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 EARLY POLICE COMMUNICATIONS

Electronic police communications began with wired telegraphy in the 19th century.  However, telegraphy didn't effectively link officers locally.  

The Gamewell System filled this local need for police and fire agencies.  It used hard-wired callboxes that allowed police officers to "ring in" to station dispatchers at designated times to receive calls and send reports. Gamewell systems operated in 250 cities & towns by 1886 and 500 jurisdictions in 1890. By 1910, Gamewell ruled the wired callbox market.

Analysis of old Jacksonville City Budget booklets, dating back to 1911, given to me by former City Auditor John Hollister, W4FWZ provides insight into the development of police communications here.

A budget line for "Police Department Electric Patrol System" first appeared in the City of Jacksonville Budget for 1912 with a $2,295 allocation.

The 1913 City Budget includes $2,400 for an "Electric Patrol System."  The summary states "Electricians at $3.25 per day; maintenance and keeping in repair telegraph system, four patrol boxes; metallic wire and installing same."

The Automotive Patrol consisted of four "chauffers" each paid $3.25 per day. Then there were 22 horses to feed at $13 each per month.

The 1914 City Budget references the Gamewell Electric Patrol System with a $1,000 line item.  The 1915 City Budget booklet shows $600 for "four patrol boxes" plus $200 for installing "metallic wire."  In addition, $600 was budgeted for "telegraph system" maintenance and repair along with $1,277.50 to pay the salary of an "electrician."

Other police expenses included $1,000 for horses & wagons; $3,432 for horse feed; $1,075 to pay two stablemen, $675 for 3 motorcycles; a $630 automobile for detectives; $1,000 for "extension of underground wire" and $5,600 for automobiles and chauffers.

 OUT WITH THE OLD; IN WITH THE NEW

Goodbye Police Department horses; Hello radio.

By 1924, budget allocations for police horses had been deleted.

When I worked at WJAX, several city employees told me that prior to that radio broadcast station signing on in 1925, a horse barn occupied the site.  

They indicated that renovations transformed the barn into the WJAX radio station studio/transmitter building and that dual antenna towers at 1 Broadcast Place, used by WJAX until 1938, also supported early Signal Bureau radio communications systems.

1927 JACKSONVILLE POLICE TELEGRAPH SIGNAL BUREAU BUDGET
1 Electrician @ $6 per day---------------$2,190   2 Linemen @ $145/mo.-------------------$3,480
Underground Cable Extension---------$2,000   Police Telegraph Maintenance-----$3,000 


RADIO RISES

The first radio transmitters used to dispatch police calls date from the 1920s.  Though offering only one-way communications, even these limited systems were a great leap forward as crime bulletins could be transmitted from the stationhouse directly to police cars.

Detroit was a pioneer in providing radio links to officers in the field. An experimental base station, appropriately lettered as KOP, started in 1922.  KOP began official operation in 1928 using voice.

Galvin Manufacturing introduced its Motorola car radio in 1930 and the company began receiving orders from police departments. Galvin built its first mobile police radio receivers by modifying Motorola consumer car radios.  Galvin workers retuned the receivers to higher police channels.

Problems like rough roads, engine noise, interference, high power consumption, and frequency instability caused Galvin to recognize that effective police communications required radios specifically engineered for patrol cars.

In 1931, only four cities reported using radios for police work.

Described as probably the most modern and efficient municipal police radio system in the world,  KGPL, the Los Angeles Police Radio, signed on during March 1931. It transmitted on 1730 kc. and 44 police cars were equipped with receivers.

By 1933, there were around 120 municipal police radio systems nationwide and a dozen or so state police hookups.

JACKSONVILLE GETS POLICE RADIO STATION

A late 1933 listing indicates that Jacksonville's WPFG police transmitter may have been the first in Florida.  Miami Beach (WPFX) and Palm Beach (WPFZ) police departments were other early adopters.

George Allen, chief of the signal bureau, said in a 1934 newspaper interview that Jacksonville police station WPFG increased power from 100 to 400 watts and added a “new-type” transmitting antenna and “the latest type of receiving antenna” for inter-city communications.    Messages could be received "by deputy sheriffs all over Duval County."

