THE HISTORY OF THE
AMERICAN CRIMINAL JUSTICE ASSOCIATION—
LAMBDA ALPHA EPSILON
Background and Development
During the first three
decades of the twentieth century, law enforcement in the western
There was little
formalized training of peace officers, and only in the 1920’s did any
formalized
One of the most
significant law enforcement officers in the early development of professional
law enforcement in
1. A School of
“Criminology” at the
2. Specialized training and orientation of officers hired to be policemen, with motivation to move on and train others;
3. Research, experimentation and evaluation of new methods of crime detection and investigation, with results promulgated to other jurisdictions that would accept and utilize them;
4. 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
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
"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
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 .
With the continuation of the Institute sessions in 1938 and 1939, more students became eligible for active membership in LAE and enthusiasm for membership activities was sustained.
The second Annual
Convention was held in
At the third Annual
Convention, held in
The fourth Annual
Convention in
At the seventh Annual Convention, on September 16, 1944, Thomas P. Hunter, Agent, U.S. Secret Service (and former police officer, Alameda and Berkeley Police Departments), was elected seventh President of Grand Chapter. Secretary Macabee, who had served since 1937, “retired” to enter private business and was replaced in that capacity by Jesse J. Jackson, Lt. of Inspectors, Oakland Police Department.
After eight years,
Lambda Alpha Epsilon found its membership spread throughout the world, on the
battlefields of Europe, Asia,
Those who remained at
home were planning for the future. Fraternity committees developed curriculum
suggestions for subjects to be included at in-service police schools within
Aims and Purposes of Lambda Alpha Epsilon
1. To promote a greater fraternal relationship among graduates of technical and professional police schools.
2. To promote higher standards of educational attainment among peace officers.
3. To promote the institution of courses of police science by recognized colleges and universities.
4. To promote research projects in the field of police science.
5. To promote a better understanding by the public of the aims and ideals of peace officer organizations.
6. To promote the selection of properly trained personnel for law enforcement positions.
7. To promote standard modern methods in the field of law enforcement.
8. To promote unity of action among law enforcement agencies.
Those who served at home planned for the future. Changes were inevitable, and the limitation of membership needed to be broadened.
Post-World War II Expansion
With the return of “Veteran” LAE members from the military to their former jobs and the renewed interest in veterans with G.l. benefits seeking employment in law enforcement jobs, the role of LAE changed. Many of the Charter members were Vollmer-trained or influenced persons who were now moving into administrative roles of influence in the field. The emphasis on quality training and new methods of detection were generally accepted standards.
LAE opened its
membership to any college graduate who was either employed full-time in a
police agency or had completed at least thirty college units in police science
or administration with a “B Average” or better. Between 1945 and 1950
subordinate chapters had been established in
Annual meetings were held with Grand Chapter functioning in a coordination and policy-making role between the five subordinate chapters.
Breaking the College and State Barriers
With the establishment,
in 1950, of a professional
When the petition for a new chapter was received at Grand Chapter, a long discussion ensued as to the feasibility of accepting non-sworn persons into LAE. The granting of the Charter to Epsilon Chapter broke two barriers: Student membership and the admission of" “Brother Barbara Feister”, Secretary and Criminology major, the first female member of LAE. The Chapter President was John Warner, who still maintains active membership as Deputy Director, Federal Drug Enforcement Administration (Retired).
Permanent Grand Chapter Secretary Tom Hunter expressed his hope: "that admission of Epsilon Chapter to ‘Lambie Pie’ opens the membership to students with 15 or more college units in Criminology, to both men and women, with the hope that membership will commence at the pre-service phase of employment and continue through all levels of police service on to retirement."
What Tom Hunter did not envision was the
expansion of the
1952 saw a petition
received from the
1953 saw the
establishment of a professional “Women’s
Chapter” in
LAE first became “international” in 1953 when two visiting lecturers at the U.C. School of Criminology participated in Epsilon and Alpha activities over a nine-month period. On return to Britain, Sir Arthur Dixon, H.M. Inspector of Constabulary, and Col. C.E. St. Johnston, Chief Constable, Lancashire Constabulary, not only had LAE membership, but became the hosts to many American visitors for several years following their sabbaticals.
