90th Anniversary Police radio April 7,2018

[slick]

90^th Anniversary of Detroit Police Dispatch
Sponsor Marker Dedication

You are cordially invited to attend the Sponsor Marker Dedication and celebration of Tele-communicators Week. [[April 8 to April 14, 2018.)

The dedication is Saturday April 7, 2018 at 2 P.M.
It will be held at the Belle Isle Police Station, Inselrue Drive on beautiful Belle Isle.

The Belle Isle Police Station on Inselrhue Drive built in the 1860s has a long and heralded history on Belle Isle. In this building on April 7, 1928, Detroit Police Radio began dispatching police units and has been doing it continuously since that time, albeit in various locations. The exact location for the first dispatch center is the second floor above the garage. This was one-way communication, dispatcher to vehicle. This is the documented beginning of using radio for Police dispatching nationwide.

While early radio transmissions began as early as 1921, it took advances in technology to make it practical. One obstacle was to develop a receiver that would work in a moving vehicle. To demonstrate a rugged radio receiver, it is said that Officers Ken Cox and Robert Batts dropped the unit on the floor of Commissioner William P Rutledge office and it continued to operate. Other improvements included a move away from the noisy downtown area to Belle Isle, a better antenna system, a method to fix tune the receiver and approval by the Commerce Commission, precursor of the FCC, to establish Police radio communications.

The Fiftieth Anniversary was marked by the dedication of a plaque from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers [[IEEE). This marker is on the front south west corner near the main entry door to the building.

To mark the Eightieth Anniversary of this historic occasion, The Michigan Chapter of Associated Public-Safety Communications Officials [[APCO), had a State of Michigan historical marker erected on the site.

For the Ninetieth Anniversary, the Michigan APCO chapter is planning to host a rededication of the two markers already in place at the site.


richrybick@yahoo.com
For more information.

[jcole]

This is cool. My dad was inspector in charge of the communications bureau in the early '70s

[slick]

A cool but sunny day greeted the 90th Anniversary celebration on Belle Isle Saturday April 7, 2018. The amateur radio clubs hosted special event "KOP" to communicate with amateur operators around the world. Retired PO George Patak was there with his 1963 Police car. Congratulatory speeches were given by Detroit Police, IEEE, Michigan APCO and Belle Isle Conservancy.

[Lowell]

Very nice Slick.

It is astonishing to think how much that would have revolutionized police communications back then and wonder how they managed to coordinate their movements before radio being limited to police boxes and phone calls. Now its radio plus internet.

Presumably the command structure would have to have been very localized, precinct by precinct. Along those lines, I found the recent ransomware cyber attack on Atlanta telling. Suddenly cops are back to filling out paper reports.

[Ray1936]

Yup, but in the old days [[pre-1965), you walked a beat without a radio, and your lifeline was the corner call box.

By the way, I always felt the caption for this photo should be; "Gol durn, some sumbitch stole my bottle......."