Historic Moment: Early days of the police
By Jorge Batlle
Village Historian
It is noted that the first mention of a Village policeman was a Constable, Munson Thorpe, appointed August 11, 1857. Up to then law enforcement was handled by the County Sheriff. The first Village Police Chief was Jack Thompson who joined the Department in 1942. He had one patrolman, George Davis
In order to get a patrolman in the early years, one had to telephone the Village Electric Light station. A worker there would take down the complaint. He would flip a switch that would turn on a red globed light on a pole at the northeast corner of Genesee and Jordan Street. The foot patrolman would go to the Light Station for the assignment. A dedicated police phone line was installed in the Electric Station in1951.
In late 1950, local car dealer Grandy Motors (located on the corner where the present Fire Station is) furnished the first patrol car for the Village. It was a new 1950 special built 2-door Pontiac with leather upholstery. ‘Skaneateles Police’ was lettered on the door. Officer Jack (John) Thompson used the car on the day patrol and Officer George Davis on the night patrol. Later, the car was equipped with a radio-telephone. It was dispatched by a Rochester located phone operator. So a call to the Skaneateles Police car was a 35 cent toll call.
In 1954 the Village voted to purchase a 2-way radio system. It was a Motorola brand. It was still be necessary to call the Electric Light Plant or the Police Chief at the Municipal Office building, and they would complete the call to the police car. The new radio system will also put the Skaneateles Police in touch with all police in the western part of the State. The frequency was 39.18 mhz., with a call sign of KEE-443. The installed cost of the system was $1,486.62.
In 1964, the Fennell Street Fire Station opened, with a room set aside for a Village Dispatching Center. All communications were moved from the Light Plant into this office.
1968, the SAVES owned radio system was installed. This was KJZ-837 on 45.52 mhz. A steel tower was installed behind the Fire Station, and the police and fire base station radio antennas were installed on it.
In 1969, the Village Police were able communicate with Cayuga County on 39.10 mhz.
The patrol car’s radio was a tube style with a dynomotor. It required a lot of electrical power. For the radio to function properly, the car had to keep the engine running, otherwise it would kill the battery in minutes. February 1969, then Mayor James Marshall, was concerned about the car’s idling time actually being double the odometer reading and thus depreciating the car’s value. He did not buy into the reason to keep the car running in the winter months was for a warm comfortable car – as he wrote “our police officers have sufficiently warm clothing so that keeping the engine running for heater purposes is not of too great importance.” In the same letter the Mayor suggested that Village buy a new transistor type radio for $900 ‘without delay.’ The old police radio, he wrote, would be installed in some other Village vehicle.
On September 25, 1979, the police radio frequency went to high band of 155.790 mhz and the call sign was WZY-357. Police radios were upgraded for the County 911 Center in 1992.
The most recent update in communications was in 2010 when Onondaga County went to the ‘trunked digital’ radio system for police, medical and fire services. Our Skaneateles Dispatch Center closed September 24, 2010. Skaneateles Village Police calls go to the County 911 Center. First we had Rochester, now we have Syracuse.
