The View from the Men in Blue

New Radio Doubled Police Efficiency.

by C. Leland Wood
City Manager
Watertown, N.Y. ...Radio has permitted wider and better coverage of the city with the same number of men. Before radio, the prowl car operators contacted headquarters by telephone once every half hour, with no contact the rest of the time. This isolation greatly reduced the effectiveness of the prowl car. With installation of the two-way radio system, prowl-cars are in touch with headquarters at all times, and the ability to render service has been immeasurably increased. These cars are now often able to apprehend transgressors much more easily after receiving a broadcast from police headquarters, especially when they happen to be in the vicinity of the occurrences. -- from AMERICAN CITY Magazine, November 1943