Teletype

[lordmanji]

Are teletype machines still in use? If so, how is it used? From what I understand, it's like a typewriter/fax machine that receives communications from other police departments. Does a clerk have to input this into a computer to distribute it to patrol officers?

[retdetsgt]

No. Teletypes went by the wayside before I left in 1998.

[kels]

LOL, why do we still call a computer message a teletype? yeah, Im OLD....

[retdetsgt]

LOL, why do we still call a computer message a teletype? yeah, Im OLD....

I remember the first ew'ing and ah'ing when we got our very first color copy machine....

Well, hell. When I started, we didn't even have handheld radios. When you were away from your car, youwere out of communication. We got the first ones in November 1974, I recall that well.

[Ispbear]

Our state still has dedicated printers that are hooked up to the statewide systems for police communication. This includes city, county, and state dispatches. Messages are done by computer and sent to other stations with a identifier such as Iff1. We call them teletypes still.

[icu650]

Ah! the memories. Around October 1969 I was assigned to Main Office Detectives and had to work around the clock. My rank at that time was Police Cadet. The Main office had the "Big' teletype." It was the noisiest thing you can imagine and about the size of a large corporate floor copier. The paper was multi-sheet and was fed from a box that was placed on the the floor, it was then was spooled onto a main spool by holes in the paper and sprockets on the feed reel.

One of my jobs was to watch this monster and tell the real Detective if there was anything important. We would receive local bulletins and in-house transfers and promotions. It would also have stolen cars, stolen property and just about anything else you could imagine. If I remember correctly this machine was a combination of transmitted information from local, state and federal authorities and we had to make a hard book for most topics. Many of the items being transmitted over the teletype had to be separated and placed into smaller loose leaf type books for others to see. This big noisy machine tried its' hardest to keep me awake on the midnight shifts. As soon as it stopped and you thought it would be quiet for a while, bang, there is goes again.

The real Detective had a special keyboard with his own password and he would constantly be on it checking requested items from the other squads. If a detective from another Squad wanted to check NCIC for lost or stolen items using a serial number this is where he would begin the search.l It could take a while in some cases but at the time this was hi-tech. I only say "Real Detective" because that is what I was reminded of every day I worked with him. He would say, " remember kid your the Cadet and I'm the real detective." I believe at one time the paper was very wide and cumbersome but it eventually changed.

I hope this helpf a little.

[ET109]

some places still use typewriters, so I'm not sure...

Luckily around here the most ancient equipment we have is dot-matrix printers for evidence. Everyone still says "draw a card" even though that's long-gone... just sounds better then "please enter a case number in the system"

[retdetsgt]

Yeah, we had a bank of them in records division as well as one in each of the divisions, detectives, drugs, intelligence, etc. and each of the precincts.

Can you just imagine what a revolution that was to police work when they were invented?

Not unlike computers. When I started, records were kept on 3X5 index cards as were warrant cards. To make a check for wanted on the street, radio would plug us in to a loud speaker in records and a clerk would check the person by hand through the index cards. To check statewide and NCIC, they would teletype the request and we would wait for the response. Then records would phone radio and tell the dispatcher the results. They would teletype DMV for suspended and license checks. Obviously, you didn't do random checks just because you were bored.

About 1979, we started getting MDT's a few cars, not many though. It wasn't until the early 80's that all patrol cars had them. Before that, radio had computer terminals and we would go to a designated channel to make checks.

[retdetsgt]

some places still use typewriters, so I'm not sure...

I fought tooth and nail to keep my IBM Selectric by my desk, they kept wanting to get rid of that. It was the only one left on the detective floor and I suspect it went out the day after I did. I still liked to type some of my shorter reports and memos rather than tie up clerical time and have to wait a day or so for it back.

When I first went to detectives, clerical personnel typed out dictated reports on them. They got word processors about 1983 or so. That was huge. Prior to that, if you needed to amend a report before it was turned in, it required the clerk to retype nearly the whole thing in some instances.

