Grantville Gazette, Volume XII

by Eric Flint

  Named Down-time Police Officers:

  Jürgen Neubert

  Emil Zollner

  Jonathan (Jonnie) Smith

  Horst Stoltz

  Gunther Wiener

  Wilhelm Kramer (aka Wilhelm der Neger)

  Erika Fleischer

  Hans Shruer

  Hans Shultz

  The last three may or may not have been among the first six down-time officers, but they were in the department by December 1634. Unlike the other named policemen, these three were apparently not former soldiers. Also mentioned in 1632 were eighteen police trainees, which might explain where they came from. Erika Fleischer and Jürgen Neubert were on the bus driven by Hans Richter during the Croat raid and Emil Zollner has been trained as a dispatcher.

  Another trip to the grid and a little deductive reasoning leads us to discover that some up-timers were also added to the police department at roughly the same time. In addition, there are army members attached to the police department for training as MPs. Between 1631 and 1633 the following up-timers were added to or trained by the Police Department. These are the people mentioned either in the grid or stories. There may have been more.

  Ed Jordan (68; recruit training supervisor)

  Melanie (Burroughs) Richards (child protection officer)

  Carolyn Kay (Carpenter) Atkins (66; jail matron and in charge of the kitchen)

  Steven Ennis (22; military, MP)

  Lyndon Johnson (21; military, MP)

  Ned Harris (21; military, MP)

  Jonathan Lund (22; military, MP)

  Elizabeth Pitre (22; military, MP)

  Blake Haggerty (17; military reserves)

  Wilhelm (Bill) Magen (18, military reserves)

  The police department will continue to add officers and dispatchers as the city expands. The standard recommended size of a police department is one officer for every five hundred citizens. Grantville is going to continue to grow, but the 1632 Tech Manual estimates that the town will top out at about 20,000 residents. Still, Grantville is going to face many of the problems of a "boom town," so it is going to need a larger police force.

  As the department expands, the largely informal rank structure of the old force will be replaced with a formal rank system. While the Grantville, WV police department could get by with a chief and five policemen, Grantville, State of Thuringia-Franconia, is going to need more supervisors and watch commanders and more officers. Gone are the days when the chief was called out to supervise every trouble call. The previously mentioned 1632 Tech Manual discussions suggest a department size of forty sworn officers.

  A rank system with a chief commanding four watch commanders who are sergeants would work until the police force reached over a hundred officers. Grantville isn't likely to need more than forty officers. There would be a uniformed investigator who would be a sergeant. The rank of corporal would be used for field supervisors or training officers. Police officers would be divided into patrolmen and patrolmen first class, depending on their training and experience. Noting the presence of women officers, the terms patrolwoman and patrolman would be used interchangeably where appropriate.

  Equipment

  In 2000/1632, we were informed that Chief Frost drove a Jeep Cherokee as his official vehicle. It is safe to assume that at least one of the other police cars was a four-wheel drive, since Grantville is a mountain community and the police department did have commitments outside of town before the Ring of Fire. There would be at least two other police cars, probably standard sedans. Both the Jeeps and the sedans are equipped with radios and there is a supply of portable radios (Handi-Talkies). The officer's personal cars would have CB radios and police band scanners and possibly police band radios. Those personal cars can be used to expand the motorized patrols.

  Like most police departments, Grantville has a supply of batons. The twenty-four-inch side-handle baton was chosen. At least two officers of the department are certified trainers with that baton. As is true of any police department, there is a supply of saps, blackjacks and even brass knuckles—either purchased over the past years or confiscated from drunks and petty criminals. One item that will grow scarce and then non-existent is chemical mace or pepper spray.

  The police department is well-equipped with firearms. The standard side arm is the Barretta 96 in .40. These were department supplied, and there are a couple of extras. In 1999, the department had changed to the auto-loader from the Smith and Wesson Model 13 revolver in .357 Magnum. Since the trade-in on the revolvers (10) was low, they were placed in storage and were available for issue in 1631. Department policy allows officers to carry personally owned weapons, if the weapon fires the standard caliber and the officer qualifies with it. Many of the officers follow this policy. Mention has been made in canon stories of Glock pistols and a Colt Python revolver. The policy on personal weapons would account for these.

  The official issue shotgun is the Remington 870 pump in 12 gauge. Before the Ring of Fire, these were issued one to a car with four in storage, for a total of eight. Again, many officers carry a personally-owned shotgun.

  The department did not have a SWAT team, but we can assume that one officer was SWAT-trained and a part of the county SWAT team. The department has some rifles in storage for issue if needed. These rifles are one Ruger Mini-14, a Colt AR-15 and a Remington 700. The Ruger and the Colt are in .223 and the Remington in .308. Many rural and small town police officers like to carry a rifle in the trunk of their cruiser, if department regulations permit. The Grantville P. D. seems to permit this. These "trunk guns" range from the trusty lever-action deer rifle in .30-30, to hunting rifles in .30-06, to the old M-1 carbine in .30 caliber. In other departments it is not uncommon for a policeman who is a groundhog hunter to carry his groundhog rifle in his police car. Why would Grantville be any different?

