5) Journal of the Senate of the State of Michigan 1925, Regular Session (Lansing, Michigan: Robert Smith Co., 1925), p. 246. Cited by Richard A. Wild, "An Evaluation of the Law Enforcement Training Basic Police Course at Michigan State University" (Masters Thesis, Michigan State University, 1965) p. 6.
(6) Journal of the Senate, pp. 602, 625, 880, 1,075.
(7) Public Act 211 of 1925, Public Acts of 1925, State of Michigan (Lansing, Michigan: Robert Smith Co., 1925), pp. 310-311. Cited by Wild in MS Thesis.
(8) Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police, "Proceedings, 6th Annual Convention," August 20-22, 1929, Donald S. Leonard papers, Box 30, Michigan Historical Collection, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Michigan). This collection obtains one of the few available early proceedings of the Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police. Their own office in Lansing does not have these early proceedings.
(9) Ibid., Harold D. Smith, "Discussion of a Training School for Policemen". pp. 66-68.
(11) Michigan Manual: Official Directory and Legislative Manual ( Lansing: State of Michigan, 1927) p.644.
(12) Michigan State Police, Fiftieth Anniversary Michigan State Police 1917-1967. (Lansing: Michigan State Police, 1967), p. 12.
(13) Donald S. Leonard Papers, "Minutes of Police Training Committee, October 30, 1929."
(15) Leonard Papers, Minutes, January 11, 1930.
(16) Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police (MACP), Ibid.
(17) Crime Commission, 1930, pp. 19-20.
(18) Crime Commission, 1932, pp. 11-12.
(19) George H. Brereton, "Police Training Its Needs and Problem," Journal of the American Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology, 1935-36, pp. 247-254.
(20) William I. Cross, cited in "More Thorough Training". an editorial, The State Trooper, 12 (August 1931) :16.
(21) Donald S. Leonard to John P. Moran, October 22, 1934, Leonard papers, box 17.
(22) Proceedings of the Annual Conventions of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) Reprint Edition in 5 volumes 1893-1930. (New York: Arno Press & The New York Times, 1971) Vol. V. 1930 Convention, pp. 126-151.
(24) Alfred E. Parker, The Berkeley Police Story (Springfield: Charles C Thomas, 1972), p. 36.
(25) IACP Convention, 1929, Arno Press, pp. 68-71.
(27) Ibid., 1927, pp. 131-133.
(29) Ibid., 1930, pp. 11-118 and 126-151.
(1) Richard Hammer, Playboy's Illustrated History of Organized Crime (Chicago: Playboy Press, 1975)pp. 59-74.
(3) Samuel Eliot Morison, and Henry Steele Commanger, The Growth of the American Republic, 2 Vols. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1950), 2: pp. 529-530.
(5) National Commission on Law Observance and Enforcement, The Report on Police, by David G. Monroe, and Earl W. Garrell, under the direction of August Vollmer (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1931, "n.p.".
(8) U.S. Department of Justice, Proceedings of the Attorney General's Conference on Crime, "n.p.," Washington D.C., October10-13, 1934 directed by U.S. Attorney General Homer Cummings, n.p.
(9) New York Time, April 26, 1934, 1:4.
(10) Proceedings Conference on Crime. Ibid., pp. 471-498.
(17) State Trooper, 9 (March, 1928) 12.
(18) LeMoyne Snyder papers, Michigan State University Archives Historical Collections.
(19) "Helpful to State Police," Editorial, The State Trooper, 15 (May 1934) :8.
(20) Interview (telephone), LeMoyne Snyder, May 15, 1984.
(21) Don Rogers, "University of Michigan Begins Course in Law Enforcement," The State Trooper,,15 (April 1934) :9-10.
(22) "State Police System, Now Model in Efficiency, Born in War Emergency," Detroit Times, Sunday Supplement, May 2, 1937. (State Police files, Olander, box 22 Michigan Archives. This article on the history of the MSP was requested by James P. Welsh, of the Times editorial Department in a Letter to Olander March 10, 1937. Olander approved the project and advised Welsh by letter March 22, 1937. The project was referred to Minnie Wakeman at Olander's Bureau of Safety Education. The article came out in the Times exactly as Wakeman wrote it. James Enyart, ( note IV-17) said she wrote most of Olander's material. He would get an idea, discuss it with her for a short time and she would write it such that he very seldom changed it.
