Got Old Detroit Police Car Photos?

[Commander]

Well you have sometime to get rady for this year's shows. The Ferdnale show will be held on Friday, August 19th. If you get sometime and want to checkout another show come on down to Dearborn Heights and see the vehicles that are on display as part of the Cruisin Michigan Ave., Emergency Vehicle Show. The show will be held on Saturday, July 9th from Noon - 5:00 P.M.

Glad to hear that you enjoy yourself at the various shows.

[Ray1936]

Belle Isle radio handled the east side, broadcasting as KQA 414. The west side was handled by a facility at 9999 Iris, near W. Chicago and Meyers, broadcasting as KQA 371. West side would handle minor repairs, but anything requiring more than a tube replacement went to Belle Isle.

[Meddle]

The west side was handled by a facility at 9999 Iris, near W. Chicago and Meyers,

Yeah, I remember that place now; referred to as West Side Radio. For some reason I was thinking out near the Range.

[Commander]

I recall that in the late 1960's all DPD dispatching was done from 1300. I don't recall what floor that they were located on. I am sure that all emergency services are dispatched from the new facility on the west side.

[Ray1936]

Dispatch center was on the 6th floor, as was the old "Bell Board" that took the WO2-5700 phone calls [[pre 911). Also there was the switching mechanisms for the old police phone [[private telephone, not hooked in to Michigan Bell) system.

Rustic by today's standards, but it worked.

[Ray1936]

I guess the Iris location is still being used as a transmission tower by the DPD. Here's the Google street view of it.

[Commander]

From 1961 to 1973 the Detroit Police Department transported sick or injured persons to the hospital when called to do so utilizing station wagons. In June 1972 the Detroit Fire Department established the Emergency Medical Service which took over the responsibility of responding to calls for medical assistance. However, the police department continued to respond to medical calls unitl 1973 at which time the fire department had enough units in service to totally take over the duties for ambulance response. It should be noted that prior to 1961, Detroit Police would answer a request for ambulance service by responding with what they called the "Auto Patrol" or "Paddy Wagon" which each precinct had. From information that I received both the "Auto Patrol" and the first station wagons there was not any kind of first -aid provided to an ill or injured person. They were only placed on a stretcher, given a pillow, a blanket and a quick ride to the hospital.

Each Detroit precinct had a set number of scout cars assigned to it. Out of that number depending on the geographic size of the precinct and the population within the precinct it was determined how many of those scout cars were station wagons. When the department started using the wagons for both patrol and medical transport they utilized 1961 Dodges. In 1963 they switched to Plymouth wagons.

In 1964 the department switched to Ford station wagons. The Ford's had spilt rear fold-down seats and provided for an officer to ride int he back with the ill or injured person. That of course was if only one person was placed in the rear of the wagon. The police department stayed with the Ford wagons unitl 1973 when the wagon service ended. At that point the wagons were used almost exclusively to transport injured or shot police officers.

[jcole]

Dispatch center was on the 6th floor, as was the old "Bell Board" that took the WO2-5700 phone calls [[pre 911). Also there was the switching mechanisms for the old police phone [[private telephone, not hooked in to Michigan Bell) system.

Rustic by today's standards, but it worked.

Dad was in charge of communications when he retired in '73. Here's a picture of the facility at Beaubian.

[Commander]

Recently,I had my web page updated which contains photos of various emergency response vehicles. You can checkout my page at http://ajrcommander.cruisinmichigan.com. Check the current page and the archive pages for photos of Detroit Police units.

[mam2009]

I ran across this car today at Alter Collision. What year & model is this? I think this may be the very first DPD scout car I remember [[I was born in early 70's & I think dad became an officer in '72), but my dad seems to think its from the 80's. Is he right?

[Axle]

I ran across this car today at Alter Collision. What year & model is this? I think this may be the very first DPD scout car I remember [[I was born in early 70's & I think dad became an officer in '72), but my dad seems to think its from the 80's. Is he right?

Late 70's Plymouth Fury. [[big tail lights vs earlier narrow tail lights). Won't be into the 80's as the body style changed to the straighter box lines.

[1978 plymouth fury pic from allpar dot com]

Alex.