call signs

[landonjensen]

Hi
the police dept in my area uses numbers as thier call signs, ie - 204.
Sometimes there will be one that will be say victor 1 or 1 tom. Are these detectives or under cover etc?
anybody know about different call signs for pd's?

 

[NeFire242]

Let me shake my magic globe here... no not working... where are you?!

 

[SCPD]

All callsigns (like codes) vary through out cities, countys, and states. The only way you will get an answer to this question would be to post in your reigonal fourm and see if anybody else lives where you do.

-Dylan

 

[kb2vxa]

Hi Landon and all,

Those aren't callsigns, they're unit identifiers. Callsigns follow the US (ITU Region 2) prefix assignments, for example KB2VXA or KEV657 as Amateur and commercial respectively.

Because agencies are reluctant (to say the least) to divulge "inside information" considerable detective work is required, lots of listening and matching up what you hear. Don't expect a static situation, the unit number is assigned to the radio, not the officer and one may use a different unit depending on the car assignment and portable taken from the charging rack. Each division MAY have it's own radios depending on the size of the agency but still radios do rotate. "One adam twelve" was only a TV show, in real life spotting 1A12 on top of the cruiser doesn't say a thing.

 

[mciupa]

Hey Warren , I think you should change your signature to:

. . . and now you know ..... the rest .. of the story ( a la Paul Harvey) :wink:

 

[STiMULi]

Let me shake my magic globe here... no not working... where are you?!

I'm waiting

 

[mdulrich]

Don't expect a static situation, the unit number is assigned to the radio, not the officer and one may use a different unit depending on the car assignment and portable taken from the charging rack.

Not entirely true. There are some agencies that use badge numbers or some other ID number that doesn't change regardless of what car or what portable they are using.

Mike

 

[jparks29]

Not entirely true. There are some agencies that use badge numbers or some other ID number that doesn't change regardless of what car or what portable they are using.

Mike

or, they'll alias the ID at the console, ala " 1-george 10,I'll be using ID 1809 for the remainder".... at which point they change the "normal" ID, to the alternate ID, so when ID 1809 pops up on the display, it'll say "1-George 10", instead of the "unknown" ID number..although, thats just for ANI purposes.

some agencies use ID numbers that match the car... a local county has ALL marked cars marked with the ID number of the officer, and the ID is the badge number, which is the car number.

other agencies are all messed up, in which they might be issued a radio with ID 1895 in it, a car number 9805,and their badge/id number is 1578,and they'll be using a different unit identifier, like 5-henry 7, AND they could be totally different the next day.......ain't it wonderful???

 

[Astrak]

Hi Landon and all,

Those aren't callsigns, they're unit identifiers. Callsigns follow the US (ITU Region 2) prefix assignments, for example KB2VXA or KEV657 as Amateur and commercial respectively.

Because agencies are reluctant (to say the least) to divulge "inside information" considerable detective work is required, lots of listening and matching up what you hear. Don't expect a static situation, the unit number is assigned to the radio, not the officer and one may use a different unit depending on the car assignment and portable taken from the charging rack. Each division MAY have it's own radios depending on the size of the agency but still radios do rotate. "One adam twelve" was only a TV show, in real life spotting 1A12 on top of the cruiser doesn't say a thing.

I didn't think all of the U.S. was in ITU region 2 or is it?

 

[2112]

Hi Landon and all,

Those aren't callsigns, they're unit identifiers. Callsigns follow the US (ITU Region 2) prefix assignments, for example KB2VXA or KEV657 as Amateur and commercial respectively.

My agencies consider what you consider to be "unit identifiers" to be "tactical callsigns". Other places may consider "unit identifiers" to be "vehicle numbers". So saying that they're not "callsigns" at all may be misleading, depending on the region in question. For more on tactical callsign/unit identifier assignments in relation to badge numbers and fleet vehicle numbers, see my op/ed piece here:

http://www.radioreference.com/forums/showpost.php?p=311405&postcount=10

The preceding posts in the thread give insight into the tactical callsign/ system in use by police departments in Cuyahoga County, Ohio.

 

[kb2vxa]

Hi again,

Oh boy, I never expected that a few examples would open such a can of worms, I'll try to deal with one at a time. (;->)

"Hey Warren , I think you should change your signature to:. . . and now you know ..... the rest .. of the story ( a la Paul Harvey)"

And maybe the salutation to "...- ...- ...- Good evening Mr. and Mrs. America and all the ships at sea."?

"I didn't think all of the U.S. was in ITU region 2 or is it?"

Yes it is, that's what gives consistency to callsign assignments and band allocations around the world. There are variations with island commonwealths and posessions which makes them readily identifiable as separate entities. With US Amateur callsign prefixes Puerto Rico is KP4, Alaska is KL7, Hawaii is KH7 and there are others.

Now cummon guys, numbers stamped on the radios used as unit identifiers was only an example. The concensus was there are a lot of variables so I'm at a loss to understand why all the nit picking. By now the poor guy is thoroughly confused but at least the fact remains you have to BE a detective to FIND the detectives. Meanwhile the two Warrens are "Watchin' The Detectives". (Warren Zevon and Warren Eggers)

 

[pinellasfirefighter]

hmmmm.........

 

[Dougr]

Here in La Habra Orange County California and all other police agencies in Orange County the us the same system. Aim going to us La Habra Because I know it pretty good. Ok so you hear station 21 to unit 21-8-1-3. 21 Is the station # or dispatch for La Habra PD. So all Units in orange county start with their station# (21 station) (8 means it’s a patrol unit) (1means first shift grave yard) (3 means area 3 as La Habra has 4 different area’s) also some other tips

Sam= usually a sergeant

L= lieutenant

Zebra= special detail

 

[YFZBOB]

Adam Administration
Baker Special resource
Charlie Corporal
Frank Forensic unit
Ida Community service officer (ID Units)
Motor Motorcycle traffic unit
Paul Patrol
Sam Sergeant
Tom Traffic unit
Victor Community volunteer patrol
William Wakenhut unit (Jail operations & prisoner transport)

 

[bassmkenk2508]

in summation...

It will vary where you live, and if it has not been determined and posted on RRDB, time and patience will be your own strategy.

I would give some starter tips, but it seems this thread possibly could have been turned into something larger than expected.

But here is a good first step:

ID numbers that have a trend with, say, day shift officers. And separately ones for night shift officers. If the agency does a roll call of some sort at shift change that will be a good opportunity to get a handle on it!

Good luck!

 

[kb2vxa]

Wakenwhat?
Car 54 where are you?

"... but it seems this thread possibly could have been turned into something larger than expected."
(;->) As usual.

"It could be turned into a monster if we all pull together as a team."

"Good luck!"
Yeah, good luck (;->)