(24) Madison Kuhn, Michigan State: The First Hundred Years (East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1955), pp. 396-399.
(25) Daily Mirror, August 3, 1931, Ibid.
(26) John A. Hannah, A Memior, Ibid.
(28) Arthur Brandstatter, "Hannah Archives Project, "Brandstatter Taped Memoirs," Transcribed by James H. Denison, Michigan State University Archives and Historical Collection.
(30) William Wiltberger papers, Box 6, article from University of Wichita (Kansas) The Sun Flower, June 3, 1935. Describes police science degree program be added fall of 1935 led by O.W. Wilson, Michigan State Archives and Historical Collection.
(31) T.W. Mac Quarrie, "San Jose State College Police School," Journal of Criminal Law, etc., Ibid. pp. 225-261.
(32) August Vollmer to W. A. Wiltberger, September 16, 1933, Wiltberger papers, Ibid.
(33) E.W. Puttkamer, "The Organization of a State Police," Journal of Criminal Law etc., Ibid., pp. 747.
(34) Interview, John A. Hannah, East Lansing, June 1985.
(37) Interview (telephone) Mrs. Jean DeWindt, daughter of Linsey, May 17, 1984.
(38) Interview (telephone) Mrs. Harry G. Gault, May 17, 1984.
(39) Interview (telephone) with Myron David Orr, brother of Herbert P. Orr, May 17, 1984.
(42) Crime Commission, 1936, pp. 1-11.
(1) Minutes of the Board of Agriculture, July 1935, Michigan State University Archives and Historical Collections. Actually, Bremer carried the title of Instructor of Police Administration. During the first two years, it was Dean R. C. Huston who was making the major decisions. In the July 1938, Report of the Secretary of the Board of Agriculture, President Shaw reported that "Mr Donald J. Bremer, Instructor in Police Administration was appointed supervisor of the Police Administration Course on August 1, 1937". " This appointment," he said, "was made cooperatively, on an equal basis with the MSP". In the Boards 1941 report, Bremer was called a coordinator. Bremer's salary was never included in the budget for the Division of Applied Science but was carried in the physical plant operation with the security force. This factor, in addition to the MSP supplement, allowed Dean Huston to claim no increased cost to the educational budget. When Tom King took over he was listed in the budget for the Division of Applied Science.
(3) Michigan State News, April 19, 1935.
(4) A Century of Progress: International exposition (Chicago: Max Rigot selling Co., c.a. 1932) Inside Cover
(5) Interview, Robert Bouck, class of 1939, Chicago, May 1985.
(6) Interview, Ernest Bremer, East Lansing, May 1985.
(7) "New Police Course Now Offered State Students," Michigan State News September 20, 1935, p. 1.
(9) Michigan State Student Yearbook, The Wolverine, 1939 East Lansing: pp. 70-71.
(10) Strecher and McNamara Ibid., p. 154.
(11) Interview Robert Bouck., Ibid.
(12) Parts of this legend were communicated by every person interviewed who knew Olander. One current lobbyist for a national organization, said he worked with Olander and every commissioner since, and none could match him for the trusting relationship he maintained with the legislature. He always found a way to turn some money back to the state at the end of the year. This is much different than current strategy (in most agencies) to spend what is left over at the end of the year. The trust he established went beyond party lines so that when he really wanted something vital for the State Police-he got it. Olander's business like attitude sometimes covered the fact that he was at heart a police officer. One former captain, who had the utmost respect for Olander, was surprised to recently learn that the Commissioner had been a trooper at one time. For nearly 60 years he thought Olander had come into the department as a civilian--"because he did not act like a cop".
(13) Interview (telephone), Jean Petosky, Lewiston, Michigan, daughter of Caesar Scavarda.
(14) Interview, Ralph Turner, Ibid.
(15) Michigan House member Miles M. Callayhan to Gov. Fred Green 7-1-1930 and 7-8-1930 (Gov. Fred Green Papers, record group 49, B194, F7, State of Michigan Archive and Historical Collection, Lansing, Michigan).
(16) Interview (telephone) retired MSP Captain Robert Murray, Lansing, May, 1985.
(17) William P. Rutledge, "Radio's Growing Place in Police Work," paper presented August 4, 1930, Thirty-Seventh Convention of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, Duluth, Minnesota, August 4-7, 1930. Proceedings of the Annual Convention, Ibid., 1930.
