Back in the 'good old days' [[say, 40 years ago), the Bell switchboard on the 6th floor of 1300 Beaubien was manned by police officers. Usually they were guys who suffered a disability or were otherwise on light duty. The number was WO 2-5700. There were about 25 incoming lines, sequential from "00". Made it easier to dial WO 2-5711 on a rotary phone, which is all there was back then. But not many people knew that 'secret'.

Anyway, all calls were answered promptly, I can assure you. And a supervisor was always listening in to the six positions; you never knew which position he was listening to. I think there were eight operator positions, but the last two were only used on Friday and Saturday nights.

The operator took the information and passed it on to the dispatcher. I don't care if your complaint was a barking dog at 1 a.m.; you got a police car sent.

Hell, there were 15 precincts and each precinct had an average of ten 2-man cars on patrol at all times, plus a 4-man cruiser [[big four), a couple of booster cars who didn't get runs, and a handful of beat men......24/7.

Of course, you had a department of nearly 5,000 sworn officers. I think it's closer to 2,000 now.

But I was proud to be part of the City of Detroit back then. I wouldn't give you a plugged nickle for it today.