RADIO IN POLICE PATROL CARS

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21745, 30 March 1936, Page 12

RADIO IN POLICE PATROL CARS

Hint of Introduction

By Minister

ADVANTAGES OF SYSTEM

DISCUSSED

The use of radio in police cars in New Zealand, such as is familiar to- many through the portrayal of English and American “flying squads” in talking pictures, seems to be abumbrated in a reply given by the Postmaster-General (the Hon. F. Jones) to a request by the Auckland Electric Power Board for permission to install radio equipment in its service trucks.

The use of wireless to spread the net to catch criminals has been developed greatly in the United States and in England, and its introduction to the Dominion has been discussed for some time among leaders of the police force. Though it is realised that the scope for its use is narrower in New Zealand than in countries of densely populated cities, it is considered that it would form a valuable adjunct to police methods in such places as Auckland, where there is now a great deal of car control.

Another suggestion is that the scheme should be applied to firefighting, but according to Superintendent C. C. Warner, of the Christchurch Central Fire Brigade, it has not yet been given consideration.

Power Board Proposal A proposal to equip its service trucks with short-wave wireless receiving sets had been before the Auckland Power Board, the object being to save mileage in directing these trucks on to urgent work, such faults in the. - emter area. In his application to the Minister the general manager of the board, Mr R. H. Bartley, said that it had already made enquiries in England for suitable sets for this work, and the manufacturers required information about wave-length and frequency. The board therefore asked whether it would be possible to obtain a license to install and operate these sets in three trucks.

In his reply, Mr Jones declined the request, saying that he found, after looking into the position, that the band of frequencies available for allocation for such services was so limited in scope, and the prospective demands so wide, that it was necessary to restrict the use of the wave bands to police and fire-fighting services. In the circumstances he regretted that it would not be possible to grant licenses to the board for its proposed service. It had already been necessary, he added, to decline similar applications, and therefore an exception could not be made for power boards.

The board now intends to refer the matter again to the Minister in an endeavour to induce him to alter his decision.

Superintendent’s Comment

“We have been talking of it for a long time,” said Superintendent D. Fraser, who is in charge of the force in the Christchurch police district, when asked what advances had been made in introducing the use of radio in police work. However, so far as he knew, it had not yet been introduced to police cars. It would be a notable advantage, he said, if wireless receiving sets could

te installed in cars, with transmitting sets at police stations to keep contact and to direct the movements of the cars. It would be useful in large cities, especially in Auckland, which was now the only city in New Zealand where there was any extensive control of cars from the station.

The method of operation of radio communication for police cars and its advanages were explained to a reporter by Mr N. W. Laugesen, who has studied the systems in use in Australia and the United States, and who, as a member of the detective branch of the police force, made recommendations several years ago for its adoption. He considered that the topic is now well worth being revived, as the possibilities of radio are being realised more and more with the passing of time, especially through the installation of radios in most homes and the influence of talking pictures. 6 Melbourne System Taking the system used by the Melbourne police as a typical example, Mr Laugesen said that there a high-powered transmitting plant was installed at the headquarters police station, each of the patrol cars being fitted with a short-wave transmitter and receiving set, so as

tq work a duplex system of communication between the station and the cars when they were in motion, A complaint received by telephone at the station would be passed on to the radio room, and while it was actually coming over the telephone the operator in the radio room would be informing sll cars The city is divided into patrol sections and the cars in the area go to the scene of the reported crime. The cars are manned by three—a sergeant, a constable and a radio opertor.

There had been hundreds of instances in Melbourne alone since the inception of the system there in which a criminal had been caught on the premises where he was at work. One interesting example was that in which a passer-by heard suspicious noise at a bank late at night. He telephoned the police and almost before he had left the telephone box the car had arrived, catching the criminal on the premises. The net for the criminal was ( widely drawn, too, for cars operated within a radius of about 25 miles of the station.

High Speeds The cars were all high-powered machines and they travelled at speeds of up to 80 miles an hour in going to the scene of a crime. Yet up to 1930, when the system had been in vogue for six or seven >ears, only one accident involving physical injury had resulted from higli speeds. In tins case a car travelling at 80 miles an hour had crashed into an Unlighted drain in the middle of a road and two men were killed.

: In inter-state communication in Australia the system was of immense value, continued Mr Laugesen. The capital cities of all the states used the radio patrol system, the stations at headquarters being sufficiently high-powered to establish communication between states for police traffic. If secrecy were needed—and in the United States no pretence at secrecy was made—it could easily be obtained the use of Morse together .w itfii a special code. In the Nonunion there was plenty of scope for swift communciation between centres. For instance, sorhe years ago, it might have been ascertained late at night, after Sfr'fe telegraph and telephone services had closed, that a criminal had sailed on the steamer express for Wellington. Use of radio would allow the Wellington police to be warned and officers could be on the wharf the next morning to meet the boat.

Possible Economies Mr Laugesen spoke of the money that would be saved in men’s time in cases where it was necessary to be on the spot in a few minutes to catch the criminal. He considered that it would cost only £SOOO to equip New Zealand with four stations, with two or three patrol cars in each centre. It was easy to equip a car to operate while it was travelling at full speed, so that it would not have to wait for all the details of a message from the station before getting under way. There were plenty of frequencies available and many men in the force who knew the Morse code would be able to act as operators with little or no tuition. The cars could be staffed with no addition to the police force, for men could be taken off the “backblocks” beats, which would now be patrolled more efficiently.