Major impact on Law Enforcement

Orlando Winfield Wilson (May 15, 1900-October 18, 1972), also known as O.W. Wilson, was an influential leader in policing, having served as Superintendent of Police of the Chicago Police Department, chief of police in Fullerton, California and Wichita, Kansas, and authored several books on policing. (Lyman 2004)

Background

Wilson was born on May 15, 1900, in Veblen, South Dakota, and moved with his family to California. While at Berkeley, he also worked as a police officer with the Berkeley Police Department. Such education for a police officer was rare at the time. O.W. Wilson, together with his wife Ruth Eleanor Wilson, had one daughter. Wilson had another son and daughter, by a previous marriage. (Chu 2001)

Policing

In 1925, O.W. Wilson became chief of police of the Fullerton Police Department for two years. He then spent two years as an investigator with the Pacific Finance Corporation. In 1928, at age 28, he became chief of police of the Wichita Police Department, where he served until 1939. In Wichita, he led reforms to reduce corruption. (Weisburd 2006) There he instituted professionalism in the department, requiring new hires to have a college education, and introduced new innovations, such as the use police cars for patrol, mobile radios, and use of a mobile crime laboratory. He believed that use of two-way radio allowed for better supervision of patrol officers, and therefore more efficient policing. Wilson also rotated officers from community to community, to reduce their vulnerability to corruption. (Lyman 2004)

In 1943, O.W. Wilson went to Europe to serve during World War II, rising to rank of colonel of military police. When the war ended, he remained in Europe until 1947, leading reorganization of police forces in Europe. (Chu 2001)

Chicago

In 1960, Chicago mayor Richard J. Daley, in the wake of a major police scandal, established ...