paging Ray1936

**ruxy17** · May-12-09, 08:07 AM

Ray I know you are a retired Detroit cop.... i was wondering if you remember a fellow officer, Mike Lane. I believe he served around the same time you did. I was just curious. I'll try to find out some more details, I'm sure its hard to remember just a name!

**ruxy17** · May-12-09, 09:19 AM

Ok I got some details: Michael Lane worked for the DPD from 1957 til 1977. He worked in the 2nd and 16th precincts. He worked in the Motor Traffic Division and later the Tactical Mobile Unit [[which i think later became the Tractical Service Section). He spent his last five years as an instructor at the Rouge Range, and taught the "Live and Learn" class there. Just wondering if you had ever met him or knew him in your years with the DPD. Thanks!

**Ray1936** · May-12-09, 12:10 PM

Yep, I worked with him at old #2 and remember him well. Tall, dark hair, great sense of humor. As I recall, he left motor just about the time I went there because the TMU had just been formed, but our time at motor probably overlapped by a few months. Have no idea where he might be now; I've not seen his name in any of the DPD publications at all.

**ruxy17** · May-12-09, 12:11 PM

Thanks Ray! After he retired, he moved to the Traverse City area. He passed last Christmas. He was my grandfather. And he was hilarious

I'm trying to help my father do some research on him. Are there DPD photo archives or any kind of archives that are available for public perusing?

**Ray1936** · May-12-09, 12:15 PM

Dang, I'm sorry to hear that. Somehow I didn't seen his name in any of the obituary lists that come out in the RDPFFA newsletter or other publications.

Mike was one of the good guys, as we like to say. The kind of guy you liked to have for a partner. My deep condolences on your family's loss, ruxy.

**Bobl** · May-12-09, 01:02 PM

OK, Ray, how about my uncle: Bill Knaus, whose career overlapped yours.

**jjaba** · November-06-09, 01:03 PM

Ray1936, Jim Beyers just called. He needs a couple of guys to help with some Detroit Times routes unfilled. Some kids went out for football this Fall and quit suddenly. Show up at Grand River and Washburn station tomorrow, 3pm.

jjaba, proud Westside Detroit Times newsboy.

**Ray1936** · November-06-09, 06:50 PM

I can do that, Jjaba, as long as I don't have to collect. I think that would be an invitation to a bikejacking if I did.

Ray1936, heading into the garage to see if my Schwinn is still there......

**jjaba** · November-06-09, 11:36 PM

Nobody on the Westsdie steal from newsboys. You got nuthin' to fear but fear itself.
jjaba, biking over on Wyoming and Grand River.

**Ray1936** · November-07-09, 12:38 AM

What happened to the ptomaine palace that used to be on Grand River right around the corner from the station? Google shows a vacant lot....indeed, a vacant block. Can't get along without my morning hamburger. Looks like Jerry's Bike Shop is still there, though.

**jjaba** · November-08-09, 01:42 PM

All's jjaba remembers is the corner grocery store and the Chinese restaurant with booths and privacy beads plus Jerry's Bike Shop.

At the grocery, we bought bottled 12 oz. Pepsi and a bag of Planters Peanuts to shove down the top. Yum, what a great snack. jjaba still snacks like this today, when he can find 12 oz. bottles of sodas.

Oy veyesmere, to think that jjaba could ingest such a meal with his acid reflux today.

jjaba, Proudly Westside Detroit Times newsboy.

**jjaba** · November-08-09, 01:44 PM

Ray1936, careful on the bike with all the Fall leaves. Be sure to "door-em" on any rainy afternooon.

jjaba on his Columbia newsboy's bike.

**Downriviera** · November-08-09, 02:15 PM

I door em on a rainy morning, but if they want them doored every day, they gotta tip. No tip, no daily doored paper.

Downriviera on Free Press route 4am.

**Ray1936** · November-08-09, 02:16 PM

I didn't mind rain so much, but I hated delivering in a snowfall. The old Hawthorne just didn't pedal all that great at such times. I still remember one blizzard when I walked to the station towing my sled and then walked the route, towing the sled full of papers behind me.

