Police Call Signs

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landonjensen

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Sorry if i called them the wrong thing, but when a officer say for example in my dept, 104 Adam, and then another will say 33 Sam, or Victor 1? What do these mean, and how are they different?
 
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Rayjk110

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They are different for each department.

For example, David units are detectives here in my town.


By the way, ever get that ht1000?
 

landonjensen

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yes i did get my HT, actually it is right next to me right now. I love the audio on it, alot better than my PRO 95


Rayjk110 said:
They are different for each department.

For example, David units are detectives here in my town.


By the way, ever get that ht1000?
 
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Rayjk110

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Yeah, audio on moto stuff is amazing compared to scanner crap, which you'll notice.
 

landonjensen

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Also, say someone called 911, and they knew all the 10 codes etc, and they told the dispatch, say i have a 211 in prgress, what do you think that dispatch would think, and would it be faster? I was wondering because my PD got a call today for a 211 in progress, and dispatch told the officers that the PR was using 10 codes.

Rayjk110 said:
They are different for each department.

For example, David units are detectives here in my town.


By the way, ever get that ht1000?
 
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Rayjk110

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Either it was an off duty police officer, or some whacker trying to sound "offical" to the police.
 

fnnm1062

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I think if everyone did that the list would get to be too long and some of that info may already be posted in the specific location database. In addition to that I know I monitor a large area and could provide a lengthy list, but it wont help ou out because I am in Michigan, with this one you may have better luck in a location specific forum.
 

SCPD

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landonjensen said:
Could everyone list what thier dept uses?
Thanks


Some of that information is department sensitive and not for public consumption. If you listen long enough, you will figure out what everything means on your own.

For instance, listen to a dispatcher send out a call and pretend you didn't know 10 codes.

Car 8, I have a 10-16 going on at 123 Anywhere street. The male half is outisde and the 10-17 has locked herself in a room. She says he owns some possible 10-32's, some automatics.


So, what is going on? Pretty easy to read through it. If you want to know what unit numbers are what, listen closely. Detectives will be doing one thing. Chief officers will be doing something else. District cars will only work in certain areas that you can figure out by quanitfying their calls versus a map. You will figure it out, so listen.
 

car2back

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Usually the word part of the designator (i.e. Adam, Baker, ida, etc) stands for a division or beat depending on the dept, and the numer is the officer's badge number or just a call identifier.

Where I used to work, we had the shifts:

Adam: 0600-1400
Edward: 1400-2200
Henry: 2200-0600

and we also had special devisions:

Sam: Administration (sheriff, under sheriff, captains)
Charlie: Prisoner Transport
David: Communications (me!)
Ida: Investigators
John: Jail detention officers

On the database, you can look on the "codes and maps" tab and see if anyone has submited a list
 
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Radio_Lady

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landonjensen said:
Also, say someone called 911, and they knew all the 10 codes etc, and they told the dispatch, say i have a 211 in prgress, what do you think that dispatch would think, and would it be faster? I was wondering because my PD got a call today for a 211 in progress, and dispatch told the officers that the PR was using 10 codes.
It wouldn't speed things up, and would probably slow everything down. Unless they can immediately convince me they're a police officer and they know the codes WE use (every agency uses different code systems), when someone calls me and starts rattling off codes, first thing I say is "Sir/ma'am, please tell me what's happening, in English, don't use codes." There are always "wannabes," or people who've watched one too many episodes of Adam-12, or folks who truly just want to be helpful and who THINK they know all our codes. But we can't afford to assume that they do.

Even with plain talk people often don't know what's really happening, in the legal sense. The most common one, and it comes in many times a day, is "I've been robbed." Does the calltaker just enter it as a "211" (I'm in California)? Nope. You ask "what happened" and they tell you, "I just got home from work and my house was robbed." They probably (but not necessarily) mean "burglarized," of course, but we then have to ask more questions to clarify it. It could be a home-invasion robbery, if someone was home at the time it occurred. It could be a grand or petty theft of something outside the home. It could be a burglary. Or a domestic dispute of some kind. Lots of possibilities and we need to TRY to get as accurate information as we can, to classify the call and give it the appropriate priority, as well as for the safety of the victim and responding officer.

