6 Communication: mobile radio
While the adoption of telegraph and telephone technologies changed policing, the impact of radio was even more significant. Italian inventor Guiglielmo Marconi discovered in 1897 that radio waves could be used for long distance communication, and the technology was further developed during the First World War. Shortly after, police forces began to investigate this interesting new technology.
Figure 9: A two-way dashboard radio in an Oxford City police car, 1952 [Description: A black and white photograph showing a uniformed police officer with a flat cap sitting in the driving seat of a Morris police car. He is taking notes and talking into a telephone handset which is attached to the dashboard via a coiled wire. The passenger door of the car is open allowing a view of the interior. Only the front half of the car is visible and it appears to be parked on a country lane with hedges, a field and trees in the background] Source: [link]
The benefits of being able to send and receive information ‘on the move’ were obvious but early attempts to transform radios into serviceable mobile units were problematic. The Metropolitan Police set up the Flying Squad (a unit authorised to carry out duties anywhere in the Metropolitan Police District) in 1919. By 1923 the squad had two radio-equipped vans, but the radios were heavy and fragile, and transmissions broke up due to interference from trams and other electrical devices.
During the 1930s, further advances were made. As towns and cities grew in the post-Second World War period (meaning beats were harder to cover on foot), the 1950s and 1960s saw the introduction of motor patrols with two-way radio now small enough to be fitted into the dashboard of new ‘panda cars’.
The shift in police practice was not uncontroversial. While the police viewed it as highly efficient, some members of the public felt the advent of police cars and radios meant there were fewer visible officers walking the beat, and that their connection to the police had lessened.
Activity 3 How radio cars changed policing
Click on the image below to enlarge the local newspaper article from 1953.
As you read the article, consider both viewpoints; for example, the opinions of Mrs Delavault who fears the loss of the ‘bobby on the beat’ and the affects it will have, versus those of Chief Inspector Lomax.
Sevenoaks Chronicle and Kentish Advertiser - Friday 11 September 1953; p.4. (Source: https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001068/19530911/040/0004)
Will need rekeying
Comment
Highly visible policing in the form of foot patrols has always had public support; gong right back to the founding of the new police in 1829 foot patrols were believed to act as a deterrent to crime. However, such public opinion may simply reflect a desire for a style of ‘non-threatening’ policing: ‘many are asking for PC George Dixon, the archetypal community bobby, whose approach is friendly, familiar and trustworthy’ (Wakefield, 2006). The newspaper article above reflects wider public fears around the loss of the ‘bobby on the beat’ with the introduction of police cars with radios. It was felt that it would reduce local knowledge through loss of direct contact with the community.
The police had long experimented with personal radios, but their refinement took somewhat longer than the larger devices fitted in patrol cars. While there were early prototypes, these remained impracticable for daily use by all officers. As Figure 10 shows, they remained bulky even by 1960.
Figure 10: Two police officers receive instructions by radio, 1960 [Description: Black and white photograph showing two police constables in high collar tunics and helmets standing in a London Street. One officer is speaking into a telephone receiver connected to a large canvas pack hanging on his front. There is a long aerial extended. Behind them the street is lined with crowds of onlookers, more stand on the balconies of grand buildings in the background.] Source: https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/two-police-officers-receiving-instructions-whilst-guarding-news-photo/3199641?adppopup=true
This only changed in the later 1960s when the Home Office solicited tenders for producing 6,000 new radios by 1967 – a contract eventually won by Cambridge-based company PYE. By 1975 every UK police officer had a PYE personal radio.
This new mode of control and communication was also not without controversy. By the 1990s, advances in the technology available to the public meant that police radios were regularly being eavesdropped on by criminals and the development of a new, more secure system (Airwave) was beset by cost-overruns and health-related concerns.
The adoption of advanced communication technology thus significantly changed the practice of policing during the twentieth century and, public concerns about the removal of officers into radio cars aside, has been a significant aid in the fight against crime.