Hendon Publishing Company

History

Law and Order Magazine, the company's flagship publication, was started in 1953 on Long Island, New York, at the Copp Organization. From the very first issue, William Copp tried to produce a publication that would be useful to the police department administrator of the day. Not a theoretical discussion of what policing should look like in the future. This was truly a how-to magazine for police department administrators who had little or no formal education in Criminal Justice. Most police officers in the 1950s did not graduate from high school and advanced by moving up the ranks from patrolman. Under the guidance of Editor-in-Chief Lee Lawler, Law and Order was able to produce useful content from experts in the field. The first issue of the publication even carried a guest editorial from then Georgia Governor Herman Talmadge, who was embroiled in controversy over his segregationist policies. The civil rights demonstrations from those days continue to affect policing today.

In the early 1960s, Lawler left the company and was replaced by Frank G. MacAloon. MacAloon, who used a wheelchair, continued to guide the publication successfully until 1979. During his tenure, Mr. MacAloon continued to seek out editorial guests to comment on issues of the day. The protests of the sixties brought policing into a specific light as never before. Television news brought nightly pictures of protesters engaged with police both violently and non-violently. Law and Order magazine was there to guide police departments on how to properly train their officers and avoid nasty confrontations. Mr. MacAloon also oversaw the explosion of illicit drugs in America during the 1970s, when police had to utilize many new techniques to combat the massive influx of illegal narcotics. Again, Law and Order Magazine was there educating administrators on new tools and techniques to combat a problem that had not existed 20 years prior. At one point in the late 1970s, Law and Order carried a guest editorial from then Arkansas Governor William J. Clinton who eventually became President of the United States.

From the very beginning in 1953, H. Scott Kingwill, the eventual founder of Hendon Publishing Company, was working as an advertising salesman at the Copp Organization focusing primarily on Law and Order Magazine. During those early years, the publication carried advertising from Metcalf Uniform, Federal Signal and Midland Radio to name a few. In 1978, Mr. Copp, who was looking to retire, sold Law and Order Magazine to Kingwill. At the time, Kingwill was also running a successful forensic equipment supply business, Ace Fingerprint Company, on Elston Avenue in Chicago, IL. In early 1979 Mr. Kingwill moved the magazine headquarters from Long Island to Chicago. At that same time Mr. Kingwill hired Bruce Cameron, a Public Relations executive with Bell & Howell, to become the new Editorial Director of Law and Order.

Currently, Hendon is headquartered in Deerfield, Illinois and is under the co-ownership of Peter C. Kingwill and Henry S. Kingwill.

Publications

LAW and ORDER
Tactical Response
Public Safety IT
Police Fleet Manager

Expositions