(18) Kim Sigler to Oscar Olander, January 3, 1947, Leonard Papers, Ibid.
(19) Analysis of Leonard papers, Ibid.
(20) Interview, Robert Murray, Ibid.
(21) Michigan State College Catalog, 1946-47, p. 426.
(22) Interview (telephone) Victor Scavarda, Lansing, April, 1984.
(23) Interview, Jean Petosky, Ibid.
(24) Interview (telephone) Harold Glasseen, Lansing, May, 1985.
(25) Interview, Robert Murray, Ibid.
(26) Interview Arthur Brandstatter, July, 1985.
(28) Fiftieth Anniversity Michigan State Police, Ibid., p. 37.
(29) Interview, Robert Murray, Ibid.
(30) Crime Commission of Michigan, 1938, pp. 3-9.
(31) LeMoyne Snyder to Donald Leonard, February 25, 1948, Leonard papers, Ibid.
(32) William H. Frankhauser to Gov. Kim Sigler, August 6, 1948, Leonard papers, Ibid.
(33) Wolverine, 1939, Ibid., p. 72.
(34) Wolverine, 1941, Ibid., p. 196.
(35) 1939 Police Administration, brochure, Bremer papers, Ibid.
(36) Interview, Robert Bouck, Ibid.
(37) Interview (telephone) Austin Van Stratt, May 1985. He sent a copy of the 1940 class brochure, and evidence that students received letter grades for their participation in the field training program.
(38) Personal knowledge of Wilbur Rykert during assignment as State Police officer in the Pontiac area 1957-1963. 'Red' was a classic gambler of the 1930's tradition, an anachronism resulting from the racial segregation of even illegal activities such as gambling. Now deceased, Red was intelligent, self educated, humorous, generous, in the Robin Hood sense, and lived by his wits. In todays world a young man of Red's ability would stand a good chance to rise on the legitimate side of politics. Red flaunted his gambling activities, and while Federal agents had identified major drug suppliers from the United States and Canada as attending his social activities, an elite Michigan State Police squad identified him only as a gambler who they tried to put out of business without success.
Red had located his Social Club on a hill in the center of his eighty acre farm. Any suspicious movement could be detected for nearly a mile in all directions. His savvy at detecting informants was demonstrated when State Police officers in an adjacent county thought they had placed an informant inside his club. Allen detected the informer and turned him as a double agent on the State Police. The agent convinced the police that Red was paying off the State Police in his county, so they were never consulted prior to the "Big raid". Actually, it was the other districts own informant who let Red know the exact time of the raid. When the State Police arrived he had cold soft drinks for them and invited them to stay for a chicken barbecue. Red was an outlaw through and through, and yet he would turn in persons wanted for violent crimes. With Michigan now operating a huge lottery business and with some possibilities for casino gambling, Red would today be a good candidate for a state civil service job.
(39) Interview Donald Bremer, Ibid.
(1) Tom King File, Michigan State University Archives and Historical Collections. Also, Tom King File, University of Louisville, Archives and Historical Collections.
(2) John A. Hannah, Interview, Ibid.
(3) MSC Catalog, 1946-47, p. 121.
(4) Wolverine 1946, Ibid., p. 28.
(5) Report of the Secretary of the State Board of Agriculture, 1945, p.98.
(1) Brandstatter Memoirs, Ibid.
(2) John Hannah, Interview, Ibid.
(3) Wolverine, Ibid., 1939, pp. 191, 110.
(4) Brandstatter Memoirs, Ibid.
(5) Secretary Board of Agriculture, 1938, p. 24
(6) Brandstatter Memoirs, Ibid.
(7) Secretary Board of Agriculture, 1946, p. 136.
(8) East Lansing City Records, Obtained from Clerks office by telephone.
(9) Secretary Board of Aqriculture, 1947, P. 51.
(15) Interview Ralph Turner, June 1985, and analysis of MSU catalogs.
(16) Interview, Robert Scott, April 1985.
(18) Interview Louis Radelet, May, 1985.
(22) Gordon H. Sheehe, Leslie R. Silvernale, and David J. Luck, What can the Colleges do about the Traffic Problem (East Lansing: Michigan State Colllege), October, 1953 p. 27-32.
(23) Ibid., "Supplemental Comments," a three page summary and update printed after 1957.
(25) Plessy vs. Ferguson, 163 U.W. 537 (1896).
