City of St Louis Metropolitan Police Department
City of Saint Louis Missouri
Photo
of
City of Saint Louis Police Department Communications Building
City of Saint Louis Missouri
The City of Saint Louis Metropolitan Police Communications Building dedicated 1989 located in 1200 block Spruce
Photo
of
City of Saint Louis Police Department
1939 Radio Division Sixth Floor Police Headquarters
City of Saint Louis Missouri
Photo 1939 ( the calendar on the wall is July 1939 )
Radio Division Sixth Floor Police Headquarters Room 610 and 612
ON THE AIR
Photo 1939
SILENCE
Look at the typewriters, no spell checkers, just the Captain with his red pen .
Photo 1939
Police Telephone Operators answering incoming calls .
Photo 1939
Police Radio Division Equipment .
There was only one broadcast channel with the letters KGPC which in police slang meant "Keep Going - Police Coming".
Latter, the letters were changed to KAB246 and then KAB246 and KRF578
Photo 1939
Police X-Ray Equipment
January 1951
The City of Saint Louis Police Department installed their first tow-way radios in
police cars and certain solo and tri-car motorcycles .
City of Saint Louis Police Officer demonstrating a two-way radio for advertising the two way radio .
1961
The City of Saint Louis Police Department purchased and instituted portable two-way police radios .
Photo
of
City of Saint Louis Police Department
January 10, 1972 Communications Third Floor Headquarters
City of Saint Louis Missouri
In January 1972 a new one million dollar radio system for the Communications Center was introduced .
The Police Districts was divided into six radio zones for dispatching with information inquiry functions .
Another three radio zones were assigned to units such as command, investigation, and traffic .
Police Officer Clyde Fulgham is at the supervisors desk in the foreground on left side .
In the background sitting on the left side is Bill Winterbauer .
Photo
of
City of Saint Louis Police Department
1972 Complaint Evaluation Third Floor Headquarters
City of Saint Louis Missouri
Complaint Evaluation Unit in 1972
In April 1865 the police telegraph system was introduced .
In March 1878 the first telephone was installed in headquarters .
In 1881 the first police telephone system was installed connecting all districts .
This allowed officers in the districts to connect to each other and to headquarters .
In October 1881 the telephone replaced the telegraph .
In the 1950's and 60's the phone number was CE1-1212 .
In 1976 the telephone system Centrex was started .
REJIS
Regional Justice Information System
1964 the IBM 7040 computer was installed on the third floor of Headquarters .
1965 Saint Louis Police Officers in the field in vehicles received information in the field from the computer .
1966 the online arrest and wanted system and booking system was perfected giving instant information .
August 21, 1967 the department began acess to the National Crime Information Center ( NCIC ) .
1968 a new IBM 360/30 computer system was installed replacing the IBM 7040 .
1969 all districts began operating under the resource allocation program using a federal grant .
1970 behicle registration inquiries went directly to MULES instead of by teletype .
1971 a new IBM 360/50 computer system was installed replacing the IBM 360/30 using a federal grant .
1972 a new IBM 370/155 computer system was installed replacing the IBM 360/50 .
With the 370/155 the old district teletype machines was replaced and removed from the department offices .
1973 wanted and missing persons files became fully active .
The Saint Louis Police Department joined REJIS July 1974 .
Photo
of
Police Call Box
City of Saint Louis Metropolitan Police Department
Saint Louis Missouri
The City of Saint Louis Metropolitan Police Department's Call Box .
The first City of Saint Louis Police Call Boxes was installed in 1881 .
Police call boxes were located at numerous locations prior to the nineteen seventies .
The typical police box contained a telephone linked directly to the local police station allowing officers
on the beat to keep in contact with the station, reporting anything unusual, requesting help if necessary or
even to detain prisoners until a vehicle could be sent to transport them to the station or to jail .
This was in the day when most police officers walked a beat rather than using a police car and there were no walkie talkie radios .
One of the great rarities anymore is the call box key that was issued to every young Police Officer Recruit .
Police boxes were phased out in the 1970s following the introduction of personal police radios .
Monday, September 3, 1900
City of Saint Louis Police Officers
Officer Down Memorial Page Remembers those electrocuted while attempting to use call boxes on their beats
The interior of Saint Louis Police Call Box with red light on top in 1962 .
The red light on top of the call box was activated when a call was pending .
You could find anything stored in a call box when the door was opened .
To call the desk you dialed 20, the captain dial 22, the detective bureau dial 24,
the report room dial 25 or 26, the juvenile office idal 24 or 28, and
to dail another district 9 + 5 + one of the numbers above .
FLAIR
by
Boeing
An Automatic Vehicle Monitoring system providing real-time location and status information for each vehicle in the system .
The system was implemented city-wide by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department circa 1979 .
The potentials were to be improved effectiveness of the force, greater productivity, and a cost-effective system .
The system would include a display showing a map of the city with police cars,
including their identification number, properly positioned on the map for the police dispatcher .
The principal goal was reduction in response time .
Other objectives were to include improved officer safety, more effective command and control,
less voice band congestion because of the digital communications, and better supervision of the force .
The evaluation results were unfavorable for response time reduction,
favorable for improved operations due to digital communication, and mixed in the realization of other objectives .
Poor system performance had some influence on the evaluation results .
During the process of evaluation, it became clear that full system potential could not be assessed without some change
in police procedures and operating methods .
Such potential which is yet to be verified relates to the use of directed dispatch rather than the all points broadcast for extraordinary events .
The reallocation of the force was supposed to maintain a patrol presence in areas where excessive calls for service depleted the force availability .
Better supervision of the force was made possible by the new information that the Automatic Vehicle Monitoring that the system supplied .
However, the program was abandoned for some unknown reason .
Thus this was failed experiment, with monies from a United States Government Law Enforcement Grant .
Return To
Saint Louis Police Veteran's Historical Illustrated Photos Main Page