**jjaba** · November-09-09, 03:09 AM

That's the way it was back then. Newsboys were expected to get the papers delivered. No cars, no buses, no streetcars, no plastic wrap, just customer service inside the storm doors.

Downriviera, tips schmips, pish posh, door em in lousy weather. You'll get a tip at Chirstmas [[not bad for a Torah Bukkor).

jjaba, Westside Memories on cold winter days.

**CountrySquire** · January-13-10, 10:30 AM

Ray, I am amassing quite a collection of old police flashlights; At this point Kel Lites, and Streamlights. Could you share your experiences of flashlights used while you where on duty at DPD?

**Ray1936** · January-13-10, 12:58 PM

Squire, when I first came on the job, flashlights hadn't been invented. We were issued kerosene lamps and a box of matches and told not to light them near the horses' hay.

** rimshot **

But seriously, folks.......

The Kel lights weren't 'invented' until around the 1970s, so my early years saw me with the then favorite, a three-cell flashlight made by Ray-O-Vac. The were pretty flimsy, compared to Kel lights, and if you zonked someone with one, the batteries were sure to pop out and fly all over the place. The old timers were quick to tell the rookies not to use the slide switch, just depress the button for light. The reason was those slide switches gave out real easy, and would likely give out when you needed them the most. But they did give you light. I went through about one a year. By the way, the City did provide you with D cell batteries as needed, but you had to buy your own flashlight.

By the time the Kel lights became popular, I had a goldbrick job on the Chief's staff and really didn't do much street work in my last ten years on the job. I'm sure you know how they were banned for a time after the Larry Nevers incident at 24th and Warren, but that was after I was retired and exploring old gold mines in Nevada.....with my Kel light.

**CountrySquire** · January-13-10, 01:13 PM

Do you think Budzen and Nevers used Kel Lites on Malice Green? Or did they have Mag Lites? I know I visited Metropolitan Uniform last summer to buy a flasher cap for my Streamlight SL 35. The guy working there showed me what DPD can currently use, it was the Streamlight SL20 P [[polymer body and head). He said that was resulting from the Malice Green incident that DPD could no longer use metal flashlights.

**Ray1936** · January-13-10, 07:35 PM

Squire, I have the book written by Nevers a couple of years ago. I'll scan through it tonight and see if he mentions what brand of flashlight he used.

For what it's worth, if you hit a felon in the head with those old Ray-O-Vacs, it just tended to piss him off.........

**Ray1936** · January-14-10, 12:42 PM

I dug out Larry Never's book, "Good Cops, Bad Verdict", copyright 2007, published by LAN publications. On page 135 he writes the following:

"My Mag flashlight is twelve inches long, two pounds of black aluminum and rechargeable battery. Before this night on Warren, I had hit a citizen with my flashlight only the two times I told you of earlier. The incident with a woman happened when I was in STRESS, after we had gotten her and a guy out of a car. I was paying attention to the guy when Dave Malinowski yelled, "She's got a gun!" It fell to the ground when I wheeled and smacked her on the elbow. The kid I rapped on the head was reaching to pull a gun from his boot while exiting a car. That's it. Period. But I had a Kel light, and later on the Mag light in hand during countless confrontations. It was a good, non-lethal deterrent and confidence booster."

So apparently he had a Mag light before the Malice Green incident, and a Kel light when he made that fateful stop on W. Warren avenue.

Hope this helps.

**gazhekwe** · January-14-10, 12:46 PM

I read that the opposite way, the first two were with the Kel light, then after that he got a Mag light. My recolllection of the news at the time goes with the Mag light. I don't think they had had them that long.

Maglites came out in 1979, according to Wikipedia, and Kel Lites in the late 60s.

**CountrySquire** · January-14-10, 01:18 PM

According to Ray's excerpt from Nevers' book it does look like they had Mag Lites. This makes sense as Kel Lite had been absorbed into other flashlight companies by then for about 10 years. I know Stream lite was buying Kel's and scrapping them for a period of time towards a purchase of a new light. When I watch COPS sometimes I can make out their lights well enough to tell what they have. I see a lot of Mag lights and some Streamlights. The cops in Hazel Park use Streamlight rechargeables.