(26) Brown vs. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954).
(27) Interview Louis Radelet, Ibid.
(30) MSC Catalog, 1943-44, p. 259.
(31) MSC Catalog, 1946-47, pp. 426-428.
(32) MSC Catalog, 1949-50, p. 412.
(33) Hayes Carlton Larkins, "A survey of Experiences, Activities and Views Of the Industrial Security Administration Graduates of Michigan State University," (Masters Thesis: Michigan State University, 1966) p. 19, citing a 1965 interview with Arthur Brandstatter. Rykert's 1985 interview with Brandstatter determined that it was the directors of Security for these organizations that Brandstatter talked to about a security program.
(35) Interview, Leon Weaver, May, 1985.
(37) Richard A. Wild, "An Evaluation of the Law Enforcement Training Program Basic Police Course at Michigan State University," (Masters Thesis: Michigan State University, 1965) p. 12.
(38) Wild, p. 15, citing the Training Committee report given at the annual meeting of the Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police on June 21, 1951.
(42) Michigan State Police: News Release, November 19, 1951, Leonard Papers, Ibid.
(1) Interview, John A. Hannah, Ibid.
(2) Strecher and McNamara, p. 160.
(3) Interview, Ralph Turner, Ibid.
(4) In 1954, Police Administration faculty members participated with other faculty in a project to assist South Vietnam. This project continued for several years. Later as protests against U.S. involvement in Vietnam grew, MSU came under fire for its involvement. In April , 1966, Ramparts Magazine claimed members of the Police Administration program were connected with the CIA. This was a complicated issue and should be explored in depth. Therefore, it was not covered in this thesis.
(1) Alfred E. Parker, Ibid., p. 54.
(2) Peter W. Greenwood, Jan M. Chaiken, and Joan Petersilia, The Criminal Investigation Process (Lexington, Massachusetts: D.C. Heath and Company, 1977), p. 37.
(3) This material is based on the authors nearly 20 years reflections on Turner's Criminal Investigation Thesis and on observing the behavior of police administrators and line police officers following the impact of the 1970's research on the criminal investigation process. The importance of investigative theory and the need to develop new research in this area was inspired by observing the frustrations of students attempting to deal with this 1970's research. Criminalistic students appear to be as eager as ever to explore the world of scientific crime detection, but there is a good chance that they will be faced, in the 1980's and 90's, with the same challenge that Turner faced in the 1940's, that of convincing line officers and administrators that good investigation can provide cost effective results to a community concerned with the problems of crime. Finally, a discussion was held with Professor Turner, in June 1985, to clarify some of the main features of his thesis.
(1) George A. Bell , The Michigan Municipal League: An Analysis of Policies and Services (Ann Arbor: Institute of Public Administration, Universitiy of Michigan, 1957), pp. 1-8.
(2) "The Leagues Director," Michigan Municipal Review, September, 1930, p. 165.
(3) Harold D. Smith file, Michigan Municipal League, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
(4) Fiftieth Anniversary Michigan State Police, Ibid., p.52
(1) Z.Z. Lydens, ed., The Story of Grand Rapids (Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 1966), pp. 140-156
(2) "On Job Nearly 22 Years," Grand Rapids Herald, December 17, 1935.
(6) Frank M. Sparks, "Reflections of an Editor," Grand Rapids Herald, January 29, 1941, p. 4.
(7) IACP Convention, Ibid, 1925, pp. 52-59.
The decade prior to the start of the Police Administration Program, now School of Criminal Justice, was a period of rising prosperity, a failed experiment with prohibition of alcoholic beverages, and finally, degrading poverty. It was a period of gangsterism that solidified an American brand of organized crime based on old time Mafia terror, corruption of public officials, and the provision of illegal services to a demanding public.
It was also a period during which members of the public, honest law enforcement officials, and leading scientists worked together to reform law enforcement and develop scientific methods for the investigation of crime. Police training and education at major universities was of the results of people in many areas of life operating in an attempt to improve law enforcement and control crime. Michigan State University, became, and continues to be a leader in this continuing challenge.
As history goes, 1935 is not in the too distant Past, but it is in this transitional time when the generation of adults of the time passes on and their remaining papers and documents are found and prepared for examination. Had this project been attempted fifteen years ago, many people could have testified to events in police work prior to 1935, but very few documents would have been available to match against recollections. It is also unfortunate that more police officials had less a sense of history than the need to empty files to make room for ever pressing business.
