Story
Fires, disasters & public safetyWhen Shamokin Police Went on the Air
Radio equipment and new patrol arrangements changed how the police department organized its work after World War II.
Some details remain uncertainAn August 1947 equipment order called for a 50-watt radio base at City Hall and two-way equipment for a patrol car. The plan connected a fixed headquarters with officers moving through town. By December 11, the system was reported operating under the call sign WKXU.
Radio was one part of a department being organized for its work. On February 28, 1950, five patrolmen took their oaths, with duties beginning the following day. Coverage described Chief Reese’s role in their training rather than treating an oath as the whole preparation for service.
A 1952 obituary also recalled fingerprint and photographic work associated with Reese. Together, these accounts show several tools of policing—communication, identification, and training—without requiring an unsupported claim about the department’s original founding year. The strongest story here is a specific period of change, not an invented continuous history.