Los Angeles Police Department Communications Division History

1930s Complaint Board and Overhead Conveyor

In the beginning, calls were all received by the main City Hall switchboard operators. Those requiring police service were routed by a conveyor belt on top of the switchboard to a dispatcher (a policeman) in the remote-control room, who would broadcast it to the proper car . He then forwarded the information to the transmitting station in Elysian Park, where a second dispatcher would rebroadcast the call. This was to help insure that the message was received by the patrol officers. Elysian Park was the location of the 500-watt De Forest AM transmitter. Patrol Officers could receive calls, but could not "talk back" to the dispatcher.

Originally, 44 police cars were equipped with receivers. It was reported that "officers driving swift moving automobiles" took an average of only two minutes forty seconds to respond to any call in the city, so thirty-five additional car radios were added as soon as funds became available. The monthly report in June, 1931 indicated 12,644 radio messages were broadcast.
	KGPL on First Day of operation

Before long, it was recognized that the value of police radio could be better realized by a more streamlined method of call-taking. A new system was instituted, which increased speed in answering and dispatching calls. Now, police officers working the eight-position "complaint board" would receive all incoming public calls directly on a new "MICHIGAN 5211" telephone number, instead of having them relayed by the city hall switchboard. These officers were required to have at least five years experience in the field. Routine calls were then sent by the conveyor belt to the radio room, which had five dispatcher positions and a "link" operator.

When an emergency call such as a robbery or homicide was received at the complaint board, the officer could press a button and his telephone conversation would be carried over loudspeakers installed in the "Business Office Division," as well as in Robbery and Homicide Bureaus. This served both to alert detectives to a possible call for them, as well as to reduce the chance of human error by the board officer.

Radio microphones were later installed at the complaint board, so the officer receiving the call could also broadcast it immediately

Soon, sergeants' vehicles also got radio receivers, and major calls could be answered by field supervisors as well as by the concerned patrol car. Divisional desk sergeants and detective offices were equipped with receiving sets. When the station supervisor felt it appropriate, he could send the division "emergency car" on a call. In the infrequent event - less than 1% of all calls - that the radio car officers did not receive the broadcasts, this ensured that the police were indeed responding, and provided the additional manpower that might be needed at a major incident.

LAPD broadcasts were monitored regularly by the Orange County Sheriff, the police departments of Beverly Hills, Alhambra, Santa Monica, Culver City, San Fernando, Hermosa Beach, Huntington Park, Burbank, Glendale, La Habra, Moorpark, and as far off as San Clemente, as well as the Orange County Fruit Patrol. LAPD had agreements with a number of police agencies to broadcast their emergency calls.

Between 1933 and 1936 the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office and LAPD conducted a number of tests to determine whether police radio was adaptable to the mostly-rural Sheriff's patrols and constables. These were mainly done on busy weekend nights, and eventually the Sheriff decided that radio would work for his department. Until the county was able to get its own radio station on the air, LAPD began handling radio calls for eight of the sheriff's nine substations. Pasadena police were contracted to dispatch for the Altadena sheriff's station, as the Los Angeles transmitter didn't cover the foothill areas very reliably.

Los Angeles wasn't the first police department in the area to use radio, however. It now appears that the neighboring Pasadena Police Department had gotten on the airwaves almost a year earlier, sometime in 1930...

"Click here and we'll run up to Pasadena for a minute"

"Calling all cars, calling all cars..."

It should be remembered that the early 30's were the deepest of the depression years, and people didn't go out much. And while radios had become very popular, good radio programs had not yet been developed. Since police broadcasts were just above the AM broadcast band - LAPD was first on 1712 and then moved to 1730 kilocycles (kcs) - most home radios could tune them in.

At night, the signal of LAPD could be heard all across the country, even as far as the east coast and Hawaii.

In the 1930s, Los Angeles Police experimented with a number of radio sets, both "home-brew" and from the handful of manufacturers, such as Sparton, Philco and Galvin/Motorola. This is the 1936 Motorola "Police Cruiser" mobile radio, a redesigned car radio preset to KGPL's 1712 kc frequency. A separate transmitter set was needed when two-way radios were introduced in 1938.

