Portland Police Bureau radio protocol

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V_A_R_I_A_B_L_E

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While listening to Portland and being fairly familiar with their codes, I've come across a few that I don't recognize...

For example, I've heard some calls cleared by an officer with what seem to be phonetics, such as "Clear Frank".

When signing off for a shift, I've heard what sounds like "10-7, 9"...?

Is there, or can someone post, a more extensive list of PPB radio codes? The only thing I'm aware of to this point is here: Portland Police Scanner | Portland, Oregon Crime & Emergency Dispatcher Calls | – OregonLive.com

Thanks in advance.
 

joescanner

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While listening to Portland and being fairly familiar with their codes, I've come across a few that I don't recognize...

For example, I've heard some calls cleared by an officer with what seem to be phonetics, such as "Clear Frank".

When signing off for a shift, I've heard what sounds like "10-7, 9"...?

Is there, or can someone post, a more extensive list of PPB radio codes? The only thing I'm aware of to this point is here: Portland Police Scanner | Portland, Oregon Crime & Emergency Dispatcher Calls | – OregonLive.com

Thanks in advance.

The call disposition ("clear") codes changed recently when PPB (and all other agencies dispatched by BOEC) switched over to a new CAD system. I don't know what the exact "translations" are but you will no longer hear "S1", "Y3", etc. for "clear codes", but the new "David", 'Frank", etc.

The 10-code that PPB uses for end-of-watch is 10-79 which is pronounced by the majority of officers as "ten seven nine".

joe
 

V_A_R_I_A_B_L_E

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The call disposition ("clear") codes changed recently when PPB (and all other agencies dispatched by BOEC) switched over to a new CAD system. I don't know what the exact "translations" are but you will no longer hear "S1", "Y3", etc. for "clear codes", but the new "David", 'Frank", etc.

The 10-code that PPB uses for end-of-watch is 10-79 which is pronounced by the majority of officers as "ten seven nine".

joe

Ok, that makes sense.. So the list of ten-codes on the oregonian website is obviously not all-inclusive.. Does anybody know where to find more info on this?
 

pdxbofh

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I posted these back in May but I guess the thread was removed. Maybe we could add them to the database?

A = Arrest
B = Arrest (Cite-in-lieu)
C = Citation
D = Warning
E = FCR (Field interview card)
F = Report Written
G = UTL (Unable to locate)
H = False Complaint / Unfounded
I = Referred to other agency
J = Assignment Completed
 

joescanner

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I thought I had seen them, but then I couldn't find them either. Thanks, Will.

The Wiki is where this should go.
 
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Book

Ok, that makes sense.. So the list of ten-codes on the oregonian website is obviously not all-inclusive.. Does anybody know where to find more info on this?

I got a book from ham radio outlet with a bunch of frequencies and such its called northwest frequency directory, its from 'scanner stuff' and seems to be pretty accurate, it has most of oregon and some of washing ton if i remember correctly and has helped me program my scanner manually, but with the switch to VCAD some of the stuff is probably becoming outdated but i have enjoyed. If i was near the book i would help out more but i'm not even in the same state right now. Goodluck!
 

joescanner

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Ok, that makes sense.. So the list of ten-codes on the oregonian website is obviously not all-inclusive.. Does anybody know where to find more info on this?

The 10-codes on the oregonian are in fact mostly complete. There is a secondary listing hosted here on the wiki.
 

V_A_R_I_A_B_L_E

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Recently I heard a call on North dispatch that turned into a sit-and-watch situation. Officers involved moved that call off of the main net and discussed going to what sounded like "BPD 1" or maybe "VBD 1", I couldn't quite make it out. Anyhow, the radio traffic related to that call subsequently moved to talkgroup 12976, which is listed in the database as "Tactical Operations Division (TOD) Admin". Any clue as to what I heard said? (Guessing this is similar to the Service Desk talkgroup 11248 being referred to sometimes as "Net 8" even though that moniker is nowhere to be found in the RR database.)
 

hillsbjp

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Recently I heard a call on North dispatch that turned into a sit-and-watch situation. Officers involved moved that call off of the main net and discussed going to what sounded like "BPD 1" or maybe "VBD 1", I couldn't quite make it out. Anyhow, the radio traffic related to that call subsequently moved to talkgroup 12976, which is listed in the database as "Tactical Operations Division (TOD) Admin". Any clue as to what I heard said? (Guessing this is similar to the Service Desk talkgroup 11248 being referred to sometimes as "Net 8" even though that moniker is nowhere to be found in the RR database.)

I can't speak to the specific case of the TOD talkgroup. However, it is quite common for dispatch and officers to refer to channels by their position in the radios' channel selector knob. I'm guessing that the Service Desk is called "Net 8" because it's in position #8 of the main memory bank of their Motorola radios.

