Catalogue description Communications Branch

Home Office involvement in communications preceded by some years the establishment of the Communications Directorate in 1942. As far back as 1929 the Police Department of the Home Office was consulting with the Post Office about the allocation of call signs to local police forces which were developing their own wireless telegraphy schemes. It continued to monitor this experimental work in the early 1930s as well as to increase its involvement in administrative aspects, co-ordinating the allocation of wavelengths and issuing specifications for wireless equipment.

From 1934 it was advised on wireless matters by Superintendent K B Best, a former naval officer who was Communications Officer in the Metropolitan Police. In 1936 he was formally appointed as Home Office Adviser on Police and Fire Brigade Communications, and in 1942 became the first Director of the new Communications Directorate.

In 1935 the Home Office set up a Technical Advisory Committee on Wireless (also known as the Committee on Police Wireless) to consider and plan the proposed regional police wireless schemes. The intention was to enable communication with mobile units as part of the fight against crime (communication between fixed points was already provided by telephone and telegraph). Nine regions were established, each with its own medium wave station for receiving and transmitting messages. In addition some local schemes using very high frequency wavelengths were set up. Regional Wireless Depots under Home Office control were responsible for installing, maintaining and repairing equipment.

The wireless facilities were also available for use by the Fire Services and, during the war, the Civil Defence Service.

In 1943 the Home Office set up a Committee on Police Wireless to review the present system and plan post-war developments. Following its report in 1945 the MW regional system was abandoned in favour of individual group and area VHF schemes. In future, equipment was purchased centrally by the Home Office and rented to each scheme. The Home Office's Regional Wireless Depots undertook its maintenance and repair. The same arrangements were instituted for the Fire Services in 1948.

In 1949 the Directorate became the Communications Branch, retaining that title until 1969 when it became the Directorate of Telecommunications. The Branch, and later the Directorate, were responsible for providing wireless facilities for the Police, Fire, Civil Defence and Prison Services. This involved planning, development, procurement and testing of new and improved equipment. It controlled the Regional Wireless Depots, and Regional Communications Officers in Civil Defence Regional Offices, who advised local authorities on day-to-day problems of civil defence communications.