Main St Downtown Buffalo, NY

The Call Box System

When the Desk Lieutenant needed to convey a message or a call for police service to the Patrolman on his assigned  beat, he would, from the stationhouse, signal the Patrolman by
-    Activating the light mounted on top of the call box
-    Blasting the horn, also mounted on top of the call box
The Patrolman on his beat would hear the horn see the light turned on, then from the call box, call the stationhouse for his message

An example of what a patrol booth looked like

Buffalo, NY Police Communication Division

The Nerve Center of the entire police department is itsCommunication Division. It is the control point through which contact is made between the police department and the public. Absolute accuracy are of paramount importance in this phase of the departments work, for it is the communication division that serves as a veritable lifeline. Without the communications division the entire department would be paralyzed. A patrol call box system and patrol booths were installed on January 10, 1888. The call box system provided a source of communication between the Desk Lieutenant at the precinct stationhouse and the Patrolman on his assigned beat. Patrol booths, similar in size to telephone booths, were placed throughout the city. The patrol booths were used as a holding cell for persons arrested by the patrolman on his beat. Arrestees were housed in the booth until a patrol wagon would arrive and transport them to the precinct lockup.

The Buffalo Police Departments first communication was the Morse Telegraph adopted in 1875, which is described as a system of communication employing electrical apparatus to transmit and receive signals in accordance with a code of electrical pulses.

For the next 54 years there was no changed until early in the year of 1929 when the teletype system of communication was developed by the New York Telephone Company and than put in to service by the department connecting headquarters, precincts and bureaus.

Buffalo Police Headquarters Teletype Room

On September 15, 1931 the New York State Telephone Typewriter System was installed in Police Headquarters. This System connects with the States of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts.

The year 1931, found the Buffalo Police Department equipped with more communication systems than any other police department in the world, consisting of the telephone, the Morse telegraph, the telephone typewriter system and the radio.

The first location of the radio station was in a small room on the second floor of Seneca Vocational High School.  Police personnel stationed on the second floor of  old police headquarters, located at Seneca and Franklin Streets, turned over calls for service received by telephone to the dispatchers at the school, who, in turn broadcast them over the radio. Radio communication soon became a real asset to police in reaching the scenes of crimes, and steps were taken to equip all police cars with receivers. The number of calls broadcast greatly increased, and it soon became necessary to increase the staff and find larger quarters.

Buffalo Police Radio Station Delaware Park

From that time the order states each and every complaint brought to the attention of the Buffalo Police Department, by telephone, in person to a stationhouse, to a police officer or otherwise, must be reported to the Complaint Desk in the communications centers on the second floor of police headquarters. This is where the term  "CD Number" originates
from. The adoption of the Central Complaint Reporting System insures a more complete record, more attention to the investigation of complaints and better service to the public.

On July 18, 1949 the department installed micro-filming equipment and began micro-filming approximately 2,500,000 pieces of old and little used department records.

Thomas J. McMahon
Police Commissioner 1946 - 1949

Buffalo Police Headquarters

Complaint Desk Buffalo Police Headquarters