Richard H. Sylvester

For the Iowa journalist, see Richard H. Sylvester (writer).
Richard H. Sylvester

Sylvester circa 1913
Chief of Police of Washington, DC
In office
1898-1915
Preceded by William C. Moore
Succeeded by Raymond W. Pullman
Personal details
Born 1860
Iowa, USA
Died December 11, 1930(1930-12-11) (aged 70)
Biltmore Hotel
Wilmington, Delaware
Spouse(s) Laura V.
Children Laura Sylvester Wood
Parents possibly Richard H. Sylvester (writer)

Richard H. Sylvester (1860 – December 11, 1930) was the Chief of Police for Washington, District of Columbia, USA for 17 years from July in 1898 to April in 1915.[1][2] He is one of the people credited with coining the term third degree for police interrogation.[3] Sylvester an early president of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP),[4] and "was widely regarded as the father of police professionalism. He advocated a citizen-soldier model, and was responsible for development of the many paramilitary aspects of policing."[5] He divided police procedures into the arrest as the first degree, transportation to jail as the second degree and interrogation as the third degree.[6]

Biography

Sylvester was born in Iowa City, Iowa in 1860. He attended Washington University in St. Louis, where he majored in law, but he dropped out to become a journalist. He began working at papers in the Midwest. He was sent to Washington, D.C. as a newspaper correspondent.[1]

He became Chief of Police for Washington, DC in 1898.

He retired as Chief of Police for Washington, DC on March 6, 1915 after charges were filed against him for his failure to protect suffragettes during their march in Washington on the day before the inauguration of Woodrow Wilson. He was succeeded by Raymond W. Pullman.[7]

He established the du Pont protection division in 1914 to ensure the safety of the company's plants manufacturing materiel during World War I. While the war was still going on, Sylvester was serving as head of the du Pont police force in July 1918, when his investigation of an unexplained fire at a manufacturing plant led to his uncovering a plot to destroy buildings using fire extinguishers whose contents had been replaced with gasoline.[1]

Sylvester testified before the House Judiciary Committee in April 1928 in support of a "fence" bill drafted by Representative Fiorello H. La Guardia of New York that would make the transporting or concealing of stolen goods used in interstate commerce a crime punishable by a fine of $5,000 or up to two years in prison.[8] He was an early advocate of great cooperation across international police forces, served on a committee established by the National Crime Commission on ways to improve rural policing and participated in the development of recommendations to have employees paid by check rather than cash as a way to reduce payroll robberies.[1]

He died on December 11, 1930 in Wilmington, Delaware where he had retired from DuPont just three weeks earlier.[1][9]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Major Sylvester, Criminals' Foe, Dies. Served as Head of the Police Department at Washington for Seventeen Years. Organized World Body. Long in Charge of du Pont Company's Police Forces. Began Career as Journalist.". New York Times. December 12, 1930. Retrieved 2009-07-27. Major Richard Sylvester, who for seventeen years was superintendent of the Washington police and for the last fifteen years head of the protection division of E.I. du Pont de Nemours Co.'s plants, retiring only a few weeks ago, died here this afternoon in his suite at the du Pont Biltmore Hotel. He was 71 years old.
  2. ↑ "Police Chiefs - Past and Present". Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia. Archived from the original on June 3, 2009. Retrieved 2009-07-29.
  3. ↑ "'Third Degree' Not Brutal Washington's Police Head Tells Academy of Social and Political Science." (PDF). The New York Times. April 9, 1910. Retrieved 2009-07-27.
  4. ↑ "PastIACP presidents".
  5. ↑ "Police History". North Carolina Wesleyan College. Retrieved 2009-07-27. Professionalism took place at the top with formation of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) in 1902. Its first president, Richard Sylvester, chief of the Washington D.C. P.D., was widely regarded as the father of police professionalism. He advocated a citizen-soldier model, and was responsible for development of the many paramilitary aspects of policing.
  6. ↑ Darius M. Rejali (2007). Torture and Democracy. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-11422-6. The phrase was originally coined by Major Richard Sylvester of Washington, ... Many American police chiefs denied that police practiced the third degree. ...
  7. ↑ "Head of Washington Police Retires After Charges Are Withdrawn." (PDF). The New York Times. March 6, 1915. Retrieved 2009-07-27. Richard Sylvester, President of the International Association of Police Chiefs, retired today on a pension from his post as head of the Washington police ... by Representative Park of Georgia.
  8. ↑ Staff. "N. D. Baker Endorses Federal Fence Bill; Declares Interstate Traffic in Stolen Goods, Now $500,000,000 a Year, Must Be Curbed. A. F. Of L. Chief Joins Plea - Railroad, Bank and Business Men Also Back LaGuardia Measure Before House Committee.", The New York Times, April 4, 1928. Accessed July 29, 2009.
  9. ↑ "Washington Ex-Chief Of Police Dead". Hartford Courant. Associated Press. December 12, 1930. Retrieved 2009-07-27. Maj. Richard Sylvester, 70, Retired Dec. 1 From Position With E. I. du Pont de Nemours
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