Scanner Tales: Building 9-1-1 Centers
This Tale turned out to be a lot longer than anticipated so I had to break it down into 4 parts. Enjoy!
Part 1:
I was a police officer/Sergeant/Director for 31 years. For 6 years before that I was a police/fire dispatcher and Service officer for another agency and for that same 6 years a firefighter/medic in yet a third community in the Chicago suburbs. It was a great career, and I am proud of my accomplishments and the security it has provided me in my retirement. Along the way I used, maintained and ultimately built several communications centers.
The first town:
With my first agency I started out as an 18-year-old police/fire dispatcher. This was years before 9-1-1 came about. This was a nice town of about 35,000 people, an upper middle class bedroom community. We had a Comm Center with 2 positions identically equipped with a pair of TPE button consoles. These were pretty old even in the late 1970’s but it worked well and was easy to learn.
It had 8 channels; each channel was a column in the button matrix. Each row was a function or indication. There was Mute, Select, Call, Transmit and a couple other actions for each channel. There were 3 embedded speakers, each with a large volume knob, one for Select, one for Unselect and a third for Monitor-only channels. Our channels included the UHF Police repeater, simplex Police F2, “Point to Point”, Fire, Fire Mutual Aid, Public Works, backup Police UHF and the state ISPERN monitor. Plenty of channels for a young scanner dude to listen to!
They knew full well that I was a scanner hobbyist when they hired me, I suspect that was one of the reasons they did. I assume the thinking was that it would be easier to train me. Eventually they started calling me “Richie Radio” and the patrolman there that owned a local radio shop (and serviced our radio systems) and I became friends. I still keep in touch with him 45 years later. I would help out by handling minor maintenance issues like changing the GOW bulbs in the console and vacuuming up the yellow chads from that old Teletype.
Our alarm system at the time was an old Keltron system that had rows of lights, again in a matrix. Each column was an address; there were a couple color bulbs for each. I don’t recall exactly but I think it was red for “Alarm” and yellow for “Trouble”. We had large painted fender washers to indicate if an alarm was out of service (red) or Alarm Only (green). These would go around the bulbs.
Our “computer” was an old Teletype Model 33. Not an actual computer, it was just a dumb terminal on the state network connected via rented phone lines. We used this to run vehicle and persons inquiries thru the state LEADS system and NCIC, make entries of stolen vehicles or items as well as warrants and missing persons and to send and receive directed messages to other agencies. You typed out the item on the keyboard with specific protocols and the machine produced a yellow paper tape punched with holes. You then ran this tale thru the tape reader which actually sent the message, inquiry or entry. It was maddingly difficult at first as you had to learn all the codes and protocols, one mistake would result in starting all over again. I got good at it really quick as we were hit with a rash of bicycle and car thefts my first summer and I entered all of these into that damned Teletype.
That fall the Teletype was replaced with “The Big Orange”. This was a CRT-based Teletype machine with a huge orange enclosure. While it did away with the paper tape and provided screen formats for the inquiries, entries and messages, the actual formatting remained the same. It did allow for backspacing so one could correct misteaks before actually sending. It also allowed “Top Line” usage. If you already knew the formatting, you could type in the entire item instead of using the screen format. For someone like me who spent months learning how to enter cars and bikes the old way this was a lot faster.
We also replaced that old Keltron with a newer, smaller, rackmount “Digital” system. This alarm panel had a 3-digit LED segment display and a small calculator style printer. It still showed the same “Alarm/Trouble” indication for each alarm.
Around the same time the police department formed a “Citizen’s Patrol” (“CP”) with a group of local CB enthusiasts. We installed a CB antenna and radio at the Records desk just outside the Comm Center and a member of the CP would sit there and handle calls from their members on patrol. This turned out to be incredibly successful, they reported several crimes in progress, even seeing a guy getting ready to do a robbery at a convenience store, the CP member was hopping out to get a cup of coffee and happened to glance into a car next to him on the way out, seeing the guy put on a mask and having a gun in his lap. He called it in and the PD nabbed him on the way in.
The success of the Citizens Patrol made CB problematic. While they chose channels at random, the local kids would soon find them and give them grief. They held a fund raiser and bought a dozen Motorola Moxy VHF radios and put them on our Public Works channel. We then put a remote base out at the Records desk for them to use. The Moxy’s were set up with cigarette-lighter power cords and magnet-mount antennas. This really worked well and that setup was used for years afterward, long after I moved on.
For the Fire Department we installed an intercom between our center and two neighboring towns after we set up mutual response protocols. We used this more for chit-chat than actual responses and we made great friends with guys like Dan, Steve and others.
Of course, we often had a scanner in the comm room. A couple of the guys I worked with had Bearcats, I have already written about the first experience with the Bearcat 210 in other tales.
After a few years I was promoted to Service Officer. This meant I went out and wrote parking tickets, caught stray dogs and helped with traffic issues. It also meant better opportunities to meet girls, which played a big part in my transfer request. I always carried a scanner when I was on the street working. We had UHF portables and the VHF radio in my vehicle did not have a scan function, so I had to have something else to listen to. We didn’t even have AM radios in our cars; the radio cavity was where they installed the Federal box for the siren/PA.
All this time I was also a Paid-on-Call (POC) fire-medic in another town. I have also written about this before, but this experience and training endeared me to the fire department in this town. I revamped the fire dispatch procedures in line with those used by other agencies in the area; they were still using these protocols long after I moved on.
