Once upon a time there was a tower that stood on top of the police headquarters building that held a giant signal bell. When headquarters wished to alert their officers, that bell was rang twice for a patrolman or once for a captain. The captain would jump in his horse drawn buggy and head for HQ to see where he needed to go. Same for a patrolman except he responded on a mounted horse. In 1934, they installed their first one-way radio with the station call letters W4XAR. By 1944, the bell was long gone, but the old tower was used as a mount for a two-way radio system bought from the sheriff's office. By April 1948, a new 3-way system was installed in all the cars. Now the officers had radios, twelve-hour shifts and all for a substantial salary of $60.00 per month.
At one time, the department used police "call boxes" and before that whistles. A captain in his horse buggy checked on his men by sounding one blast on his whistle and hopefully receive a responding blast in return, which meant you were okay. If you wanted to speak to the officer of that particular beat, you gave two blasts and the officer would come running.
By 1925, the force had thirty officers and a Model-T patrol wagon and three motorcycles with side cars for prisoners. The mounted officers owned their horses but with a maintenance stipend for their upkeep. By 1927, the mounted officers were history and were replaced with three cruiser cars, one for each shift. Laughably, the cruisers were privately owned with an upkeep stipend just like the horses. In 1932, the city took over ownership of the cars and by 1949, the number of cruisers had increased to twelve!
The identification bureau began in 1905 under the leadership of Frank Sherman Bobe (1880-1946). It began with a small index card file and one homemade fingerprint file. Bobe was replaced by Jacob Dewey Knepper (1898-1962) who had joined the force in 1911. When he left, he was replaced by Emil Ernest Pfeiffer Jr. (1912-1952) in April 1948. Sadly, Emil would pass away at the age of 39 after 15-years on the force. But by 1949, the department had increased to eight filing cabinets with 22,000 master fingerprints and 21,000 confidential files.
The 1949 detective bureau supervised by George Moore White Jr. (1901-1971) who went to work at the department in 1931 and retired in 1960. Detective Raymond Francis "Happy" Shutteworth (1893-1958) began his career on October 1, 1927 and retired in 1952. He once gave up a promotion to captain just to remain a detective. Detective Charles Allen Miller (1910-1992) began his career as a civilian watchman at a fish house and would retire a police captain. Detective Raymond Clinton Harper (1918-1987) served forty years and retired a captain. Detective Edward Ausley Lawhon (1917-1998) spent his early adulthood as an embalmer for Waters & Hibbert Funeral Home, served in WWII in the US Navy, then entered law enforcement career around 1945.
The remaining detectives were Ernest Lee Madsen (1903-1990) who joined the police department by 1938 and retired a captain sometime after 1960. Detective Jay C. Hammond (1889-1960) once a driver for the Ferris-Lee lumber company before joining the police force sometime before 1927. He would sometime after 1949. Detective Alvin Mallory Tennant (1912-1982) retired a police captain before opening up the Allied Detective Agency. Detective George James Touart (1911-1984) would retire in 1970 as a captain after 29 years on the force. And last but not least, detective secretary Mrs. Betty Jean Godwin Jeffcoat (1929-1999) was the wife of city patrolman James A. Jeffcoat. He would pass away in 1968 after 22 years on the force. She would remarry four years later to Gwinn M. Harris before retiring from the Escambia County Sheriff's Office. She would pass away in 1999.
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