My advice is to use plain language and listen to the dispatcher/call-taker's questions. Some of the things they ask may sound irrelevant or stupid or a waste of time, but for the most part there's a reason for everything they're asking.
 
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w4rez

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I always thought that the use of codes in off the air conversation sounded kinda silly, although I do see where it might help somebody that *has* to use the codes remember them if they use them all the time, even when not on the air.
 

Radio_Lady

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landonjensen said:
Could everyone list what thier dept uses?
Thanks
The FBI says there are about 17,000 law enforcement agencies in the U.S. Which means there are probably about 17,000 different sets of codes and unit "callsigns." Even with consolidated dispatch centers serving multiple departments, each PD will usually have at least a few of its own variations. As the other post said, if you listen long enough and closely enough you should be able to figure out most of the frequently used codes.
 

hotdjdave

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I Wouldn't Trust a Citizen Who Thinks He/She Knows Codes

If I was the dispatcher, I would not trust that a person/citizen was using the proper police codes, 10-codes, whatever.

Say a person says, "there is a 211 in progress right now at my neighbor's house." Now a 211 is a "robbery" in California, being the penal code for robbery. Knowing that many people incorrectly confuse "burglary" with "robbery," I would have to inquire further as to what crime was actually in progress or had been committed. I am sure you all have heard the following: "I've been robbed" or "My house was robbed" after arriving home and finding there house was broken in to, when in fact, only a burglary had been committed. A HOUSE CANNOT BE ROBBED, only a person or people can be robbed. A burglary would be a 459 (CPC).

So therefore, if I was the dispatcher and a normal citizen called in to report a crime using codes, I would ascertain the actual crime (elements, corpus delicti) using plain English, and not trust that the person actually knows the proper codes. Furthermore, the person may know the codes, but the codes may be from a different department than the one the person is calling to report the crime; or the person may think he or she knows the code, but doesn't really know them.

Plain English is usually the best policy; a stigma on me from LAPD.
 

hotdjdave

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Already Discussed.

Oh, now I read Radio_Lady's post and see she already wrote about what I wrote...sorry Radio_Lady.

Great minds think alike!!! ;)


We must have went to the same training. LAPD? Yeah, me too.


ADDED: Actually, that is quite remarkable, it is almost the same. Scary!
 
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car2back

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w4rez said:
I always thought that the use of codes in off the air conversation sounded kinda silly, although I do see where it might help somebody that *has* to use the codes remember them if they use them all the time, even when not on the air.

it's kinda funny how my co-workers and I use ten codes in text messages and on the phone when off duty:

"are you gonnabe at the party tonight?"

"nah, I am gonna be 10-6 at school, then have to study"

"10-4"
 

kingpin

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I've found on the dispatcher side and the user side, it's best to use plain english when calling in over the phone. One Department's 10-89 (dead body) may be another's code for overturned catering trailer. Rattling off a code to sound official would make me question more and take more time.
 

RevGary

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Press Release, Department of Homeland Security (Administrative), 12 October 2005 - regarding statements made at the 112th. Annual International Association of Chiefs of Police Conference:

Law enforcement can keep 10 codes

The Department of Homeland Security has reversed its position on law enforcement "10 codes." During remarks at the 112th Annual International Association of Chiefs of Police Conference, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced that FEMA would not require law enforcement agencies to eliminate the numerical codes they use to communicate with dispatchers and each other.

Ten-code elimination would have brought agencies into National Incident Management compliance, and those that did not move toward compliance would not continue to receive preparedness funding. The codes save time and keep sensitive information confidential, but their definitions vary among localities and make it difficult for different jurisdictions to work together. Chertoff asserted that DHS would work to ensure that "we have a common language system for multi-jurisdiction and multi-agency events."


Does anyone have any updates SINCE October 2005?
 

KE4ASQ

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landonjensen said:
Also, say someone called 911, and they knew all the 10 codes etc, and they told the dispatch, say i have a 211 in prgress, what do you think that dispatch would think, and would it be faster? I was wondering because my PD got a call today for a 211 in progress, and dispatch told the officers that the PR was using 10 codes.

Whacker Alert, Whacker Alert, Will Robinson, *Laughs*
 
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