History Watch: “The Red Light District”

History Watch

"The Red Light District"

Police communications today have never been better.  The average police officer has a portable radio, a cell phone and in some cases a body worn camera.  Police cars have radios, GPS, license plate readers and computers that send you to calls and tell you how to get there. No more pulling out a map to see where that elusive street was. 

But back in the day it was a very different story.  In the early years of the San Rafael Police Department, officers did not have radios and they only had two ways to communicate with the department.  Officers would stop by the department while on patrol to see if they were needed anywhere or if they could find a telephone, they could dial the department to see what calls were pending.

As the town grew and calls increased, the department decided it was time to upgrade their communications system.  In 1939 the City Council approved funds to install three red lights downtown that could be turned on to summon officers to call the station.  The lights were hung above the intersections of Fourth and Lincoln, Fourth and B Street and Fourth and E Street.  In addition, several call boxes were installed so officers had access to phones, especially at night when it was difficult to find one.

The police department at that time was located in the basement of City Hall at A Street and Julia Street.  When a call came in, the station officer flipped a switch to activate the lights and when an officer saw this, they either went to the station or called in to see where they were needed.

The lights worked well but they had a short life as radios were finally installed in patrol cars in June of 1941. Surprisingly, the San Anselmo Police Department was the first police organization to get radios and they contracted with the Berkeley Police Department to dispatch to their cars.  Six months later World War II began and it became very difficult to purchase additional radios as the military had a higher priority.

In July of 1966, everyone moved into the new San Rafael City Hall located at Fifth and D Street.  The police department occupied the basement (some things never change) of this building.  The lights continued to hang over the three intersections all these years and the switch for the lights was moved to the new dispatch center, possibly with the thought that they could be used as a backup system in the event the radios failed.

The lights were never used again for official police business, but that doesn't mean they were never used. Graveyard dispatcher James Wright activated them in the early morning hours to remind patrol officers to pick up his morning newspaper and deliver it to him.  And on quiet nights, some mischievous cadets would turn on the lights to see how long it would take a patrol officer to radio in reporting that the lights had been activated.

As time went on the switch for the lights was deactivated and removed during a remodel of the dispatch center, but the lights continued to faithfully hang over their respective intersections.  In the late 1970’s the light at Fourth and Lincoln disappeared, but surprisingly, the remaining two continued to stay at Fourth and B Street and Fourth and E Street.  In August of 2013, PG&E did an upgrade to the intersection at Fourth and E Street and they took the light down without telling anyone, probably because they did not know what it was for. When this was discovered, retired members of the police department attempted to locate the light with the help of PG&E.  It was reported that the light had been taken to a warehouse in Stockton, but alias, the trail went cold and the light was never recovered.

The one remaining light continued to stay at Fourth and B Street, now mounted on top of a street light.  In order to save a piece of police history, Captain Jeff Franzini, in one of his last acts before retiring in 2014, asked the Department of Public Works to remove the last light and bring it to the police department.  The light is now safely in the hands of retired officers who work to preserve department history.

Attached are two photos.  The first photo shows the recovered light next to a portable radio that is currently used by the police department.  This photo shows a span of 76 years of police communication.  And finally, attached is a photo of that graveyard dispatcher Jim Wright who was able to read his morning newspaper thanks to those lights.

Copyright 2015 Harry Barbier – All Rights Reserved