We are fortunate, however, to have a number of very good collections in Michigan, some of which have not yet been explored. One of the outstanding records of a police officials tenure is in the scrap books of Commissioner Oscar Olander of the Michigan State Police. His career-long secretary, Dorothy Cowen, prepared detailed clippings from newspapers and filled more than two dozen large books on crime and police work during the many years of Olander's tenure. These and other State Police records are at the Michigan State Archives and now available for research.
A relatively new collection is the papers of Donald S. Leonard, Olander's successor. He was active in the affairs of state and national police associations for most of his career. This collection, housed at the University of Michigan, contains some of the only known primary sources of information regarding police training developments in Michigan from 1924-1935.
On the national scene, one of the most valuable and astounding collections, probably at any archives is held at the Michigan State University Archives and Historical Collection, in the William Wiltberger papers. He was a police officer on August Vollmer's Berkeley, California Police Department in the mid 1930's and remained a life long confidant of Vollmer. He held various law enforcement positions in may parts of the nation and was responsible for making a success of the educational program at San Jose State College. His papers were willed to MSU and have yet to be processed. They were very valuable in this project and will contribute to the further understanding of police history in the future.
Another remarkable fountain of primary source material is contained in the annual proceedings of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP). The proceedings of early conventions from 1893-1930, have been reproduced in a five volume set by Arno Press and the New York Times as part of their Police in America series. This set is the only good source of information on some of these early meetings. The early transcripts are extremely valuable because they contain not only the formal remarks of speakers, but many of the extemporaneous debates as well. From 1930, the original IACP publications are more readily available. The 1893-1930 collection is of great value to historians because of the detail that was recorded and published without editing - a standard practice by modern association management. Today, students learn police history, as they do other history, from distillations presented in general text books. While the general textbook treatment of criminal justice history is a necessary fact of academic life, students should be aware of the many points of view that historians hold in approaching their data. One of the best ways to evaluate these points of view is to examine original statements. These early IACP proceedings are good sources for such evaluation.
A rich source of Michigan history is the Pioneer Collections, an annual report started in 1877 by the Pioneer Society of the State of Michigan, later called the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society. A general reading of these collections will introduce the reader to the general character of Michigan pioneers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. In particular, one will be struck by the strong concern for basic education as well as the unique proposal for an agriculture college that combined both art and science.
Mr. Donald Bremer, son of Donald J. Bremer, the first Director of the Police Administration Program, has contributed a valuable file of news clippings, photos, and publications that brings a more detailed understanding of the early years. This material will be preserved in the Michigan State University Archives.
The student year book, the Wolverine, is a good source of fact as well as narrative and pictorial nostalgia. And, the annual reports of the Secretary of the Board of Agriculture provide detail and some insight into the developmental process.
Two or three quite rare books and documents contribute to our understanding of events leading up to the MSC program in 1935. Foremost of these is the only known copy of the bound proceedings of the Michigan State Crime Commission that operated from 1930-1938. This copy is at the Michigan State University Library. Neither the library of the State of Michigan nor the Michigan Archives were aware of this Commission publication. Of major interest for this project was the published remarks of Dean R.C. Huston, the most active participant of the Michigan State team that developed the Police Administration Program, and the proposal by LeMoyne Snyder to develop a medical examiner department in Michigan.
The Wickersham Commission's Report on Police is also a good document on police conditions and recommendations of the 1930's, but the most valuable reference to the history of the subject of this thesis is the proceedings of the Attorney General's Conference on Crime of 1934. This was a gathering of 600 people from all over the United States and many of them remained interested in law enforcement for the next 40 years. The Michigan delegation brought back ideas and an ambition to make MSC first in police education.
Dr. LeMoyne Snyder, a legend in police work when this writer joined the Michigan State Police over twenty five years ago, was available by telephone from his home in California. He has a vivid memory of 1935 and was helpful on a number of points. Professor Ralph Turner, studied and worked with some of the originators of the Scientific Crime Lab at Northwestern University and also became and remains a world renown expert on scientific crime detection. He brought his expertise to Michigan State in 1948. Now retired, his advice and recollections are valued by new and old students alike.
