Trooper Talk: The Evolution of radio communications in Michigan

Join retired MSP Trooper David Service and host, retired MSP Trooper and MPSCS Manager Tim Lee, as they explore the evolution of public safety radio communications - from the early days of patrol work to the advanced systems in use today. As we celebrate the 30th anniversary of the MPSCS, David shares firsthand stories from the origins of public safety communications and reflects on the pivotal transition to Michigan’s statewide radio system in 1995. Tune in for a behind-the-scenes look at how technology transformed communication, safety, and coordination across the state. https://cms.michigan.gov/mpscs/-/media/Project/Websites/MPSCS/Social_Media/Transcripts/Dave-Service-Tim-Lee-Podcast-Transcript--0112525.pdf

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:05

Hello and welcome to Tune In with MPSTS. I'm Tim Lee. I'm a Deputy Director and Manager of the IT and Network Operations Section for the Michigan Public Safety Communications System, also known as MPSTS. As we celebrate the 30th anniversary of MPSTS, I'm excited to welcome a very special guest, someone who experienced the early days of our statewide radio communications transition firsthand. Joining us today is retired Michigan State Police Trooper Dave Service. Dave Service brings a wealth of experience from his time with Michigan State Police, including his involvement during the pivotal 1995 switch over to the statewide communications system. We're going to be going into the history, his reflections, and how it kind of shaped public safety communications with MPSTS works in Michigan today. Trooper Dave Service started with Michigan State Police from what year did you start it? May 1973. 1973. And you were stationed at what post? Jackson. At the Jackson Post. That was your first post? Yes. Okay. And what was the uh what was the uh recruit school that you graduated from? That was the 85th. 85th recruit school. And was that at the um that would have been at the original uh training academy out underneath uh the state police headquarters there at MSU? Yes, yes, okay, cool. And they had actually had the pool out there too as well, right? Yes. Okay. I've only seen pictures. You know what I mean? It wasn't there when I when I was there, it was just state police headquarters, and it's all gone now. So, but any in any case, uh sorry, I I digress there, but uh thanks for being here. We really appreciate it and thanks for coming out here. So appreciate it. Certainly welcome. Uh could you tell us a little bit about yourself? Like where do you live, uh your family?

SPEAKER_02 1:55

Well, I live in DeWitt, Michigan, and have four children. Two of them live in well, one's uh employed by the Detroit Tigers, and the other one's employed by the University of Alabama.

SPEAKER_03 2:12

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 2:13

And then my youngest grandson lives in New York City.

SPEAKER_03 2:18

Okay, well, yeah. And as we were talking about before even the interview started, you've had how many people in the service family that have been in the Michigan State Police? So four? Four of us, yes. Four? Okay. So your your dad, yourself, and then your son and his wife. Right. Okay. Wow, that's I mean, that's amazing. So as you said, you added all up and it was 109 years of service for everybody. Yes. Wow, that's incredible. That's that's really cool. So uh I I I know this a little bit from what you've told us already, but you know what what do you like do for fun or what what do you do now that you're retired?

SPEAKER_02 3:01

I volunteer at the Capitol Area Humane Society on Grand River there. I've been doing that since before I left the department.

SPEAKER_03 3:10

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 3:11

But not to the extent that I am now.

SPEAKER_03 3:13

And you're volunteering there six days a week, you said?

SPEAKER_02 3:16

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 3:16

Wow. And you were you're working with you know all the kind of animals that are like abused and primarily cats. Cats and kittens. Um must get a lot of them in there, I would assume.

SPEAKER_02 3:33

It's kitten season right now.

SPEAKER_03 3:35

Oh, so this is like the heavy time of year where you get a lot of cats in?

SPEAKER_02 3:40

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 3:40

Wow. Oh, that's that's crazy. I mean, that's great that you're doing that. I mean, it's it's so needed and it's such a you know, unfortunately, area. But uh can you let me know uh like uh what led you to to go into you know policing? What what made you want to become a state trooper?

SPEAKER_02 3:59

Well, if we go to my 1960 yearbook at Sexton High School, it has my photograph as a senior, and underneath it it said state police. Wow, wow, that's great. And then I went on and didn't consider it really. I got a job as a grocer as a grocer in the Schmidt's uh chain that was here in Einzing.

