Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-09-08
POLICE EMERGENCY
SIGNALS PLANNED
FOR WASHINGTON
Maj. Pratt Asks for Estimate
on System CIassed as !
Better Than Radio.
ENTIRE PATROL FORCE
COULD BE SUMMONED
Light Arrangement May Be Used
With New Teletype Now
Being Installed.

Installation of a system of electric
signal lights which would flash to at
tract the attention of policemen in
cases of emergency is under consider
alton by Maj. Henry G. Pratt super
intendent of police, who disclosed yes
terday that he had asked the District
electrical department to prepare an
estimate on the cost of such a project.
The lights, under Maj Pratt's plan.
would be placed on all patrol boxes and
located at other strategic points
throughout the District and connected
so that the mere turn of switch at
police headquarters would flash signal
to the entire patrol force. The fash
ing of the lights would indicate TO a
policeman that an emergency existed
and that he was expected to commune
cate with his precinct station at once.
Dependable as Radio.
Working in conjunction with the new
teletype communication system soon to
be installed by the Polica Department,
Mai. Pratt said he believed these lights
would be just as effective and perhaps
more dependable than radio. which has
been adopted by the police departments
of Chicago and Detroit to establish
contact with policemen in emergencies.
Through the teletype system. Maj.
Pratt pointed out, it will be possible
TO automatically communicate stimuli
taneously with every police precinct.
If an emergency arose which required
the attention of policemen in any sec
ton of the District, he explained, or
ders would be broadcast over the tele-
type system and the flashing light
signals turned on. BY the time police
men reached a telephone to call the
precinct station the orders would be
there to give them.
In Chicago and Detroit all motor
patrols are equipped with radio APP
paratus, tuned to the broadcasting sta
ton at police headquarters. Reports of
robberies, crimes. automobile thefts,
etc, are transmitted periodically to all
of these patrols, enabling them to be on
the lookout for persons wanted by the
police a few minutes after a descrip-
ton has reached headquarters.
Reserves Disbanded.
The use of radio in these cities also
has reduced the need of reserves al the
police stations, since it is possible
rapidly to muster a sufficient force III
! any section to handle an emergency
! situation
While not quite as quick, perhaps. as
radio. Maj. Pratt believes that the
flashing signals, together with the tele-
type, will bring about a marked I'M
provement in the present system Of
communication between headquarters
and the precinct stations. Telephones
are now used for this purpose, and
delay often occurs when it is necessary
to transmit a message to all of the pre-
cincts, the operators at headquarters
being required to call each precinct.
The new system of communication,
however, probably would not permit q
reduction in the reserve forces at the
station houses. except in the outlying
precincts, where the patrol forces are
motorized. Maj. Pratt has no intention
| now of motorizing the force in the
! thicklv populated and downtown sec
tons. although he is planning TO III
crease the motor patrols on the outlying
! sections.
| Sticks to Foot Police.
! While motor patrols cover two and
! three times the territory of foot pa
/ trolman, Maj. Pratt does not believe
| they would be as effective in the bust
ness and residential sections as pa
| trolnan on foot who would be able
| to observe more closely. Even the
motor patrols now in use in the subur-
| ban precincts have been the source OF
| considerable trouble to the department
| because some of the men assigned TO
! them took too many liberties while
free iancing" over large territory.
! Mai. Pratt, however. points out they
! have been a decided success in these
/ territories, and as soon as funds are
forthcoming the "a horse-mounted men
in the outlaying precincts will be re-
! placed with motor patrols.
Complete motorization of the, patrol
| force might make it possible for the
present patrol force of $50 men to
cover the District more thoroughly,
| Mai. Pratt said, but the results prob
ahIv will he less effective The present
plan of the department, he explained,
| is to motorize the outlying precincts,
thereby making more foot patrolmen
available for the thickly populated
sections.