Professors Louis Radelet, Leon Weaver, and Robert Scott provided the richness of first hand observations concerning their long association with Michigan State University. Professor Kenneth Christian provided a student's perspective of the 1950's at Michigan State. President John Hannah, in a brief interview was able to confirm some of the judgments made concerning conditions and relationships involving the college during the 1930's and 1940's, and exhibited his constant concern for serving people that was the hallmark of his long and continuing service to Michigan State University. Arthur Brandstatter discussed a broad range of issues from both his student and administrative days at Michigan State.
In trying to find the "Michigan State, or Land Grant Philosophy," Beal's History of the Michigan State Agriculture College, and Kuhn's Michigan State: The first Hundred Years, were very helpful. The proof that revolutionary ideas of merit can be carried forward to succeeding generations can be seen in John Hannah's A Memoir as he brings Michigan State College into the community of great universities. His leadership helped change the name to Michigan State University of Agriculture and Applied Science in time for the centenial in 1955. He was a delegate to the Michigan Constitutional Convention in 1953 that made the final change to the simple but all encompassing name Michigan State University.
From these three sources, one can detect the historical continuity of the "Michigan State Philosophy". From the clearing of land with cross cut saws and breaking the land with teams of horses to the post World War II nuclear age, the "peoples college" and service philosophy was the same---but applied to new problems such as the need for police training and education in the 1930's.
Finally a great deal of appreciation must be extended to those who were interviewed by telephone with no forewarning of the subject matter. The telephone was often required because of the distance and because, although alert with keen memories of the 1930's, the health of some people would not permit visitation. It is to this senior generation that a more complete and continuing documentation of law enforcement and criminal justice history should be produced.
Abbot, Theophilus C. 8, 11
Allen, Red 86
Ali, Muhammad 86
Alspaugh, Robert 32
Anthony, E. L. 58
Bachman, Charles W. 54, 87
Backstrom, F. W. 83
Barry, Gov. John . 9
Baxter, Howard 29
Beal, William J. 12, 137
Bible, Allan 47
Bingham, H. H. 14-15
Bingham, Gov. Kingsley S. 9
Bouck, Robert 64, 66, 69, 77, 84-85
Brandstatter, Arthur 54, 59, 64, 69, 78, 88, 90-101, 103-104, 111,
114-116, 118, 120-121, 128, 130, 135, 152, 153, 171
Brandstatter, Mary 92
Bremer, Donald 169
Bremer, Donald J. 20-25, 62, 65-66, 83-86, 94, 152, 160 n. 1
Bremer, Rudolf 20
Brereton, George H. 36
Broome, Claude 83
Bruce, James 52
Brucker, Wilbur 28, 73
Buchanan, Pres. James 10
Cahalane, Cornelius F. 33, 34, 36
Cohane, Louis 48
Capone, Alphonse 43-44
Carr, Harvey . 148-149
Carr, Leland J. 25, 51
Carroll, Albert A. 31-32, 38, 39, 41, 48, 147-151
Childs, Joseph 76, 80
Christian, Kenneth .171
Cowen, Dorothy 168
Cross William E. 31-33, 35-37, 121
Crowley, James 54
Culver, Charles H. 28, 32-34, 36
Cummings, Homer 47-48, 57
Day, Frank D. 114
Diamond, "Legs" 51
Dillinger, John 47, 72
Dirks, H. B. 58