SPEAKER_03 4:26

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 4:27

And there was uh one night I met up with some deputies who were doing night patrol, and I was taking out the trash from the building that I was working in, got talking with them and told them that I was going to school, and that it was difficult to do that midnight stuff, and they said, well, come on out and apply at the Lansing Township Police Department. And I did. They sent me right through. Had to go to a training session that was at the Sheriff Department once a week, and it was for four hours at a crack, and that's where we got our basic information and techniques and things that an officer would use. Well, and I was there with Lansing Township for six years. I took a job then with uh LS Good, which is JW NAP Company in Lansing, and I was the manager for the security s system that they had there in the Meridian Mall in downtown Lansing.

SPEAKER_03 5:32

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 5:33

And they had two other stores, one in Flint and one in Battle Creek, but I wasn't interested in doing a lot of driving, so yeah. And uh I applied in early 73 and Trooper Al Kish did my background investigation for me. And his dad, his Tom Kish, who uh was there to l when I left the department, he was the had the final word of carry me around to the director's office and that kind of thing.

SPEAKER_03 6:10

Oh wow, that's cool.

SPEAKER_02 6:12

So it was neat that there was a connection between those two and my career.

SPEAKER_03 6:17

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 6:20

Went to Jackson for five years, got transferred to Northville when they had the big freeway build up down there, then Lansing, and then several subordinate things. I did uh the governor's detail in Venton Harbor, uh taught at the training academy as uh temporary and right staff.

SPEAKER_03 6:48

And yeah, we taught together at the training academy during the the 115th recruit school, I believe, right? Yes, yep.

SPEAKER_02 6:57

So there's another connection.

SPEAKER_03 6:58

Yeah. It seems like so long ago, and though, and I see a lot of those troopers around that we taught in that school, and it's like I cannot believe they're as old as they are because they just seem like kids when we're teaching them. Yes. That's crazy. Wow. I know it it just time just goes by so fast. Um we're good right now, we're gonna take a little bit of a break, and then when we come back, we're gonna chat about kind of the shift going from the old radio system to the new MPSCS system and kind of how it changed public safety, communications, and interoperability.

SPEAKER_01 7:34

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SPEAKER_03 8:30

Welcome back uh to our podcast. Uh we have with us retired Michigan State Trooper Dave Service. Welcome back.

unknown 8:37

Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 8:38

Uh again, you and I were both around uh when the state of Michigan made the investment into its infrastructure that provided the statewide radio communications for first responders. Yes, again, it started out um with Michigan State Police first, and then they moved you know separately to their own entity right now. For me, the uh one of my memories, um, my first post was the Adrian Post that I went went to when I got out of uh the training academy. And I had in that car, in the patrol car, I had a state radio, a county radio, a city radio, and then I also had a C V radio that we basically bought ourselves that we would put in there so we could hear what the truckers were were saying, and they would call out for Smoky Bear, you know what I mean, and ask us to, you know, respond if there was an accident or somebody was driving drunk or whatever like that. So I remember that. Do you remember what it was like, you know, prior to having the one single system in your car?

SPEAKER_02 9:39

It was quite different because there wasn't any added on responsibilities, I guess you'd call it. When we had the basic four channel channel one at Jackson being the main channel, and then we had two car to car, three was district, and I never knew what the fourth channel was. They didn't use it, so I got what it was. But wow, only four channels. Wow, that is crazy. And that was all state, there were no county radios. They eventually put in a scanner that we could hear what the county was doing, but there wasn't any dispatch capabilities.

SPEAKER_03 10:20

Right, and you could only hear what the county was doing. You couldn't re you couldn't talk on that radio system or anything like that.

SPEAKER_02 10:26

Right.

SPEAKER_03 10:27

So if you wanted to get a a county response or somebody to like back you up or whatever, you had to call the state dispatch, right? And they would have to relay to the county with a delay.

SPEAKER_02 10:40

And it was done by a desk sergeant at the post. It was always, you know, whoever was at the post was the ones that dispatched. And it didn't have a central dispatch yet. Wow.

SPEAKER_03 10:54

Yeah, that's I mean, it's it's hard to believe, you know. I mean, it's definitely changed so much and in such a you know, it's really ha you know, just accelerated so fast. But wow. So so if you needed backup or you're on a chase or whatever, you're calling the sergeant at the desk, and then that sergeant has to call out to the county or the city or anybody else to help respond to you. And even still, if they were responding, they still couldn't talk to you. Right.

unknown 11:20

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 11:21

Wow, that it's just it's just crazy. Um when uh when finally in '95 when they started rolling it out and to the different do you remember kind of getting that first radio as opposed to the old one where you were like the four-channel system versus, you know what I mean, the new digital radios?

