Police Technology

Pre–World War II

Undoubtedly, the technological advances with the most profound effect on policing were those that occurred in the early twentieth century. The patrol car, in widespread use by the 1920s, changed the mode of policing from foot patrols to motor patrols, thereby reducing face-to-face contact between police and the citizenry. The telephone, in conjunction with the two-way radio, made police available to the public twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Once only able to seek out police officers who were walking beats in their neighborhoods, citizens were now able to mobilize police by simply placing a telephone call. The two-way radio not only allowed departments to dispatch officers in response to citizen calls for service but also revolutionized police supervision by providing a means of continuous contact with officers.

Each technological innovation was welcomed as a “breakthrough” in scientific policing and seized upon as a managerial tool enabling enhanced coordination and discipline of patrol officers. These early innovations in the 1920s and 1930s also gave a precise content to the “crime fighting,” “scientific,” and “professional” imagery sought by police reformers such as August Vollmer, Bruce Smith, and O.W. Wilson (Stead 1977). The data-gathering and dissemination capacity of the police was stimulated during this time by the reform efforts of the Wickersham Commission and the efforts of the FBI to create a body of national crime statistics.

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