I hear the same thing in Washington County all the time. For example, WCSO refers to Tac 1 and 2 as "Channel 6" and "Channel 7" respectively. Forest Grove PD refers to their "Records" talkgroup as "Channel 4." They don't have a records department so they use it as a talk/tac channel.
 

V_A_R_I_A_B_L_E

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I can't speak to the specific case of the TOD talkgroup. However, it is quite common for dispatch and officers to refer to channels by their position in the radios' channel selector knob. I'm guessing that the Service Desk is called "Net 8" because it's in position #8 of the main memory bank of their Motorola radios.

I hear the same thing in Washington County all the time. For example, WCSO refers to Tac 1 and 2 as "Channel 6" and "Channel 7" respectively. Forest Grove PD refers to their "Records" talkgroup as "Channel 4." They don't have a records department so they use it as a talk/tac channel.

I have heard the phenomenon you describe while monitoring Portland officers as they discuss switching to another agency's talkgroup. The specific instance was either a Washington state LE agency or a neighboring Oregon LE agency, I can't recall which, but the conversation was one Portland cop trying to help another Portland cop figure out how to switch over to a particular net, and "Ida 9" (obviously phonetic for I 9) was suggested as the appropriate channel to switch to. Does anyone else have any insight into this?
 

hillsbjp

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I have heard the phenomenon you describe while monitoring Portland officers as they discuss switching to another agency's talkgroup. The specific instance was either a Washington state LE agency or a neighboring Oregon LE agency, I can't recall which, but the conversation was one Portland cop trying to help another Portland cop figure out how to switch over to a particular net, and "Ida 9" (obviously phonetic for I 9) was suggested as the appropriate channel to switch to. Does anyone else have any insight into this?

Motorola radios use a system of letters and numbers to describe channels programmed into the radio. Some of their radios have a memory that can hold hundreds of programmed channels. The programmed channels are stored in banks, which are represented by letters (A-Z, depending on the memory capacity of the particular radio). Each channel within each bank is represented by a number. I don't have one of these radios in my possession so I can't tell you how many banks and channels there are. However, since all of an agency's radios have identical or near-identical programming, officers can refer to those channels by their letter and number (I-9, B-4, etc). In this case, I-9 is probably a channel that isn't used very much. Most of the time, the primary dispatch channel is programmed into A-1. In the case of PPB, they probably have a different letter bank for each precinct so that the cars and packsets can be used anywhere in the city. Many radios have a bank or two for interoperability channels as well (MULT A, B, C, interagency patches, VHF/UHF conventional, national emergency channels, etc).
 

PaulNDaOC

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The service net on the old UHF system was referred to as Net-8, perhaps it's just a reference that continued to stick around.
 

V_A_R_I_A_B_L_E

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Motorola radios use a system of letters and numbers to describe channels programmed into the radio. Some of their radios have a memory that can hold hundreds of programmed channels. The programmed channels are stored in banks, which are represented by letters (A-Z, depending on the memory capacity of the particular radio). Each channel within each bank is represented by a number. I don't have one of these radios in my possession so I can't tell you how many banks and channels there are. However, since all of an agency's radios have identical or near-identical programming, officers can refer to those channels by their letter and number (I-9, B-4, etc). In this case, I-9 is probably a channel that isn't used very much. Most of the time, the primary dispatch channel is programmed into A-1. In the case of PPB, they probably have a different letter bank for each precinct so that the cars and packsets can be used anywhere in the city. Many radios have a bank or two for interoperability channels as well (MULT A, B, C, interagency patches, VHF/UHF conventional, national emergency channels, etc).

Ah got it, thanks!

The service net on the old UHF system was referred to as Net-8, perhaps it's just a reference that continued to stick around.

Mystery solved! Weird colloquial things that persist from earlier times are always interesting to find out about. (And as I suggested in another forum post, it probably couldn't hurt to add the "Net 8" reference to the database description for that talkgroup to help out new listeners.) Now to try to stump you double-or-nothing, anyone have a clue as to how the heck did the CHIERS van assumed the completely unique designation of "Willie 26"?
 

V_A_R_I_A_B_L_E

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Recently I heard a call on North dispatch that turned into a sit-and-watch situation. Officers involved moved that call off of the main net and discussed going to what sounded like "BPD 1" or maybe "VBD 1", I couldn't quite make it out. Anyhow, the radio traffic related to that call subsequently moved to talkgroup 12976, which is listed in the database as "Tactical Operations Division (TOD) Admin". Any clue as to what I heard said? (Guessing this is similar to the Service Desk talkgroup 11248 being referred to sometimes as "Net 8" even though that moniker is nowhere to be found in the RR database.)

After further monitoring I'm 99% sure the TOD talkgroup was referred to as "TPD 1".
 
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