[Scan-DC] Loudoun County Sheriff Roger Powell Uses the Radio Equipment Donated by Arthur Godfrey.

[Alan Henney]

http://inetdocs.loudoun.gov/sheriff/docs/newsreleases_/040607radiopers/office2k/office2k.htm

Loudoun County Sheriff Roger Powell Uses the Radio Equipment Donated
by Arthur Godfrey.

Picture courtesy of The Winslow Williams Collection c/o The Thomas
Balch Library, Leesburg, VA

The second week of April marks National Public Safety and
Telecommunicators Week. The week is dedicated to the men and women who
serve as public safety call takers and dispatchers.

The way public safety dispatchers communicate with Loudoun Deputies
today can be traced back 50 years ago to a gift from popular radio
personality, Arthur Godfrey.

In a letter dated November 22, 1952, Roger F. Powell, who served as
Loudoun’s Sheriff from 1952 to 1959, informed then County Chairman
I.W. Baker that Arthur Godfrey had donated $2000 “to be used in
installing a county police radio communication system.” The revelation
of Godfrey’s name was controversial at the time as the radio
personality had asked for his contribution to remain anonymous.
Sheriff Powell was forced to release the radio stars name after some
supervisors declared there would be no budget increase requests for
the Sheriff unless the identity of the donor was revealed. “No money
for an extra man until you talk,” the board demanded according to one
local newspaper.

Godfrey, who started his radio career in Baltimore in 1929, later
joined Washington D.C.’s NBC affiliate. In 1942 his morning show could
be heard on CBS’ flagship station, WABC in New York. Back in Loudoun
County, Godfrey purchased the Beacon Hill Estate west of Leesburg,
Virginia and commuted by plane from his farm to studios in New York
City every Sunday night. Godfrey would affectionately refer to his
land as ‘the old cow pasture’ on his radio show.

In the revelation letter to the Board of Supervisors, Sheriff Powell
stated that he discussed with Godfrey issues within the Sheriff’s
Office and the fact that two county tragedies had recently taken
place: a robbery and shooting in Hillsboro and the Fox family murders.
Powell told Godfrey that he would like to have a county police system
“whereby all the emergency units, such as fire departments, rescue
squads, and the game warden could be tied together as more efficient
operating units”.  Mr. Godfrey asked, “What will it cost?”

According to the letter, initial estimates for the radio system were
in the range of $1200. In response to the figure Godfrey said, “one
thousand or two thousand dollars, get busy, don’t let any moss grow on
it. I’ll do that much for my people of Loudoun County.”  The cost rose
to $1600 before Godfrey donated a total of $2000 stating “we don’t
want any dead spots in the system; (get) the kind of equipment that
will do the job right.” Less than a month later on December 18, 1952,
a headline in the Loudoun News proclaimed “Loudoun County Police Radio
Station Goes On Air Today”.

Only a few years later, Godfrey continued his good will with the
donation of a small portion of his land off of Old Waterford Road near
Leesburg. The land was used by the Loudoun Sheriff’s Office to build a
radio tower; greatly increasing the agency’s communications
capabilities. Robert W. Legard, who served as Loudoun County Sheriff
from 1964 to 1979, worked with Hankey’s Radio in Frederick, MD to
erect a tower on the land. The tower broadcasted two low-band
channels, one for the Sheriff’s Office and one for Loudoun
Fire/Rescue. The tower still stands today but is no longer in use.

For several decades, Sheriff’s Offices across the state used the
low-band frequency of 39.5 megacycles, which caused problems on busy
weekends. On some evenings, Fauquier County, VA deputies and Loudoun
deputies would compete for airtime when responding to calls. Because
of the nature of low-band frequencies, which can skip great distances
off of the atmosphere on clear nights, the radios would pick up radio
traffic from law enforcement as far away as Bogalusa, Louisiana.

For nearly 40 years the dispatching system broadcast from the county
jail on Church Street in Leesburg. In 1990 the needs of the Sheriff’s
Office dispatch center outgrew the facility and moved to its current
location on Courage Court. The dispatch office, today referred to as
the Emergency Communications Center (ECC), employs over 40
dispatchers. In 2006, the staff handled over 390,000 9-1-1 and
non-emergency calls.

In 2000 and after years of requests, current Loudoun County Sheriff
Steve Simpson secured funding for Loudoun’s public safety community to
finally upgrade to an 800 MHZ digital trunking system. The 11-channel
system allows separate simultaneous channels for the agency’s
specialty units and covers the entire county with few drop-out areas.
A few years later Sheriff’s patrol cars were outfitted with mobile
data terminals allowing deputies to turn in paperless reports from the
front seat of their vehicles.

Godfrey was instrumental in the implementation of the public safety
radio system in Loudoun County, but his good will did not end with the
Sheriff’s Office. Over the years Godfrey donated an ambulance and the
financing for an entire wing for Loudoun County Hospital. In 1960
Godfrey donated $200,000 from the sale of his 'old cow pasture' for
the development of an airport. The area is now known as Leesburg
Executive Airport at Godfrey Field.

Arthur Godfrey passed away in New York in 1983 and is buried in Union
Cemetery only a few miles from his former Leesburg home.

The Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office was founded in 1757 and is
currently celebrating their 250th anniversary.

Regards,

Kraig Troxell
Public Information Officer
Loudoun County Sheriff's Office