BREVARD HISTORY: Flashing Red Light Mounted on Tall Pole Main Communication Venue for Titusville Police in 1940s

If the light was flashing, the patrolman knew he was needed somewhere

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA • TITUSVILLE, FLORIDA – As Brevard County opens its new state-of-the art Unified Communications Center, law enforcement technology has come a long way since the 1940s when the Titusville Police Department’s main means of communicating with patrol officers was a flashing red light mounted on a tall pole near South Washington Avenue and Julia Street.

A social media post by the titusville Police Department included a vintage image of Titusville Police Chief W.T. “Dinky” Brown, Verda Blackburn, George Johns, W.J. “Bo” Bohannon, John D. Threlkeld and Robert Green, and TPD historians said that around 1948, TPD officers watched for the flashing red light which could be seen from anywhere between the north and south city limits.

“If the light was flashing, the patrolman knew he was needed somewhere, so he headed to the nearest phone to find out where,” said the TPD social media post.

“Because there was no switchboard, the officer called the telephone operators who took messages for them.”

---

Brevard Officials Unveil New Emergency Operations Center, Features State-of-the Art Unified Communications Center

---

Later, as part of an expansion of the department in 1951, a telephone was installed at Cutter’s Drugs at the corner of South Washington Avenue and Julia Street.

Employees would take messages for the patrolmen and if important they would find the officer and deliver the message. At night after the store closed, the patrolmen would use the phone on the pole again.

“There was very little crime back then, maybe two or three burglaries a month, and very few people bothered to lock the doors to their homes,” said the TPD post.

Brevard County officials recently cut the ribbon on the new $35.6 million Emergency Management Center, which is one of the most activated EOC in the country and the most active in the State of Florida.

The new 54,000 square-foot facility is fortified to withstand Category 5 hurricane-strength winds and the new facility contains the latest technology to better serve our community.

CLICK HERE FOR BREVARD COUNTY NEWS

Similar Stories