Yes social media is normally a waste of time. But there are some worthwhile pages that one can friend and actually learn about your community. As an avid reader of varying genres, I find Facebook to be a good way for me to not only keep in touch with friends, but to keep in touch with fields that interest me. I know most people today know how to use FB and since I still carry a flip phone, I will not try to impress you with my knowledge of the World Wide Web. I will give you some of the pages I frequent, and hope maybe my readers will find some of interest to them.
The first page I enjoy is the “Dayton Police History Foundation Inc. DBA: DPH Foundation”. This site posts history about the Dayton Police Department. Having grown up in Dayton, I always was interested in the Department. Even when they had to ugly robin’s egg blue cruisers and had the “Daisy Patrol.”
This site has a lot of old photographs and I love to see the old time police officers of a hundred years ago. The police department’s actions during the 1913 Flood is chock full of photo’s of the City, its police and firefighters. I love the old photos of proud uniformed officers who carried only a pocket gun and a billy. The map showing West Dayton and East Dayton and the route an officer would use to take a prisoner to the Station House must have been well known and I bet more than a few officers were ambushed by friends and family of the prisoner while enroute. There was no radio to call for help or a cruiser to speed away in.
The old Dayton Paddy Wagons with a team of horses was nothing more than a box with bars and a door on a wagon. Those pictures and the police teams who drove them are seen throughout the posts.
I especially enjoy seeing the old photographs of Dayton Police Officers I have known over my career. The Koerner Brothers I worked with at Sinclair College Campus Security. The Mortimer brothers who both gave their lives in the line of duty and taught me forensic sciences.
There are memorial postings of Dayton Officers who died in the line of duty. I even knew some of them or their brothers and fathers who were also DPD Officers.
The Crime Lab Police Officers and employees who like me are now all retired or no longer with us. If you enjoy old police photos and history, go and friend this site. There are also books written about infamous Dayton murders, crime sprees, The 1913 Flood and DPD and the Civil Riots of the 1960’s.
Another page I enjoy perusing is the Dayton History page. It has a lot of old photos of Dayton buildings and landmarks. You may see some you have forgotten over the years. Like the Old Dayton Arcade, canals and locks, factories around town and so on.
Other pages I friended and get information is the Miami County Sheriff’s Office, The Tipp City Police Department, Vintage Western and Tack Shop for photos of the 1800’s Western topics. I also follow the Ohio State Patrol and the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office. Maybe one of the pages I describe here will pique your interest enough to give them a look.
