What is "public service"??

[sfleuriet]

I've heard local officers frequently ask other officers to "public service" them.

Ex: "Will you please public service me when you get the chance?"

Any idea what that means?

 

[KE5BCP]

Call them on a phone (not on the air).

 

[sfleuriet]

Ahhh... gotcha. Thanks

 

[mfn002]

This brings up a question that I has been driving me nuts for years:

Why do they call it "Public Service"?

I've talked to a sherriff deputy who has been in Law Enforcement for over 30 years and he doesn't know why!

 

[sfleuriet]

I was thinking it may be some private channel, but I guess not.. I'm a little disappointed.

I'll be at SHSU too next semester... how is the scanner activity down there?

 

[josephdavis13]

It's a phone system that the Public uses. In the old days before Cell Phone Police Officers went to phone booths or pay phones to use public service now it Cell Phones on their belts.

 

[bmacc]

Makes sense that they use a traditional term; it would probably be confusing for them to say something like "call me" cause I guess that could mean many different things.

 

[Montz816]

Also depends on you location but if you hear 'send me a 21' also means call me.

 

[Firetxmi]

Also, "give me a TX", or "TX me" is another way of saying it.

Just thought I'd add one more!

 

[bpckty1]

I also hear, "call me on my cell phone/Nextel, etc.".

 

[WX5JCH]

Call public service goes way back to when you were issued a bag of nickels and called into the base every so often to see if you had any calls. A lot of towns didn't get call boxes like some big cities.

Jim

 

[sfleuriet]

I do also hear simply "call me on my cell", so I wonder why they are using lots of different terms. Oh well.

 

[VintageJon]

And "21 me" or some such 10-21 referance. (You may recall 10-21 is a telephone call.)

"Is your 21 on?" is often heard here.

73,
Jon

 

[sfleuriet]

Well then all I need is a cellular scanner!! haha..

 

[RodStrong]

I always thought that term was goofy. In Colorado, a lot of agencies in the southwest part of the state refer to it as "landline", as in, "I'll give you a landline" (I'll call you). Weird.

 

[scannerfreak]

It was my impression that it started when an officer was assigned a call that did not or possibly does not warrant a physical response so the dispatcher would have the officer call them on the phone as a "public service". The officers eventually started using it often to mean phone call. This is how is was explained to me and could be location specific.

 

[bpckty1]

RodStrong wrote:

"I always thought that term was goofy. In Colorado, a lot of agencies in the southwest part of the state refer to it as "landline", as in, "I'll give you a landline" (I'll call you). Weird."

This term is used often by the military. I guess it carried over from from veterans.
__________________

 

[n4voxgill]

telephone companies are regulated by state Public Service Commissions, or Public Utility Commissions. I think a few states my still use the state railraod and public utility commissions. This led many agencies to adopt the term publc service instead of just saying call me.