In 1956, Bill Melnicoe was appointed Assistant
Professor at
At the Annual Meeting
on September 15, 1956, founding member
Tom Hunter (permanent Secretary) ascended to the presidency of Grand Chapter
for the second time. With him was the new generation of young professionals, in
entry level jobs in police agencies, corrections and colleges. The old ideas
were tempered with broader visions for the future. At the Annual Meeting in
1957, 200 members were challenged by speakers O.W. Wilson (Dean of Criminology) and Richard McGee (Director of Corrections, State of
Professor Melnicoe,
under the guidance of Tom Hunter, began to systematically plan the expansion of
LAE into existing Criminal Justice
Programs in
In 1958, Bill Melnicoe assumed the Presidency of
Grand Chapter and worked tirelessly with Secretary Hunter to form a network of
chapters in various locations from
In 1965, the first
formal competitions took place at the Annual Meeting in
Also at that meeting, Past Presidents Lee Meyers (1961), Alex Pantaleoni (1963) Bill Melnicoe (1958-60 and 1967-69) and Tom Hunter (1944-45, 1956-58) were present together with future Presidents Dick McGrath (1966) and Hugh Owsley (1969-70) and 1974-75). Strong support was given to future activities by founding fathers and those who passed the torch as the Fraternity grew and developed. This was a pivotal and progressive session from which growth and progress mushroomed, both geographically and in changing directions which pointed to the present board, nationwide appeal and function.
The objectives and purposes of LAE were discussed and rewritten after many hours of argument and haggling. As stated by President McGrath in his message at the 1967 Annual Meeting:
"Each year
LAE continues to grow in the number of chapters and total membership. Each year
our expansion has taken us further from our
McGrath further affirmed the objective to “promote public understanding of the problems and objectives of the administration of justice” and challenged the membership to view the Fraternity as an unlimited horizon as to the opportunity to contribute to the profession and the communities we serve.
During the presidency of Hugh Owsley we saw the formalization of the Regional Concept (1974-75) and the change of the name from LAE to ACJA/LAE to reflect a national rather than “provincial” or local association.
Today’s American
Criminal Justice Association/Lambda Alpha Epsilon shows in excess of 145
chapters throughout the 50 states, comprising over 4,500 members, including
“at-large” membership throughout the world. Truly the ACJA has grown beyond the
wildest dreams of the small group of "Founding
Father's” who met in
LAE has served a valuable purpose over each of the decades of its existence: It is this writer’s hope that each future generation will be as successful in their own time as have been those of the past.
Onward and Upward with LAE!
By Eugene V. Luttrell
Past-President
A Quarter Century of Change
(The Rest of The Story)
This interpretation of ACJA/LAE history continues where Eugene V. Luttrell closed his excellent recount of LAE’s early years. These highlights of the past twenty-five years, or so, are events selected from the official records of the Association and from the author’s thirty years of notes, etc.
However, two historic
“firsts” should be added to the earlier account. To attract more professionals
to the LAE conferences, professional
seminars were first presented during the October 4th, 5th, and 6th, 1963
Annual Conference of the Grand Chapter in
Reorganization
Gene Luttrell brought us to the beginning of the reorganization and the new constitution that would change the Professional Law Enforcement Fraternity and its power structure forever. Quite a few forward thinking people (such as Gene Luttrell, Ted Rankin, Dick McGrath, and other LAE leaders — many of which are discussed later) were involved in the deliberations: to reorganize or not — if reorganization, the form it should take.
After years of
deliberation, on March 24, 1969, Dr.
Ernie Kamm, Chairman of the Reorganization and Development Committee,
published a Preliminary Report Dr.
Kamm proposed that a permanent National Headquarters be established in
Sacramento, California. He outlined the number and type of meetings that seemed
appropriate. Division of LAE into nine regions was advocated. The election and
terms of officers were also suggested. Voting procedures, organizational
structure, and memberships were detailed. The authority for and the details of
the transition were additionally described. The outstanding work of this
committee provided the nucleus for the birth of the “modern” LAE. (Dr. Kamm was
Chairman of the Police Science Department, California State University,
To finalize and operationalize the “new” LAE, Hugh Owsley was elected National President March 3, 1969. The following members were also elected to this historic Executive Board: Ernie Kamm was elected Vice President, Nell Hutchinson was elected Secretary-Treasurer, Anna Herkomer was elected Assistant Secretary-Treasurer, and Jim Allen was elected Sergeant-at-Arms. Addressing the reorganization, President Owsley’s plea was for unity to move ahead and for a divestiture of parochialism. Interim Vice-Presidents were appointed by the Executive Board for the five regions: Region 1, Al Nottingham (soon after replaced by Tom Sutak); Region 2, Ron Rogers; Region 3, Dave Couper; Region 4, Jim Hooker, and Region 5, Jim Merritt.
President Owsley also pushed for a broader concept for our organization —from a law enforcement fraternity to a criminal justice association. This philosophy was formed by the fact that Hugh had been an Oakland, California, police officer and (like Gene Luttrell before him) was a parole officer for the Department of Corrections when elected president of LAE. Hugh’s philosophy also caused him to strongly advocate professional ethics and greater cooperation between the professional members and the collegiate, preservice members.
