If a person were to require the police in 1938. On the telephone would they dial them or require an operator.?

Answer 1

Neither! All a person needed to do was take the receiver off the hook & start "tapping" it to immediately get the attention of the Operator in an emergency situation! The operator was in charge of a switchboard for an entire area (neighborhood) & SHE would summon the Fire or Police for the caller. A light would go on & the name & address of that line (caller) was posted on the board OR in a directory that the Switchboard Operator used to connect ALL the calls that were made. No one had direct dial back then & the numbers were not needed...all a person did was simply pick up the phone & someone was ALWAYS there to answer & route your call to the person you asked for. It was all very personal back then!

Answer 2

I was born in 1938. I have a distinct memory of the 999 system being introduced and being shown how to dial (yep on a real telephone with a dial) it in a dark or smoke situation where I might be unable to see the correct hole.
Before that event I know that I had been taught to dial O for the Operator in an emergency. So, sometime after 1941, I would think for 999 calls.
Someone else may have better information - a child's memory isn't very reliable

Answer 3

In Chicago not a lot of people had home phones. If they did the dialed operator or called the local station for the police. If they didn't they went to a public police call box (saw those is rural UK in the 1970's), found the local beat officer on the street or called the local station from a public phone. There were lots of public phones all over.
People usually called the local station for both emergency and non emergency.
In Chicago there were 49 stations (now 25) and they also housed the local public ambulance, such as it was. There were only 2 police patrol cars per station. Random vehicle patrol did not exist.
In the early 50's Chicago police got a centralized dispatch number, PO(lice) 1313, Fire was FI (re) 1313. If you needed a report you went to the local police station but reports were rare. A lot of stuff that is handled by the police now was not a police matter then.

Answer 4

Depended on where you were
If it was in the UK, you would have been able to dial directly 999 as of July 1937
If it was in the U.S, in 1938 you needed an operator. The first 911 system was not implemented until 1968 in Haleyville (Ala.)

Answer 5

I am a bit surprised by the first answer saying 999 was introduced so early, though she may be right. Until the 1970s some UK regions still required callers to speak to the operator before making a call (the Scottish Western Isles; Abingdon was the last mainland centre to get direct dialling).

Answer 6

I would just rattle my tin cup along the bars of the cell and holler down the corridor for the cops. That's because I would probably be in jail on failure to exist charges if it was 1938. I might be guilty of that now! I could be a figment of my own imagination.
I can only see one person in the mirror, and I dont recognize them at all!

Answer 7

I'm certainly no expert, but I would think they would have to go through the operator. My Mum worked for the central exchange in London in the 60's and even then she had to deal with Police calls.

Answer 8

You would definatelly have been put through to an
operator, who would have asked "Which service do you require, Fire, police or ambulance" You would have had to dial the three nines first, though!

Answer 9

They would need an operator to connect them through.