SPEAKER_02 11:42

I remember coming in and I was skeptical. And sure. There was there was a lot of stuff that was available, but you at that time they didn't come and say, okay, you got this many channels, this is what you can do. It was more of a pick and choose type of thing that we used primarily at the post, but then after a while it began to develop and we had more training and got brought up to speed and started using it. Then we had communications with Jackson Central dispatch direct.

SPEAKER_03 12:19

That's a b that was a big change then.

SPEAKER_02 12:21

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 12:23

So then you were out on the road and you were finally able to basically call Jackson Central and get get assistance if you needed it, as opposed to the whole relay system before. Wow. That's it. I mean, it's just crazy to think about how much it's changed, but that was such a huge change. So that's that's awesome. Um one thing that became clear, especially on 9-11, obviously, and I know that that was a big push because I was at um Homeland Security Division uh when that happened for 9-11 happened, um, was the big push for interoperable communications across the state. And, you know, I on that day, you know, several fire agencies uh that couldn't talk to each other when the attack went, you know what I mean? Uh police departments couldn't talk to each other, sheriff's departments couldn't talk to each other, they were asking for responders to all come out and everything like that. And interoperable communications became a huge thing. And Michigan was actually ahead of the curve on this because of, you know, MPSCS and you know, where they really saw the benefits of the kind of that system, you know, coming on. Uh you know, do you I'm sure you remember 9-11. That happened, obviously.

SPEAKER_02 13:36

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 13:38

And then we actually I think back then we did send troopers out here from Michigan out to out to ground zero to assist, I believe.

SPEAKER_02 13:50

I don't know. I I would I think the first ones that I knew went out were for some of the disasters on the east coast as far as tides and that sort of thing. Yeah. We sent troopers from the Lansing Post out there. And there were some other incidents, but prior to that, I don't recall any major here we go type help.

SPEAKER_03 14:16

Right. Do you uh do you ever remember the kind of like uh do you remember any of like the first time you were ever able to call like from one district to another?

SPEAKER_02 14:26

Yes. That was wonderful because if you were gonna go over to Detroit to pick up a prisoner, you had to first if you were not on the system, you had to call the post, they had to call ELAP. Then the okay would come down and they radio you in the car, and then they had to call over to Ypsilani to let them know that you were coming, and so it was kind of a mishmash of communication.

SPEAKER_03 14:54

I remember how long that took when you sat on the side of the road and you were running a warrant check, and if you got warrants, and especially like you said, mentioned Detroit. Detroit didn't always pick up on warrants, but still you had to sit there and wait for the sergeant to call to get a hold of their dispatch down there to see if you know that sergeant down there was gonna okay the warrant pickup, and then you could, you know, say, where are you gonna transport and what was gonna go on? That was crazy with no interoperable communications. But yeah, it changed obviously when you could call district, go district to district. Yes, yeah. That's uh yeah, I mean, just awesome. Um now looking back at your career, and you how many years did you have in total? 40. 40 years as a trooper. As a trooper, yes. That's just awesome. What advice would you give any kind of student looking at a career in law enforcement uh today? You know what I mean? Or what's you know, kind of the best advice you ever received, you know, from anyone during your career?

SPEAKER_02 15:56

Well, my dad being in the department, so I had kind of a exposure to his job, and then he went into probation after he left the state police with uh Hingham County probation department and then thinking about it but not really acting on it. When I ran into these two sheriff's deputies on night patrol, got talking with them, and they said I could work nights if I wanted to all the time, and so that kind of got me going, and then I was there for six years and then they went on to LS Good and then put in my application in the state police. And just loved it.

SPEAKER_03 16:46

So obviously your family was heavily invested in the state police. You'd still definitely recommend young, young, you know, kids coming out of college to get in if they can.

SPEAKER_02 16:56

Yes, definitely. I finished up my degree in 1969, finally. Yes.

SPEAKER_03 17:14

Wow, that's uh that's great. Definitely uh quite the career, that's for sure. Um that's all the questions we you know have for today. I want to thank you again for coming in and for helping us to celebrate the 30-year anniversary of MP Walking. So thank you very much. And it's good to see you again, Dave. Oh, good to see you. Thank you. You have been listening to Tune In with MPSDS. This has been the MPSDS 30th Anniversary Edition Podcast. Be sure to look us up at www.michigan.gov slash mpsds on YouTube, StyleCloud, on X or Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at MPSDS. You can also subscribe to our podcast on iTunes and Google Podcasts so you never miss an episode. See you next time.