Richard H. Sylvester

Who was Richard H. Sylvester?

Richard H. Sylvester was the Chief of Police for Washington, District of Columbia, USA for 17 years from July in 1898 to April in 1915. He is one of the people credited with coining the term third degree for police interrogation. Sylvester was the first president of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, 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." He divided police procedures into the arrest as the first degree, transportation to jail as the second degree and interrogation as the third degree.