Wilson, O. W. (Orlando Winfield), 1900-1972

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Orlando Winfield Wilson, criminologist, police administrator and educator, was born on May 15, 1900 in Veblen, South Dakota. He started police work in 1921 as a patrolman with the Berkeley, California Police Department, working his way at the University of California as one of August Vollmer's "college cops." Graduating with an A.B. in 1924, he resigned from the Berkeley force in April 1925 to become chief of police in Fullerton, California. In 1928, on Vollmer's recommendation, he became police chief of Wichita, Kansas, a position he held until 1939 when he returned to Berkeley as professor of police administration at the School of Criminology, serving as dean, 1950-60. During this period he also did intermittent police consultation and advisory work, conducting a number of police surveys and directing reorganization of departments in several cities. In World War II, he served in the army in a variety of posts. In 1960 he went to Chicago at the request of Mayor Richard J. Daley, to head a blue-ribbon committee seeking a new police commissioner. The committee, after searching the country for a candidate, chose its own chairman, and Wilson accepted the job with the assurance that he would have the support he considered necessary to rebuild the department which had been rocked with graft and incompetence. Retiring in 1967 with a distinct record of achievement, he returned to California, living in Poway until his death on October 18, 1972.

From the guide to the Orlando Winfield Wilson Papers, [ca. 1928-1972], (The Bancroft Library)

Archival Resources
Role Title Holding Repository
creatorOf Wilson, O. W. (Orlando Winfield), 1900-1972. Orlando Winfield Wilson papers, [ca. 1928-1972]. UC Berkeley Libraries
creatorOf Wilson, Orlando Winfield. [Miscellaneous pamphlets, etc.] : Chicago. Chicago History Museum
referencedIn Learned Hand papers Harvard Law School Library Langdell Hall Cambridge, MA 02138
referencedIn Papers, 1915-1979, 1950-1979 (bulk) New York State Historical Documents Inventory
referencedIn Hankey, Richard Orb, 1915-1979. Papers. John Jay College of Criminal Justice Library, Lloyd George Sealy Library
creatorOf Orlando Winfield Wilson Papers, [ca. 1928-1972] Bancroft Library
Role Title Holding Repository
Relation Name
associatedWith Hand, Learned, 1872-1961 person
associatedWith Hankey, Richard Orb, 1915-1979. person
associatedWith Online Archive of California. corporateBody
associatedWith University of California, Berkeley. School of Criminology. corporateBody
Place Name Admin Code Country
Kansas--Wichita
Illinois--Chicago
California
Illinois--Chicago
Subject
Criminologists
Police
Police
Police administration
Police chiefs
Occupation
Activity

Person

Birth 1900

Death 1972

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