History

Background and Development

During the first three decades of the twentieth century, law enforcement in the western United States was simple and extremely rudimentary by comparison with today’s high tech standards. The ability to do a "cop’s job" relied heavily on physical brawn to maintain the peace and a degree of political connections to maintain one’s job. Ethics and standards varied between states and political subdivisions if, indeed, heed was paid to these virtues.

There was little formalized training of peace officers, and only in the 1920’s did any formalized U.S. governmental agencies begin to develop standards which might someday affect local police operations.

One of the most significant law enforcement officers in the early development of professional law enforcement in California was August Vollmer. Entering law enforcement by accident in Berkeley (California) in 1905 as "Marshal", Vollmer soon moved to the position of "Chief" in a rapidly growing University community. Utilizing resources of the University’s technical and behavioral scientists, he studied the criminal and his modus operandi, means of identifying physical characteristics, and other information. From these studies, he developed advanced methods of detection and apprehension of criminals by scientific and deductive investigative conclusions. Some of the by-products of several decades of experience were:

A School of "Criminology" at the University of California at Berkeley;
Specialized training and orientation of officers hired to be policemen, with motivation to move on and train others;
Research, experimentation and evaluation of new methods of crime detection and investigation, with results promulgated to other jurisdictions that would accept and utilize them;
The ultimate result was many former Berkeley-trained officers in college instructor positions, state agencies and other positions where "the Gospel according to August Vollmer" could be further spread and inspire others.
By mid-1930’s, a small nucleus of resources existed in California which promoted "vocational training" for police. Among these were the State Peace Officers Association and the State Advisory Committee on Peace Officer Training. These groups, in coordination with San Jose State College, obtained partial funding from the State Bureau of Trade and Industrial Training within the Department of Education to conduct a series of two-week summer sessions for selected law enforcement officers. Three such seminars were held in the summer of 1937 at San Jose. The official title was "California Technical Institute for Peace Officer Training".

Notes from the LAE founders identify the motivation of the initial participants:

"While some attended on orders and at the expense of their department, the majority of the men attending the school had demonstrated their sincere interest in training by attending on their own time and at their own expense. As each class terminated, the students realized their mutual interest in law enforcement training and the friendships they had built during the school were incentives to perpetuate their contacts with one another."

The Establishment of a Professional Fraternity

At one of the 1937 class graduation dinners Frank Gompert, Laboratory expert from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and an instructor at the school, was selected as temporary chairman of a group of graduates whose mission was to explore the feasibility of establishing a "brotherhood or fraternity" of commonly trained officers who could promulgate the learning they had acquired through their participation in the school. Earl Warren, District Attorney of Alameda County and Chairman of the Advisory Committee of Peace Officer Training (later Governor of California and Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court), saw the proposed organization as a valuable contribution to peace officers in the state. He provided resources and facilities of his office as well as legal assistance to the study group.

Ten committee meetings were held over the next several months. The Organization Committee included Oscar J. Jahnsen, Lt. of Inspectors, Alameda County District Attorney’s Office; Inspector E.A. Steinmeyer, California Highway Patrol; J. M. Ritchie, Deputy Sheriff; Police Sergeants Claude Morelock (Bakersfield) and F.E. Macabee (Hayward); Sherwood Morrill, State Division of Criminal Identification; R.L. Drexel, San Jose State Police School; and Alton Fuller, Coordinator of Oakland Police Training School. A considerable number of graduates contributed to the planning and development of a Constitution and Bylaws.

The initial meeting of the Association was held on December 18, 1937 in Hayward. All students and instructors were invited to attend. Minutes of the first meeting show twenty-four persons in attendance, with the first order of business being to adopt the proposed Constitution. Modification was enacted which allowed Charter membership in Alpha Chapter of the Lambda Alpha Epsilon Fraternity open to:

"Graduates and Instructors of the First California Institute for Peace Officers Training during the summer of 1937 . . . who had achieved grades of B or better."

Officers elected included: Oscar Jahnsen, President; Frank Gompert, E.A. Steinmeyer, Walter Hawkinson (Oakland Police Department), Vice-Presidents; F. E. Macabee, Secretary; Guy Skelton, Treasurer; Vincent Spooner. Sergeant at Arms; and five members of an Executive Committee. The initiation fee of $10.00 paid dues through July 1939 and could be paid in three monthly installments! Regular meetings were held in the Bay Area following the inaugural meeting.

The first Annual Convention was held in Lodi, California June 13-15, 1938 with members present from all over California. In addition, numerous interested law enforcement executives attended, reflecting support and potential for expansion of membership beyond institute graduates. The membership elected Frank Gompert as the second President of Lambda Alpha Epsilon.

At the Convention, Lambda Alpha Epsilon Keys and Honorary Memberships were awarded to J. Edgar Hoover, Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Washington, D.C.; August Vollmer, Professor of Police Administration, University of California, Berkeley; and Earl Warren, District Attorney of Alameda County and Chairman of the Board of Governors of the State Division of Criminal Investigation, for their contributions to the cause of law enforcement training.

Associate membership was also granted to several key local and state police officials. Honorary and Associate memberships furthered the concept of a professionally trained rank-and-file committed to training and mutual cooperation .