LAPD MAKES USE OF "PUBLIC" POLICE BROADCASTS

The PR and Community Relations aspects of the public "listening in" weren't lost on the Department either. On November 29, 1933, William Robson's radio series "Calling All Cars" debuted on the CBS Radio Network. Chief James E. Davis was right there from the get-go, being an announcer and narrator for most of the early programs, many of which were based on actual L.A.P.D. cases. This series was designed for two purposes..."to sell 'Rio Grande' Gasoline and to tout the use of radios in police cars.

Chief James E Davis
1926/29 & 1933/38

As such, the stories revolved around just how fast squad cars can get to the scene of a crime now (1930s) as compared to a few years before, because of the radios ... and the increased speed and power of Rio Grande Gas! At times Davis sent subordinates to fill in for him, and many of the police officials that appeared as narrator, were just plain awful. They were awkward, missed cues and lines and mispronounced just about everything." ( - Jerry Haendiges, of the Vintage Radio Place)

Again in 1950, less than a month into his historic 16-year term, Chief William H. Parker was asked to allow the use of actual LAPD radio calls in a proposed CBS television show called "Prowl Car." As Chief Davis had before him, Parker understood the widespread popularity of listening to the department's police calls on KMA367. He immediately consented to allowing the production company to record LAPD radio calls, his only condition being that the Department be allowed to review the film and police-call sound track before its airing. It is unknown if the TV show ever actually made it to the small-screen.


William H Parker Chief of Police 1950-1966	Letter Authorizing Police Calls on TV Click to view letter full size

In the early days of police use of radio, it was customary for a dispatcher to end a call broadcast by giving his last name. One of LAPD's first radio dispatchers in 1931 was Sgt. Jesse Rosenquist (1899 - 1966). Rosenquist, it seems, became quite famous across the country, because of the way he said his name. He had a deep voice, and he dragged out each syllable, "Rose-n-quist." So people everywhere became familiar with "Calling all cars, calling all cars...that's all. Rose-n-quist." In Southern California in the 1930s and early 40s, Jesse Rosenquist was practically a household word.

NEW! Listen to a few seconds of Jesse Rose-n-quist!

So "KGPL" and "Rosenquist" and "Calling All Cars" and "That is all" began a tradition that later continued with Jack Webb's "Dragnet" and "Adam-12," in projecting the sounds and activities of the Los Angeles Police Department around the world.

BEFORE SCANNERS...

For nearly three quarters of a century, people in Los Angeles - and across the country - have been listening to their police and fire calls over a variety of radios, and now, even over the internet.
Click here for a look at some of the ways they've tuned in...

LATE NEWS - June 18, 2001

For now, however, the familiar voices and almost-constant drone of the L.A.P.D. radio have suddenly fallen silent for its citizens and supporters. On Monday evening, June 18, 2001, the Department ended its seventy-year tradition of "open" broadcasting, that interested folks could listen to with just a little bit of simple equipment. They have now switched to "digital modulation" on the voice frequencies, which, in the long run, will allow for many more frequencies in the existing bands. But until a "digital-capable" scanner radio becomes available, probably at least a year from now, those voices and codes and car numbers that have become oh-so-familiar to generations of Angelenos, will be a thing of the past.

With the inauguration of the radio-communication system, the city was divided into 60 radio-patrol districts, scattered throughout the 15 geographical divisions. This was also the start of numbering patrol units according to their division of assignment. Central Division, then as now, was Division No. 1. It was divided into six radio patrol districts, numbered 11 - 16. Each patrol district was further divided into two sections, the second section receiving a "W" suffix, such as Sections 11 and 11W. The radio car's unit number was the same as the section number to which it was assigned.

There was a large patrol-district map in the complaint-board room at City Hall, and each radio car had a duplicate map on curtain rollers attached to the car ceiling! Each car on radio patrol duty was similarly-equipped, so it could be reassigned to another district when necessary.

The "Radio policemen" worked in two-man cars on day watch, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. As both officers were assumed to be out together handling their calls, once a unit was dispatched it was considered out of service until the officers phoned in the disposition of their call and that they were again "clear" or available.

On night watch, 6:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m., and mornings, 2:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m., there were originally three officers in each radio car; two officers would investigate the calls, while the third remained in the car to monitor the radio for any nearby emergency calls. Manpower shortages ended that procedure within a year or two. It should be noted that the radio cars were only dispatched on high-priority calls. Routine calls would be assigned to other units either at the station or when they made their hourly telephone or "Gamewell" check-ins.

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