August 7, 1958 See original document

Berkeley residences are getting faster service these days. Since the city put its own central dispatching system into operation three weeks ago, officers are arriving at the scene of calls a full three minutes sooner than they used to.

It formerly took an average of five minutes to answer a call; now it takes just two minutes, according to Police Chief Robert J. Stark.

Before Berkeley had its own police radio system, the city’s 16-man police force had been dispatched through the office of the St. Louis County Police Department, along with 34 other municipal police departments in the county.

Berkeley’s radio system cost $9500. The city is footing half the bill and the Federal Government the other half, since the radio will be used as a Civil Defense unit. According to Chief Stark, the county police radio circuit is over-crowed. It often took quite a while for Berkeley officers to “get on the air,” he said.

Berkeley averages about 250 police radio calls per month, Chief Sparks estimated.
Speed in answering calls is essential, he points out.

A special feature of Berkeley’s new system is that it is “private line,” which means that it automatically cuts out interference from other police departments which may be broadcasting on the same frequency.

But though Berkeley has a private frequency at the moment, Chief Stark explained, that the FCC can put other departments on it at any time.

The force has three walkie-talkies.

Although the city has two of its three police cars on the road all the time, the walkie-talkies are useful when a policeman wants to send or receive a message away from his car.

Still another precaution the city has taken with an eye toward emergency is the installation of a new standby generator, which automatically powers the radio system in case of an electrical failure.