In 1928, which city's police department first used on-the-air voice communication?

• A. New York Police Department
• B. Detroit PD
• C. Chicago Police Department
• D. Los Angeles Police Department

Answer: (B)

The question tests when police departments first began using live voice radio to talk between officers and dispatch. In 1928, Detroit’s police department led the way by equipping a squad car and the dispatch center with a radio link that carried spoken communication over the airwaves. This marked the first sustained use of on-the-air voice communication in policing, letting officers receive commands and report back in real time from the streets and improving response times and coordination. Other major cities eventually adopted police radio in the following years, but Detroit was the first to implement this live two-way voice system.