The founder of DISPATCH Monthly Magazine and good friend Alan Burton died peacefully on Wednesday at his home in Vacaville (N. Calif.) at age 73. Alan started his career in 1959 as a Communication Clerk for the Contra Costa (Calif.) Sheriff’s Department, where his father was a Captain. After two years of working for $295 a month, he became a deputy sheriff, and was continually promoted through the ranks to the position of Captain. At one point he was put in charge of the department’s communications center, sparking an interest that led him to create DISPATCH Monthly Magazine, and to become a source of information and wisdom on the subject of public safety communications. He was a long-time and honored member of both APCO and the Radio Club of America. After retirement in 1984 he continued to work as a consultant and became a prolific writer, authoring many reference books, and eventually turning to fiction. He had finished his third novel just before he died. His granddaughter Cheryl continues the tradition by working as a Contra Costa County Sheriff’s dispatcher.
On a personal level, Alan was a mentor, advisor and humorist. He was a significant figure in my professional career, rekindling my interest in writing and pointing me in the right direction as I changed jobs a couple of times. He had a technical mind and was an expert on all things radio. Perhaps those skills came from his father George, who is generally credited with developing the concept of the radio repeater while he for the Contra Costa County (N. Calif.) Sheriff’s Department. But beyond Alan’s technical skills, he was a people person, always willing to discuss a question, problem or issue with me, and to point out solutions.
He developed one of the first training manuals for dispatchers, and wrote many other guides on the topic of public safety dispatching. He served as editor of “9-1-1 Magazine” for several years, and was a contributor to the “IMSA Journal” until mid-2006. He tackled small projects for friends and huge technical projects for a San Francisco consulting firm. He was as busy a person as I’ve ever met, and every “retirement” he took only seemed to shift him from one interest to another, instead of actually reducing his activities.
He was afflicted with ALS, and was gradually less active and mobile. But his wit, intellect and memory was still keen when I visited him in Feb. 2007 to talk about his early years in public safety dispatching and law enforcement.
About 75 persons attended a memorial service for Alan on Oct. 24th in Martinez, including a Contra Costa Sheriff’s honor guard and bagpiper. The family requests donations be made in lieu of flowers to the ALS Association of the Greater Bay Area, www.webba.alsa.org.
Check here for a photo of Alan (far right) and the windmill-powered mobile command center he helped create.
Also read Alan’s own account of his early life.
Check Alan’s 2002 novel “Terrorist” on the Amazon Web site, or his book, “Duty! A Cop’s Story” here.
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