  The Grantville P. D. had some personal body armor in 2000, but it was a very limited supply. A federal grant in 1997 had been used to purchase a vest for every person on the force. When the department expanded, there were no extra sets. What was available were twenty Vietnam era "flack jackets" that were in storage. Hot, heavy, late-sixties flack jackets that had been given to the department back in 1975, and stored ever since. These were issued, but many officers refuse to wear them because of the weight. Most of the former mercenaries, though, like them.

  The Grantville P. D. in 2000 had a standard uniform with dark blue trousers and either a dark-blue long-sleeve shirt for winter wear or a white short-sleeve shirt for summer. The department issued two pair of trousers and four shirts, two long-sleeve and two short-sleeve every year. Jackets were also issued. The expansion of the P.D. presented some problems with uniforms. There were not enough to completely outfit the new officers and the down-timers were used to a looser fit in clothing. Both problems will solve themselves as the uniforms wear out and are replaced by clothing of local manufacture and tailoring.

  Changes

  In early 1634, Preston Richards became police chief, replacing Dan Frost who retired to act as a consultant to cities and towns in the USE that were starting modern police forces. Of course, Chief Richards will have a different style of leadership than Chief Frost, but at first there will be little change in the day-to-day working of the police force. Chief Richards is a younger man and will put his stamp on the department before he retires.

  From story evidence and practical guessing, it becomes obvious that the police will have more foot patrols and mounted police. The cars and SUVs will not last forever. So, riding will be added to police training. Wagons or light buggies might also be added to the police vehicle list.

  Another change that will take place is in the standardization of handgun calibers and the impact weapons of the patrolmen. As the department expands, up-time pistols and revolvers are going to become harder to obtain. There is no source for those side handle batons, which are made from a plastic compound, but a wooden side handle is not that hard to make. It will just break more often. So look for more
locally-produced weapons to show up on policemen's hips. Cap-and-ball revolvers, and even single shots, will become more common than up-time revolvers and autoloaders. Wooden batons, both straight and side-handle, will become more common than high-impact plastic side-handles.

  In 1635 the P. D. Looks like this:

  Preston Richards, Chief since 1634

  Vera Mae Markins, Clerk, Files and Records Management

  Carolyn Kay Carpenter, Jail Matron and Head Jailor

  Mimi Rowland, Head Dispatcher

  Ralph Onofrio Jr., Sergeant, Watch Commander

  Un-named, probably a down timer, Sergeant, Watch Commander

  Un-named, probably a down-timer, Sergeant, Watch Commander

  Marvin Tipton, Sergeant, Head of Investigations

  Ed Jordan, Police Recruit Training Supervisor

  Estes Frost, Jr., Corporal, Training Officer

  Horst Stoltz, Corporal, Training Officer

  Jurgen Neubert, Patrolman, First Class Investigator

  Jonathan "Jonnie" Smith, Patrolman, First Class

  Erika Fleischer, Patrolwoman First Class

  Matt Prickett, Patrolman First Class, Juv. Officer

  Melanie Burroughs, Patrolwoman First Class, Child Protection Officer

  Marcus Giamarino, Patrolman First Class, liaison with other law enforcement

  Patrolmen and Patrolwomen: Karl Maurer, Hans Unknown, Gottlieb Unknown, Wilhelm Kramer, Hans Schultz, Hans Shruer, Heinrich Steinfeldt, Gunther Wiener, Emil Zollner, Blake Haggerty and Wilhelm Magen, an M.P. training with the Police Department.

  Dispatchers: Angela Baker, Jill Duvall, Marlene Unknown, and Jim Watteville on the night shift. Besides being a patrolman, Emil Zollner is available as a substitute dispatcher.

  There are at least ten, maybe more, police officers, and one more dispatcher. No jailors have been mentioned in any story, but there should be at least four.

  It appears that Chief Richards is acting as a watch commander as well as handling the responsibilities of being chief. This will change when he has a trained officer able to take a sergeant's slot.

  In the future Chief Richards will also have to add at least one more corporal as a training officer and two more investigators. The Grantville P. D. will continue to grow to meet the needs of the citizens. Also, Ed Jordan is getting a little old at 71 to be an active training supervisor, so there is one more problem for the new chief to consider.

  By 1638, the Grantville P. D. will become quite different from the small town police department it was. It will also be the most advanced police department in the USE. As former chief, it would not be surprising if Dan Frost recommended that the departments he is consulting with send some officers to Grantville for training. This would put the Grantville stamp on most, if not all, the police departments that did so. It is not too far-fetched to imagine that a national, or at least a state, police academy will be formed in or near Grantville, even if the capitol of the State of Thuringia-Franconia were to be moved.

  Flying the Virtual Skies:

  by Sean Massey

  A Brief History and 1632 Perspective on Flight Simulation

  For almost as long as there has been flight, there have been simulators to assist in training would-be pilots in the art of flying. They have evolved from primitive mechanical trainers to electronic cockpits.

  With Grantville leading the creation of an air force in the 1632 universe, there will be a demand for flight simulators. The need won't be immediate, as there are few planes in service with the United States of Europe, but as more are built, and more combat losses occur, simulators will take an important role in training new pilots.

