POLICE! HELP!

Hokitika Guardian, 6 January 1931, Page 8

POLICE! HELP!

SPEED A TELEPHONE CALLS. NEW SYSTEM IN PARIS Striking success has attended' the re cent telephone system in Paris arn-i.g-ed by the Prefect of Police. With a view to reducing the lumber of burglars and crimes of violence, especially at night, it was provided that any person needing the urgent help of the ipolice had only to go to the nearest telephone and call either “Police, Hein!” or “ Danton, Police.” Danton is the exchange to which the head Police Prefecture belongs. Such a call, given preference over all pthers, was immediately registered at the Prefecture, and was sufficient to send a flying squad of police in a fast car to the spot whence the call had come. How well this system worked is shown by the fact, iliac during August alone it led to <’l arrests lmng made in Paris. The system is now to he improved upon by the installation in various main thoroughfares of the city of 600 public alarm posts, somewhat resembling fire-alarm posts. The person culling the police in an emergency has only to break the glass of the box to find himself in immediate touch with police headquarters. A light on a large plan of the city will indicate to the head of the flying squad the exact spot at which assistance is required. Recently, as the result of the “ Danton, Police” call, sent from a public telephone, the police were able to catch a 'burglar red-handed in a large store.