Richard H. Sylvester Jr. (August 14, 1859 – December 11, 1930) was the Chief of Police for Washington, District of Columbia from July 1898 to April 1915.

[9] 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.

[10] 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.