Posted inCrime, Crime & Safety

Berkeley Police Department’s past continues to influence the officers of today

On Wednesday, Berkeleyside published the first part of a two-part interview with Berkeley’s new Police Chief, Michael Meehan. Today we give you Part II. Deep in the bowels of the Berkeley Police Department is an L-shaped hallway that is a shrine to the department’s past. There is an old lie detector encased in a wooden […]

Posted inCity, Crime, Crime & Safety

Remembering August Vollmer, the Berkeley police chief who created modern policing

Berkeley police officers in 1925 As Berkeley gets ready to swear in Michael K. Meehan on Thursday as the city’s new police chief, perhaps it is appropriate to take a look back at the city’s very first chief. After all, he is credited with modernizing American policing. Not many people know about August Vollmer, but […]