What are Police Call Boxes?Made popular today by the hit science fiction series Dr. Who, police call

What are Police Call Boxes?Made popular today by the hit science fiction series Dr. Who, police call boxes are few and far between, with most residing in London as historic curiosities of a bygone era.  In the United States the are exceptionally rare, with a may one or two in a large city, preserved for their historic value.  I may be going out on a limb, but I’m willing to bet most people don’t really know what a police call box is and what they were used for, perhaps even some die hard Dr. Who fans have never really thought what a police box is.Today police have excellent communications systems with every cop equipped with a personal radio, as well as a radio in his or her squad car.  However, before the invention of portable radios police departments in the United States and Europe had to make do with call boxes.  Whenever there was a crime or emergency where a cop needed backup, he would have to go to the police call box to phone it in.  Back then telephone networks were managed by switchboard operators. One didn’t dial a number to contact the wanted party.  Rather the caller would have to inform the operator of who was being called, at which point the operator would connect a line to the person.  As a result police call boxes had a direct line to the nearest police precinct.  Police call boxes were not payphones used by the public, although a civilian could use the box to contact the police in an emergency.  Typically police call boxes had a series of simple buttons labeled with such things as “murder”, “theft”, “drunkards” “fire”, or “need ambulance”, so that a person not even lift a phone but signal to the local police a certain type of emergency.  The phone itself was located on the inside of a swing out door.  Inside the police call box were important tools such as an emergency first aid kit, a fire extinguisher, emergency blankets, brushes and dusters (for finger prints), a note tablet, and various other police/emergency equipment.  Typically police call boxes were position on every corner of a city block, thus they were not far away.  The first police telephones were installed in Albany, New York, shortly after Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1877. In 1883 the first police call boxes were erected in Washington D.C.  From there they were erected in almost every major city in North America and Europe.  The decline of the police call box came with the advent of the portable radio.  By the 1930’s and 40’s police call boxes were phased as police cars were equipped with two way radios.  In the UK police call boxes continued in operation up to the late 1960’s.  Today the tradition of the police call box continues as special wireless “help kiosks” are being erected for public emergencies.  Such kiosks are especially becoming prevalent on college campuses and cities as well. -- source link

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