The evolution of the
“new” LAE continued at the 1970 National Conference in
In October 1970,
President Owsley declared that “. . . we finally did it. Lambda Alpha Epsilon
now has a legitimate set of Bylaws” (LAE Journal, October 15, 1970). A Special
Annual Grand Chapter Meeting was held on September 26, 1970, in
Executive Secretary-Treasurer
Very important to the
growth of the Association was that the new Bylaws adopted at this meeting
provided for a part-time, paid staff for the National Office in
Continued Development
Convinced that many of
his objectives for LAE were accomplished, Hugh
Owsley announced at the 1971 National Conference in
The first National Conference held away from the California area (there had been one previous conference outside California in Reno, Nevada, in May 1971) was hosted by the then National President, Jim Hooker, and Sigma Delta Rho Chapter in York, Pennsylvania, in April 1973.
LAE Name Changes
The name of the organization
also experienced changes during this period of time. At the Annual Grand
Chapter Business Meeting (April 11, 1970) in
LAE Journal
The evolution of the National Journal is the final issue to be addressed here. The records reveal that various members served as Journal Editors until about 1960. In 1960, Vivian E. Dudgeon, a member of Theta Chapter in Sacramento, California, became Journal Editor and poured her heart and soul into the LAE Journal for over a decade. She typed, published and mailed the, usually, monthly journals during this period, which were significant to the continued growth of LAE. LAE owed this great lady a tremendous debt of gratitude at the time of her death, June 4, 1972.
“Smiling” Jack Perry, a
In 1976, under National President John P. J. Dussich, the LAE Journal took on a new look. The new Journal became a series of good quality criminological articles, but it carried no news of the Association. Richie Tidwell, the first Editor, and subsequently, Dr. Ira J. Silverman found it very expensive and time consuming to produce such a Journal and – in the opinion of many members — it still did not satisfy the needs of the Association.
A new President, Richard Coughlin, appointed Jim Hooker to be Newsletter Editor in 1981 to share ACJA/LAE news with our membership. In 1982, Jim Hooker was appointed LAE Journal Editor and charged to return the Journal to its mission of informing the membership of relevant news of the Association as well as to publish criminal justice articles of interest to professional and pre-professional members. At the same time, the name was changed back to its historic title, The LAE Journal.
In 1987, Fred Campbell became Editor of the LAE Journal. Fred brought considerable talent and a staff to the publication of the Journal. It is currently an excellent blend of news of the Association, professional criminal justice articles, and high quality papers written by LAE members. Measured by any standards, it is a top quality, professional Journal.
Epilog
Where are we today? We have an excellent organization, a knowledgeable Executive Board, an excellent Executive Secretary, and a top-of-the-line LAE Journal. The Association continues to grow in number of chapters and members. This brings thoughts of something Eugene V. Luttrell wrote as National President:
MEMBERSHIP: Over the past five years we have seen
unprecedented growth in the pre-service chapters primarily at the Junior and
Each President since (and probably before) Gene Luttrell has voiced similar concerns. Our roots lie with the professional members yet retention of members after they become professionals remains a weakness. Experience teaches that many criminal justice students join ACJA-LAE because it is a professional organization (and it also looks good on their resumes). A student member who goes into an interview for a job proudly wearing their LAE pin might well expect the interviewer to react with a big smile and to exclaim, “LAE—I used to belong to LAE when I was in college!” ACJA/LAE has much to offer to criminal justice professionals and pre-professionals alike and yet we lose many members each year. The growth (or lack thereof in the number of professional members and professional chapters is predicted to dictate the future history of this great organization. There is much we can do; however, that is another subject for another time.
In Closing
ACJA/LAE has continued to grow since our “nationalization”. The Association holds a National Conference every year with excellent workshops and speakers; competitions including corrections, criminal law, juvenile law, physical agility, and crime scene investigation; and a National Pistol Match. The Association also offers and awards scholarships each year to our members who wish to apply for them. The LAE Journal and the National Newsletter are the “official” publications of the Association.
The Association will continue to grow in size and stature in the years to come and members will be more and more aware of the “impact” of their membership in the Association in achieving their academic and professional goals.
By Jim Hooker
Past-President
PLEA FROM HISTORIANS
It would be a serious omission not to mention that every ACJA/LAE Historian from Leslie Siemer, Vivian Dudgeon, Nell Hutchison, Debbie Peck, Jim Hooker and now Lori Carman (it is hoped no one was missed) begged for members to send information and photographs to be included in the official history book. With few exceptions, little material was forthcoming. As ACJA/LAE members we should all pledge to be contributors to our Association’s rich history. If you have any such material, please send it to Karen.
Mailing Address:
ACJA/LAE
Telephone (916) 484-6553
FAX (916) 488-2227
Email:
Web Site: www.acjalae.org
