The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-07-24
Police Will Work All
the Time Under
New System.
WILL BE IN OPERATION SOON.
Signals Will Be Rung by
All Officers FIRE.
quently.

OUTSIDE work on the new police sig
nal system is nearing completion, and
all that is now to be done to complete
that part of it is to place the boxes in
position. The wires have all been strung
and the bases on which the boxes are
to stand have been placed in position.
Tha arrival of the switchboard at
station l, Saturday afternoon, means
that the work of placing it in position
VIII be started this week, and an expert
from the Gamewell factory in Boston
is expected in few days. Officer Graf
Fey, who has been detailed by Chief Of
| Police James M. brennan to work with
the men from the factory, will work
| with the man who will place the switch
board in position.
Inc system differs from any now in
use in the United States, snd is an i'm
| proFement or any system yet placed
by the Gamawell company. 1t differs
greatly from the system now in use, in
asmuch as there is nothing about it to
signal to policeman that he is wanted
10 communicate with the central sta
ton.
In the boxes there are seven calls,
four of which are duty calls, one for the
| ponce patrol, one fer the ambulance
| ana one for communicating with the
| central station after the most improved
methods of telephoning.
| A patrolman will be obliged to use
one of the duty calls at stated inter-
vals during the night according to the
| amount of territory he has to travel,
| and some officers will have to ring in
every 10 minutes If there are two
boxes on an officers beat, one at each
end, he will be allowed only time
enough between each duty call to tray
erse the territory to which he is as
signed. This the makers of the system
claim, is good thing in itself and does
away with the much-seen spectacle of a
policeman hanging up street corner
for a half-hour at a time. If there is
! signal at each end of his beat, and there
will be on many of the beats in Wor-
cester, 1t is necessary for the patrolman
to travel continuously while he is on
duty.
The placing of four duty calls in each
box allows the use of the same box for
four men, and each man has call of
his own. At station /, where the switch
board and recorder will be placed, the
time each man lung i'll, the number of
| his duty call, and the time he rang in
the call will be recorded on a slip Of
paper in ink after the manner in which
| fire alarms or messenger boy calls are
received over the most improved sys-
TENS. The marks will be ma de in ink on
the paper and can be deciphered by
any one.
AS soon as the call is rung in the
paper unwinds from the large roll on
which it is stored and is rewound on n
smaller roll. At the end of a relief S
4 duty, thescalls and time Of each will be
copied on to tally sheet and handed
to the chief, who by an examination
of the sheet can tell at a glance where
each man was at any time during the
night. If break occurs in building,
and the exact time can be found out,
the location of the officer at that time
can be determined by the duty calls,
as he has only a certain time to ira
| verse his beat. If an officer is wanted by
the man in charge of the central sta
ton it is necessary for the man in
charge to wait until the patrolman
rings in his duty call.
BY a continuance on the switch board
| a hand can be set so that as soon as
the man rings in his duty call little
bell rings in the box which notifies
! him that he is wanted to talk with the
central station.
All calls in the box are placed on a
dial, and every time he wants to ring
in he must set a hand on the call he
| wishes to ring. When called from the
| central station, after he has rung in his
duty call, all that he has to do is to
shift the hand to the telephone call
and it rings in the central office In
ringing for the team, all that is requir-
| ed is to place the hand over the team
call and ring in, and the number of
| the box registers on the tape on the
switch board, and the team is sent out.
! With the present system, the patrolman
| Is obliged to ring up and tell the man
| at the central station where he wants
the team. If the ambulance is wanted
! he places the hand over the ambulance
call, and the time the ambulance is
| called Is registered on the tape. The
time 1t arrives at the box is also regis
tered on the tape as another call is
given central station. This will do
away with all argument about the time
1t takes the ambulance to make run.
While some Of the outside workings
! of the system are complicated, 1t Is of
| the most improved style and is certain
/ to give satisfaction as soon as it gets
| into good working order. For the OPP
orator at the central station, the work.
| ings of the system will be as simple
] as the one now in use. In addition to
the switch board, which will be placed
| at the central station where the old one
now is, table will be put in for the
operator.
w. H. Mcclure, superintendent of the
! fire alarm telegraph, is giving much at
tention to the new system, although
| Officer Craffey will have practically
entire charge Of 1t after 1t Is put in.
Mr.. Mcclure and men from the factory
feel that they can get the system into
working order by Aug. Is, although 1t
| is probable the regular routine duty
calls will not go into effect until Sept
l,
In former years the police system
has been a secondary consideration In
the matter of repairs as it has been
next to impossible for the electricians
in the fire department to get around
| to look after it until the fire alarm
wires had been put in order. The sys-
! tenn was never what could be called IN
| to-date, and although Superintendent
| Mcclure and his assistants have done
good work In keeping 1t in shape as
we'll as they have, 1t needed the undi-
| vided attention of some one at all
times.
The monthly report of the police de-
partment shows the utter uselessness
of it, and the new system will be hailed
with delight by officials of the depart
ment.
officer Craffey, who is to have charge
of 1t, is an expert electrician, and will
make a good man for the position. He
understands the workings Of the tele-
phone system to a detail, having been
at the business for more than 10 years
previous to his connection with the po-
lice department.
! Chief brennan has selected him to
look after the system and he will make
All repairs on 1t should it get out of
order. From the time the men from
the Gamewell Company have been at
work In the city placing wires, he has
been with them and has seen how the
outside work was done.
The new system will be on metallic
rircuifs and will do away entirely with