90th Anniversary Police radio April 7,2018

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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
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