  The standard method of pilot training is placing students in the cockpit with an instructor and teaching them to fly "hands on." In 1633, this method was used to train Hans Richter and the first batch of Air Force pilots. But with few flight instructors, fewer aircraft, and many potential pilots, simulators are sure to become one aspect of the Air Force's training program.

  Pilot Training Before Simulators

  The first attempts at training pilots occurred in aircraft, usually gliders, on the ground. Would-be pilots would be placed in the aircraft, exposed to a headwind, and be given the chance to get the feel of the controls.

  In the early 1900s, there were many attempts at building artificial simulators. The first artificial trainer was developed in 1910 and consisted of little more than two sections of half-barrels. These were moved manually to simulate the motion of an aircraft.

  Another notable attempt was the Saunders Teacher. The Teacher was an aircraft mounted to a joint. Like the glider training methods, it was faced into the wind, and the Teacher's controls responded to the aerodynamic forces. The Teacher and similar devices never caught on due to the unreliable nature of the wind.

  World War I, the 1930's, and World War II

  The outbreak of war in 1914 created a great demand for pilots in the growing air corps of Europe, and along with it, a greater demand for better training methods. Aptitude assessments of potential airmen were instituted, and novel methods of training, such as short-winged aircraft that weren't capable of flight and mounting an aircraft to an overhead gantry or railway cars were tried without success. A few electro-mechanical devices were tried, and the most successful of these was the pneumatically-powered Link Trainer in 1929.

  In the late 1920's, instrument flight training became a higher priority, and trainers were developed or modified to accommodate this. The first instrument trainers required an instructor to manually control the simulation, but later simulators had instruments that were operated by mechanical or pneumatic methods.

  To assist with instrument flight training, a course plotter was developed in the 1930s. This device traced the flight path of the trainer on a chart and allowed instructors to manually control signals from navigation aides.

  The Link Trainer, combined with the course plotter, was the star of the era. In the late 1930s, it had received sales from Great Britain, the Empire of Japan, and American Airlines. By the eve of World War II, it had become the instrument trainer of several major air forces.

  When World War II began advances in aircraft technology increased the need for cockpit training. Trainers were equipped with mock-ups of aircraft instrument panels and fuselages. Later in the war, radar trainers were added to the simulators to create Aircraft Interception Trainers. Other features were added for gunnery instruction and torpedo attack training.

  The Link ANT-18, known to many pilots as the Blue Box, became the most popular flight simulator of its era. Over 10,000 were built, and they were used in every flight school in the United States and Allied nations.

  One new simulator developed during the war was the Celestial Navigation Trainer. This trainer, which began development in 1939, was designed to train bomber crews on celestial navigation and improve nighttime bombing accuracy. The trainer had room for the pilot, navigator, and bomber. Navigation training was accomplished by a combination of radio aids and the use of a constellation of stars that moved based on the aircraft's supposed location. In addition to this, a series of photographic plates were suspended below the simulator for bomber training.

  The Electronic Era

  The shift away from mechanical simulators began around the same time as the Link Trainer was developed. The first mention of electronic flight simulators was in 1929, but practical developments didn't begin until ten years later with the development of an electronic analogue computer at MIT.

  The first electronic flight simulators were put into service in 1941 in Great Britain. They were primarily used for Aircraft Interception Radar trainers.

  Following World War II, simulators moved away from motion systems to fixed-base systems. It was argued that the pneumatic motion systems could not simulate the forces a pilot experienced in flight correctly, and while the Link company disagreed, they eventually produced fixed-base trainers.

  Commercial airlines adopted electronic simulators about the same t
ime that the military did. Curtis-Wright delivered the first Boeing 377 Stratocruiser simulator to Pan-Am Airlines in 1948. This became the first full simulator owned by any commercial airline. This simulator lacked visual and motion features which gave it a feeling of being unreal, but it was used to train flight crews for emergency situations.

  The electronic simulators of the 1940s and 1950s used analogue computers. Analogue computers are a form of computers that use either electrical or mechanical methods to model a problem that needs to be solved. The reliability of analogue computers was limited, and the operations of simulators were consequently limited to twelve hours. Another problem with analogue computers was inflexibility; they couldn't run several different programs as can a digital computer. Unfortunately, digital computers of the time didn't have the processing ability to handle real-time simulation.

  By the 1970s, the digital computer, now fast enough for simulation support, had replaced analogue computers in simulators for airlines and the military.

  When Link sold the electronic simulator to the United States Air Force in 1949, it didn't include a system for simulating motion. At the time, Link had argued that it was necessary for pilot training, but his customers disagreed. This trend would continue through the mid-1950s.

  Redifon, a British simulator manufacturer, was asked to build a simulator for the Comet IV that included a system for simulating pitch motion. This led to the development of more advanced systems that eventually simulated all six degrees of freedom.

  Modern simulators come in many varieties. Simulators for commercial airliners and larger military aircraft tend to be large, cab-like structures that are equipped with full-motion systems and full cockpits while simulators for smaller aircraft such as fighters and helicopters tend to be fixed-base simulators without motion.