The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1902-01-10
TO IMPROVE
POLICE PHONES
New Electrical Equipment
Deemed Necessary.
PRESENT SERVICE UNRELIABLE.
Major SyIVcSter's Attempts to Have
Existing Defects Rcmedtcd-Hov-
ard Fire Causes Renewed Activity
for ImpTOvepent-Di Ex-
perienced by she Force.

An entire OyerhaUling OF the electrical
equipment Of the Police Department is
likely TO be made in the near future. Al
ready STEPS toward this end have been
taken by Major Sylvester The head of
he Police Department has long been
cognizant Of the weakness OF this branch
OF the service. but as separate branch
Of the District Government is entrusted
with the care Of the telephone and sig
mailing apparatus he has felt some deli
cacy in bringing the matter to an issue.
The disaster at the residence Of Mr..
Beale r Howard. 1910 Sixteenth Street
northwest last Sunday morning. in which
the life Of the colored butler was lost.
has impressed upon Major Sylvester the
terrible consequences that might result
from a repetition OF the failure Of the ap-
paratus TO work. On that occasion not
only the telephone and signaling apn3-
ratus in the patrol box failed to work,
but the officers and citizens were unable
to sound a fire alarm from the box on
the same corner a delay Of five or
six minutes was the result Had a fire
followed the explosion Of the boiler the
results might have been serious
Faulty Patrol Box Service.
For many months the officers Of the de-
partment have been continually complain
ing Of The unreliable character Of the
service from the patrol boxes. They as
sert that the exigencies Of police service
demand a thoroughly reliable method of
communication between the several sta
tionhCUses ami headquarters and between
the stauCnhouses aud the officers on the
streets In r-ay Instances lives and
property hang upon the promptness of
communication and IL Is stated that alb
sence Of serious disaster as a res ut Of the
unreliability Of the service, has only been
a matter Of good fortune.
The service in connection with the Dis
trict switchboard is frequently unreliable
it is claimed. and frequently it is neces-
sary to abandon one phone and 20 to
another one in order TO ring of and Sc
cure another connection. II is no unusual
thing at some Of the stations, the officers
claim. TO have to wait three CT four min
utes before they can get a reply from the
operator on the switchboard.
With the phones in the patrol boxes it
is even worse
Suburban Phones Useless.
In the centre Of the city the service
is usually fair and the delays are only
those that may be expected from time to
time on a poorly equipped line, but in
the outlying precincts the condition Of at
fairs is so bad that several Of the lieu
tenants have refused to bring charges
against officers as a result Of failure to
receive an hourly report from them over
the box lines, which cannot De depended
upon.
The long lines leading out into the
country are practically useless. not only
for conversat onaI purposes but frequent
" fl is impossible to transmit any signal
over them.
Previous Attempt OBSCURE Eed-
AS early as last November Major SyI-
Yester called on his men for a report as
70 the condition Of the wires, and as a
result wrote to the head Of the EIec-
trical Department calling attention to the
unreliability Of many Of the boxes in
the Second, Seventh, and Niath precincts.
The reply was most curt. and prac-
ticalIy intimated that the matter was no
affair of the majors and that il was
customary for The several precincts 10
report direct to the Chief Electrician any
break in the lines. At the stations IL
was reported that they had become so
tired OF reporting errors in the service
without receiving any attention that they
had about abandoned the Efforts along
this line.
New Effort for improvements
Yesterday Major Sylvester called upon
Lieutenant Boyle. Of the Third precinct,
for q report on the failure Of the patrol
box az the corner Of Seventeenth and P
Streets TO work last Sunday. when Po-
Hceman Owens vainly endeavored 20 com
muniCatC with the station 10 summon
help and the fremen.
This IS but a preliminary step to as
certain the exact condition OF all of the
boxes. with a view 20 bringing the mat
ter to the attention OF the District Com
missiCnors- An officer viii probably be
detailed 10 assist Captain Pearson in
making a thorough and complete iuspec-
tion OF the lines. and the results viii
govern the future action OF the depart
mout-