Evening star., 1948-06-25
By Miriam Gutenberg

1t may be a child taxing poison
or it may be murder, but these
days a police scout car heads for the
scene before the caller can even
hang up the phone.
That's what happens when you
call Executive 2060, the direct line
to the Police Department. Central
Complaint room.
The complaint room now has been
in operation six months. 1t came
into being after Police Supt. Robert
j. Barrett decided to look into criti-
cized crime reporting methods. The
FBI was asked to make it's recon-
mendations. Executive Officer Floyd
Truscott toured eight major cities
to see how they operated. AS re-
suit, instead of a simple change in
statistical methods, Maj. Barrett
ordered a reorganization Of the de-
partment's entire communication
and records system.
Dispatcher Listens In.
Here's how it was clicking the
other day:
A red light flashed before a COM
plant clerk
My boy has taken poison. We've
got to get him to the hospital, be-
gan a voice.
BY then the complaint operator
had thrown a key. In the next room,
separated by glass partition, a
light blinked on beside the radio
dispatcher. He picked up the phone.
Now he was listening, too.
He heard the mother say the boy
was going to the hospital by cab
and could the cab have police
escort.
He glanced at the lighted circles
on his wall map and started talking
into a microphone.
Scout 112 - meet a cab
Sousa Bridge - :"
Slip Gives More Details.
The dispatcher clicked switch.
Another light flashed on the map.
That meant Scout 112 was "out OF
service" or busy.
A slip fluttered down the wall
chute between the complaint clerks
and the dispatchers.
At that moment, the Scout car
speeding toward Sousa Bridge
called:
What kind of cab?"
The slip with all information was
now before the dispatcher. He gave
the answer. A short time later, the
scout car called back with its mis-
sion accomplished message. That
went on the slip, too.
Designed for FolIow-Up.
Before the new system was set up,
here's how that call would have been
handled:
It would have come in on National
1000 along with every other kind OF
police call. A telephone operator
would take the information. the
caller would hang up and the op-
orator would call the dispatcher
located across town at the 10th
Precinct. If the caller asked for a
precinct. as often happened. the
precinct would get the information,
call the operator back and then
talk to the dispatcher. The dis
patcher, in any case, didn't start a
scout car until some time after the
caller had hung up. If there were
any unanswered questions, the caller
would have to be reached again.
Speed in getting police to the
scene is only the first step in the
new chain Of police action. The
rest of the system is aimed at
making sure the crime complaint is
pursued fully and as fully reported.
Mass of Paper Work.
! Under the new system. if you call
up and say, MY house was broken
into week ago and I want to know
what's been done about it," you'll
get an up-to-date account of po-
lice action in your case. You may
be told how many suspects have
been interviewed or that police are
still looking for a lead or that a
check is being made of pawn shops
in the search for your stolen prop
erty.
That is one goal Of the mass Of
paper work that has drawn some
bitter complaints from the police
men who have to do 1t. For them,
however. help is on its way. The
new police budget carries an appro-