WPFG exchanged bulletins by radio with other police departments in Florida and other southeastern states.  Allen said that during the first year of operation for WPFG in 1933, over 21,000 calls were dispatched to officers by radio. In 1934, the projection was for 28,000 calls.

WPFG started operation on 2442 kc. (122.8 meters). In the Jacksonville 1933 City Budget, the Police Telegraph and Traffic Light Bureau line included $6,600 to install a "short wave radio" plus $3,000 for operators. Also, $1,950 to maintain 65 traffic lights in Jacksonville.

The next year, a renamed Police Signal Bureau got $4,860 to pay three radio operators and $1,486 to maintain receiving sets plus $703.85 to maintain "radio output equipment."  And $500 for a contingency fund plus $4,600 for traffic lights.

JACKSONVILLE'S TRAFFIC LIGHT BOOM

Besides radio system growth, apparently there was a traffic light boom in Jacksonville during the mid-1930s.  In addition to maintaining radio communications, the Police Signal Bureau kept traffic signals working and installed new ones. With very few four-lane roads, increasing numbers of drivers and no expressways, ubiquitous traffic snarls agitated drivers.

These traffic woes led to a study that resulted in Jacksonville's first master plan for a futuristic expressway system.  But it would be 1950 before completion of the new link to Jacksonville Beach.  In 1953, Jacksonville's first "sort-of" limited-access superhighway opened to handle traffic on the newly-opened Mathews Bridge.  The Arlington Expressway included a network of "service roads" along side though several at-grade intersections existed until a decade or so later.

In 1935, there were 95 traffic lights and by 1936, the budget included maintenance of 103 signals along with 50 "automatic variable timing switches" to better manage Jacksonville's busy intersections.

The radio maintenance tab remained steady but the three operators got raised to $5,325.90--presumably split three ways. But $35 a week was good money with the depressed nationwide economy.

POLICE RADIO IN THE THIRTIES

Popular police frequency bands around the U.S. included 1500 to 1700 kc. and 2400 to 2500 kc.

The lower range was just above the AM broadcast band which stopped at 1500 kc. then.  Many standard AM receivers were able to pick up these police calls.

Engineers designed the Motorola Police Cruiser Radio in 1936. This receiver covered 1550-2800 KHz. Features included a heavy-duty metal case, an improved audio section and speaker, crystal-control instead of coils for better tuning, and lower power consumption. 

By mid-1936, police departments in Tampa, Clearwater and Orlando added radio systems.

The 1936 budget included funds not only for "WPGF" (sic) but also for a new station, W4XBU.  Other budget items referenced major improvements to the city's fire alarm system, but it is unclear whether W4XBU was a forerunner to the Fire Department's postwar WBVR transmitter--or the Jacksonville Electric Department's WMGQ that operated on 31.46 Mc. after the war--or maybe just a short-lived effort.

1 by 3 W#X-- calls denoted experimental stations.  Some broadcast stations initially started with these types of calls along with many other types of stations using what was then leading-edge technology.

WPFG remained on 2442 kc., presumably as a one-way system until World War II.  In the late 1930s, somewhat-portable two-way mobile units became more common.

In the Jacksonville 1940 City Budget, the Police Signal Bureau salary scale included an Assistant Chief Engineer @ $8.25 a day; a Supervisor of Traffic Lights @ $7.40 daily; a Radio Man @ $6.31; a Radio Operator/Repairman @ $6.31; two Radio Operators @ $5.77 and a part-time Janitor-Helper budgeted at $472.50.

Maintenance allocations included $1,000 for radio equipment; $600 for the police telegraph and $1,000 for traffic lights.

And $1,750 was budgeted to buy ten new two-way "transmitters." In 1941, the City purchased ten more "two way transmitters" and ten "new receivers."

TWO-WAY POLICE COMMUNICATION

Some departments experimented with two-way radio systems as early as 1932.  Their effectiveness was questionable.

In August 1939, Galvin Manufacturing introduced the Motorola AM mobile transmitter, which covered the 30-40 MHz range. A companion low-band VHF receiver and base station equipment soon followed.

World War II stifled development of non-military, two-way radio systems.  As the war ended in 1945, AT&T and Bell Telephone began developing mobile telephone service along several major highways. Improved police communications soon followed.