[icu650]

I am just thinking about the old Motorola radios that didn't work very well. Headquarters, during those days, had no idea who was talking to them until a car number was transmitted. I also remember those index cards where they had a full duty officer in that department just checking the cards upon request. They didn't have many civilian workers then.

Now that I think about it the large teletype was the big wide paper and the other smaller one was the one with multi color sheets. Looking back during the same time as the teletype we had , at that time, a quick telephone notification system. The Main Office Detective would be requested to contact certain groups of Detectives during a emergency or violent incident such as an airplane crash. Looking back this system was a joke. I had to go to a particular phone that had next to it a box of individual plastic cards with holes punched in them. Each card had a Detectives name on it and the holes represented his home phone number. You would take each card and slide it into a slot in the back and it would speed dial the number. You still had to wait and talk to him and then do the same with the next one.

There are many pictures on INTERNET of police teletype machines. In the beginning of the old black and white "Superman" series the sounds off many teletype machines working at the Daily Planet could be heard in the background.

[retdetsgt]

I am just thinking about the old Motorola radios that didn't work very well. Headquarters, during those days, had no idea who was talking to them until a car number was transmitted.

Also with those radios, you had to wait until they warmed up after you turned on the car key before you could receive or transmit. It wasn't too bad, but it was about 3 or more seconds and it could seem like a lifetime. Also, if the dispatcher was on the air, you could key your mike and he would never know it.

Another scary thing was we only had two radio channels for the whole city. The east side was on one and the west on another. Traffic guys were on the west side channel no matter what part of the city they were in. And you ran checks and everything else on the operational channel. Nothing like trying to call for backup and hearing some guy saying, "Check three for wanted, first subject, last name..........."

Those radios were a nightmare when you look back at them. We didn't have booster stations, we had one big@ss radio antenna on top of a hill in SW Portland and there were several dead spots in the city. In dispatch (which was all cops when I started), the guy answering the phone would fill out an IBM card and put it on a little belt conveyor that dropped it off in front of the dispatcher. And cops didn't always make the best dispatcher either. They were there for a variety of reasons, but none had to take any sort of test to qualify for the job. Some were great, but a lot were terrible.

We had what they called a "Quick Call" on our cars. Each was numbered and when you got out of the car for coffee, to eat or otherwise still be available, you gave the dispatcher the Quick Call number. If he needed you, he would hit the button and all your lights (including the bubble on top) would blink and the horn would start honking.

There were a few really old guys on when I started that walked beats, of course w/o radios. Every third or fourth telephone pole had a red light on top. If they needed you, the lights on the poles on your district would go on and you knew to use a call box to call in. The old timers used to show me their call box keys like it was a prized possession! And I guess it was.

I suspect it would scare the sh!t out of a lot of cops today if they had to work under those conditions, but we didn't know any better so it was just what was. But we didn't have any police that were 5 ft. nothing and 100 and nothing pounds either. At 6-2, about 185, I was about average size, maybe a little smaller. We had some huge Swedes who came from families of loggers working back then. I saw a picture of one lifting the rear wheels off the ground of a 1946 Ford car and he was no anomaly. We had lotsa Bensons, Lindholms, Johannsen, etc that could have used me for a lawn dart.

[Safety Steve]

Were the same down here.



Be Safe.

[icu650]

The lonely foot patrol. We had the old "horse blanket" jackets made out of wool that would scratch your neck and weigh a ton when wet with snow. Put a raincoat over that and try to get you gun. Not going to happen. Those call boxes seemed like miles and miles away when you needed one right away. Once in a while my "car man" would come by and see if I was alive but it was against the rules for me to get in and warm up. The car man would get a complaint as well as the foot patrol officer. It didn't take long for the foot patrol cop to find a gas station bathroom with heat that would be left open over night. It was a great place to get warm for a few minutes before you trudged on.

[cntryboy0531]

I enjoy hearing these old stories. It's amazing how far Law Enforcement has come.

Now I will make fun of your age.

I was born in 1985.

[icu650]

I was born in 1985.

Please, Don't apologize there is still a little time for you to learn!

Just curious, how long do you have to work before retirement, 20-25 years?