Eastman, William 148
Ecklund, Coy 64
Emmons, Lloyd C. 58
Enyart, James 55, 81, 82, 159 n. 22
Ford, Henry 18
Frahm, Fred W. 83
Gallatti, Robert 114
Garrell, Earl W. 45
Gault, Harry G. 58
Germann, Albert C. 111, 114
Goddard, Calvin 44
Gordon, M. B. 113
Green, Gov. Fred 40, 73, 124
Groesbeck, Alexander J. 22, 30
Gross, Hans 139-140, 144
Halladay, H. H. 23
Hamilton, C. L. 83
Hannah, John, A. 25-26, 54, 57-60,78, 88, 90-92, 126, 131
Hansen, Peter 32
Haun, Harold 92
Higgins, Comm. 40
Higgins, Tom 23
Holmes, John C. 8-10
Hoover, J. Edgar 47, 48, 74
Hoover, Pres. Herbert 27, 44-45,47
Huston, Ralph C. 58, 60, 63-65, 67, 83, 111, 125-126, 137, 170
Jackson, Harry 79
Jenson, C. L. 83
John, Capt. Ernest 50
Kavanaugh, Andrew J. 49
Kedzie, Frank S. 21
Kiefer, N. 0. 113
Kim, Daisy 94, 101
King, Tom H. 54, 85, 87-89, 91-94, 96, 118, 152, 160 n. 1
Knight, H. Stuart 85
Larkins, Hayes 117
Leonard, Donald S. 31-33, 41, 47-48, 57, 73-74, 76, 79-80, 82, 94-95,
118-120, 168
Leonard, V. A. 94
Lett, Harold 110
Lincoln, Abraham 6, 10, 16
Linsey, Jay W. 58
Loomis, Lt. Van A. 58, 72
Louis, Joe 86
Lucus, Orin 83
Lyons, Lawrence 73
Mathews, Dr. J. H. 96
MacArthur, Douglas 20, 81, 91
MacQuarrie, T. 56
McNamara, John H. 3-4, 37, 69
Marmon, Ira H. 81
May, Luke S. 49-50
Monroe, David G. 45
Moran, "Bugs" 43, 44
Morrill, Justin S. 7
Morse, Wayne 47
Muhlenburger, Clarence W. 95
Mulbar, Harold 71, 80
Munro, Herbert E. 48
Murphy, Gov. Frank 146
Murray, Robert 121
O'Brien, Patrick H. 48
Olander, Comm. Oscar G. 12-20, 26, 29, 32-35, 38, 40-41, 47, 52-55,
57-60, 64, 66, 70-71, 72-74, 76, 78-79, 81-85, 90, 92, 94, 120-121, 124-127,
147, 168 n. 12
Olds, Frederick 65
Orr, Herbert P. 58
Orr, Myron David 58-59
Parker, Alfred 39, 139
Pegg, Charles 93
Pierce, Rev. 8
Picket, Heinrich A. 83
Pinkerton, Allen 15-16
Purchase, H. E. 113
Radelet, Louis A. 102, 108-111, 171
Ragsdale, G. T. 150
Reed, Hoyt Coe "Dick" 110
Reynolds, Roy 31
Rhodes, Charles 121
Robertson, Sgt. Carl W. 112
Rockne, Knute 87
Rockwell, M. J. 83
Rodney, D. R. 93
Rogers, Richard W. 23, 92
Romney, Gov. George 103
Roosevelt, Franklin D. 47-48,146
Roosevelt, Theodore 16
Rutledge, William 38-40, 123, 147
Rykert, Wilbur 162 n. 38, 164 n. 33
Scavarda, Caesar J. 31-33, 41, 53, 55, 71, 75-79, 85, 113
Scott, Robert H. 91, 96, 98-104, 110, 113, 119
Seymour, Alfred 38-39
Shaw, Robert S. 21, 24, 58, 63
Sheehan, Robert 115
Sheehe, Gordon 105-107
Sigler, Gov. Kim 41, 73-74, 79
Sleeper, Gov. Albert E. 18
Smith, Bruce 38, 123
Smith, Harold D. 31, 145-146
Smith, LeRoy 81
Snyder, Johnathan L. 51
Snyder, LeMoyne 25, 51-52, 55 58, 82-83, 125-126, 170
Sparks, Frank M. 151
Sprott, James 32
Stebbins, C. L. 48
Stephenson, 0. W. 48, 52
Stone, J. R. 113
Strecher, Victor G. 3-4, 37, 69
Sylvester, Richard 38
Taft, Pres. William Howard 45
Tolan, John 31-32
Truman, Pres. Harry S. 108
Turner, Ralph 12, 44, 95, 96-98, 104, 113, 119, 139-144, 154 n. 12,
171
Valentine, Tpr. James 112
Vandercook, Roy 19, 82
VanStratt, Austin 85
Vollmer, August 4, 17-19, 21, 29, 37-39, 45-47, 55-56, 66, 70, 72,
74, 123-126, 132, 139, 150, 168
Waite, John B. 40-41, 48
Wakeman, Minnie 159 n. 22
Warren, Earl 47
Watkins, John R. 48
Weaver, Leon 115-117
Welsh, James P. 159 n. 22
Wild, Richard 118, 121
Williams, G. Mennen 80, 105
Williams, Joseph R. 7
Wilson, Orlando W. 46, 55-56, 69, 74, 125
Wiltberger, William 46, 55, 56, 150, 168