MOVING ON UP

The 1946 Jacksonville budget allocated $2,000 for receivers and $1,500 for transmitters.  Station WPFG received $685 for maintenance/upkeep and a new city station, WMGQ, got a $685 allocation.  Three new FM transmitter-receivers were ordered for Signal Bureau cars. Other budget allocations suggest major upgrades to Jacksonville's police radio system.

A July 1947 listing shows WPFG operating on 155.67 MHz. AM with as many as 154 units allocated.  WPFG used duplex, meaning that police cruisers communicated back to the dispatcher on different frequencies.  No repeaters then and eavesdroppers only heard one side.

The 1947 listing also includes the WBVR Jacksonville Fire Department transmitter at the Signal Bureau complex  using FM on 154.31 mc. with 35 units maximum.

Budgeted items in 1948 included maintenance for the WPFG Police Transmitter, WMGQ Electric Transmitter and the WBVR Fire Transmitter at $650 each plus an additional $4,000 for mobile receivers and transmitter maintenance.

The 1951 City Budget booklet described $9,250 in maintenance charges  "to include Mobile Receivers and Transmitters; Transmitters KIB246, KIB306, KIB714, 3 standby transmitters, 16 remote control units, 12 broadcast receivers fire and police, 11 station house receivers, 94 inter-communications units and 4 radio towers." An additional line in the Police Department budget allocated $10,225 for "Police Radio Service Charges."

New equipment in the 1952 City Budget included 289 mobile receivers, 9 handy talkies, 20 station microphones, a fifth radio tower, 1860 feet of coaxial cable, a master control radio desk and 50 re-installations in cars.

Jacksonville Beach's 7-unit WJBH police system used 30.7 mc. FM.  A May 1952 listing shows Jax Beach moving to 159.21 mc. FM.

Jacksonville police stayed in the 155 mc. VHF range until the late '60s, early '70s  period before moving most operations to the 450 MHz UHF band and installing repeaters.

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1960 SIGNAL BUREAU CITY BUDGET

SALARIES
Chief Engineer---------------------------------------------$10,500
1st Assistant Chief Engineer------------------------- --$7,200
2nd Assistant Chief Engineer----------------------------$6,720
Chief Radio Operator--------------------------------------$5,940
Radio Operators & Repairmen--------------------------$41,880
Radio Dispatcher-------------------------------------------$4,680
General Line Foreman-------------------------------------$6,240
Line Foremen-----------------------------------------------$11,700
First Class Linemen---------------------------------------$67,548
Apprentice Linemen---------------------------------------$37,278
Groundman---------------------------------------------------$4,235
Cable Splicer-------------------------------------------------$5,400
Service Maintenance Men  (2)----------------------------$9,442
Truck Drivers-------------------------------------------------$8,616
Clerk, Secretary---------------------------------------------$9,350
 
EXPENSES
Supplies, Office Expenses, Building Maintenance----$2,200
Equipment Maintenance-----------------------------------$12,000
Radio Equipment Maintenance---------------------------$12,500
Replacement Equipment-----------------------------------$3,500
FCC License, Expense, Travel------------------------------$750

NOTE: The Police Dept. paid the Signal Bureau $22,525 in "Police Radio Service Charges."  The Fire, Highway and Sewer Departments also paid the Signal Bureau for radio service.

RECENT HISTORY

As with most fields involving electronic technology, progress has greatly accelerated since the early 1980s.  The evolution from landlines to portable telephones for personal communications is a prime example.

Following city/county government consolidation in the late 1960s, a new communications complex on Superior St. near McDuff Ave. opened.  It still operates today and handles communications planning, installations, and maintenance of Jacksonville's police and public safety communications equipment.

Mobile data terminals, digital communications, 800 MHz. trunking and other forms of microprocessor-based systems became predominant here during the 1990s.  The First Coast Radio System, a joint venture by several agencies, was completed.  It was replaced by a P25 system in 2010.

If you can supply additional details about police radio in Jacksonville and northeastern Florida, the Jacksonville Signal Bureau and the hams that worked there, etc.--please contact the Editor as shown below.

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