This Tale turned out to be a lot longer than anticipated so I had to break it down into 4 parts. Enjoy!
Part 1:
I was a police officer/Sergeant/Director for 31 years. For 6 years before that I was a police/fire dispatcher and Service officer for another agency and for that same 6 years a firefighter/medic in yet a third community in the Chicago suburbs. It was a great career, and I am proud of my accomplishments and the security it has provided me in my retirement. Along the way I used, maintained and ultimately built several communications centers.
The first town:
With my first agency I started out as an 18-year-old police/fire dispatcher. This was years before 9-1-1 came about. This was a nice town of about 35,000 people, an upper middle class bedroom community. We had a Comm Center with 2 positions identically equipped with a pair of TPE button consoles. These were pretty old even in the late 1970’s but it worked well and was easy to learn.
It had 8 channels; each channel was a column in the button matrix. Each row was a function or indication. There was Mute, Select, Call, Transmit and a couple other actions for each channel. There were 3 embedded speakers, each with a large volume knob, one for Select, one for Unselect and a third for Monitor-only channels. Our channels included the UHF Police repeater, simplex Police F2, “Point to Point”, Fire, Fire Mutual Aid, Public Works, backup Police UHF and the state ISPERN monitor. Plenty of channels for a young scanner dude to listen to!
They knew full well that I was a scanner hobbyist when they hired me, I suspect that was one of the reasons they did. I assume the thinking was that it would be easier to train me. Eventually they started calling me “Richie Radio” and the patrolman there that owned a local radio shop (and serviced our radio systems) and I became friends. I still keep in touch with him 45 years later. I would help out by handling minor maintenance issues like changing the GOW bulbs in the console and vacuuming up the yellow chads from that old Teletype.
Our alarm system at the time was an old Keltron system that had rows of lights, again in a matrix. Each column was an address; there were a couple color bulbs for each. I don’t recall exactly but I think it was red for “Alarm” and yellow for “Trouble”. We had large painted fender washers to indicate if an alarm was out of service (red) or Alarm Only (green). These would go around the bulbs.
Our “computer” was an old Teletype Model 33. Not an actual computer, it was just a dumb terminal on the state network connected via rented phone lines. We used this to run vehicle and persons inquiries thru the state LEADS system and NCIC, make entries of stolen vehicles or items as well as warrants and missing persons and to send and receive directed messages to other agencies. You typed out the item on the keyboard with specific protocols and the machine produced a yellow paper tape punched with holes. You then ran this tale thru the tape reader which actually sent the message, inquiry or entry. It was maddingly difficult at first as you had to learn all the codes and protocols, one mistake would result in starting all over again. I got good at it really quick as we were hit with a rash of bicycle and car thefts my first summer and I entered all of these into that damned Teletype.
That fall the Teletype was replaced with “The Big Orange”. This was a CRT-based Teletype machine with a huge orange enclosure. While it did away with the paper tape and provided screen formats for the inquiries, entries and messages, the actual formatting remained the same. It did allow for backspacing so one could correct misteaks before actually sending. It also allowed “Top Line” usage. If you already knew the formatting, you could type in the entire item instead of using the screen format. For someone like me who spent months learning how to enter cars and bikes the old way this was a lot faster.
We also replaced that old Keltron with a newer, smaller, rackmount “Digital” system. This alarm panel had a 3-digit LED segment display and a small calculator style printer. It still showed the same “Alarm/Trouble” indication for each alarm.
Around the same time the police department formed a “Citizen’s Patrol” (“CP”) with a group of local CB enthusiasts. We installed a CB antenna and radio at the Records desk just outside the Comm Center and a member of the CP would sit there and handle calls from their members on patrol. This turned out to be incredibly successful, they reported several crimes in progress, even seeing a guy getting ready to do a robbery at a convenience store, the CP member was hopping out to get a cup of coffee and happened to glance into a car next to him on the way out, seeing the guy put on a mask and having a gun in his lap. He called it in and the PD nabbed him on the way in.
The success of the Citizens Patrol made CB problematic. While they chose channels at random, the local kids would soon find them and give them grief. They held a fund raiser and bought a dozen Motorola Moxy VHF radios and put them on our Public Works channel. We then put a remote base out at the Records desk for them to use. The Moxy’s were set up with cigarette-lighter power cords and magnet-mount antennas. This really worked well and that setup was used for years afterward, long after I moved on.
For the Fire Department we installed an intercom between our center and two neighboring towns after we set up mutual response protocols. We used this more for chit-chat than actual responses and we made great friends with guys like Dan, Steve and others.
Of course, we often had a scanner in the comm room. A couple of the guys I worked with had Bearcats, I have already written about the first experience with the Bearcat 210 in other tales.
After a few years I was promoted to Service Officer. This meant I went out and wrote parking tickets, caught stray dogs and helped with traffic issues. It also meant better opportunities to meet girls, which played a big part in my transfer request. I always carried a scanner when I was on the street working. We had UHF portables and the VHF radio in my vehicle did not have a scan function, so I had to have something else to listen to. We didn’t even have AM radios in our cars; the radio cavity was where they installed the Federal box for the siren/PA.
All this time I was also a Paid-on-Call (POC) fire-medic in another town. I have also written about this before, but this experience and training endeared me to the fire department in this town. I revamped the fire dispatch procedures in line with those used by other agencies in the area; they were still using these protocols long after I moved on.
