"Code 14"

Status
Not open for further replies.

Code20Photog

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Jan 29, 2010
Messages
269
Location
North of Rock, South of Hard Place.
That's what I found also.

To put it in context, TPD had a shots fired call, multiple reporting parties. They arrived, and were directed to a house, they cleared the house, they were in the backyard when they heard a woman scream from about 5 houses down. They went down to that house, the sergeant made entry and called "Code 14"
 
Joined
Dec 4, 2009
Messages
187
Location
brianearlspilner
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.3.3; en-us; DROID2 GLOBAL Build/4.5.1_57_D2G-38) AppleWebKit/533.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/533.1)

Code20Photog said:
That's what I found also.

To put it in context, TPD had a shots fired call, multiple reporting parties. They arrived, and were directed to a house, they cleared the house, they were in the backyard when they heard a woman scream from about 5 houses down. They went down to that house, the sergeant made entry and called "Code 14"

Interesting. I guess most departments use their own versions of codes.
 

PaulNDaOC

Member
Joined
Mar 8, 2009
Messages
598
Code 14 is also the same at LASD.

As a dispatcher I recall it being used just a few times at the direction of a Station Watch Commander or field supervisor at the conclusion of a major incident to direct the many units at the scene to return to their respective patrol areas and handle calls for service.
 
Last edited:

landonjensen

Member
Joined
Jun 23, 2006
Messages
885
Location
Area C
Pasadena PD also uses it for units rolling to a call that are no longer needed. Similar to a code 4 but just advising no further units without the undercontrol.
 

KMA367

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Nov 21, 2002
Messages
1,040
Location
Redwood Coast, N Calif
I found one listing for Long Beach that had it shown as "Resume normal operations". ??????
In 1955 LAPD issued a list of "Major Disaster and Civil Defense Codes" which included a similar meaning Code 14 defined as "Recall [cancel] Code 12 and/or Code 13 in its every form. All officers return to normal duties...."

cdcodes1955.jpg


I don't know if that was LA-specific or a standard set of codes used elsewhere, but it had vanished from LAPD's manuals and training (and memory) sometime before 1966. I've found only one instance of the codes being used, which was during a 1956 nationwide 6-day nuclear attack drill called "Operation Alert" which tested, among other things, the Conelrad radio plan and civil defense readiness on local, state and national levels.
 
Last edited:

W6KRU

Member
Joined
Nov 20, 2008
Messages
3,408
Location
Oceanside, CA
Thanks for the rest of the story. It's seems kind of strange that the code would be used now with such limited and dated use.
 

oracavon

Member
Joined
Apr 24, 2010
Messages
429
Location
Somewhere out west
The agencies I have listened to use it to mean "sufficient units at the scene, no additional units need respond". It's usually used before the situation actually qualifies as code 4. Orange County simply uses the term "sufficient units" rather than "code 14".
 

KMA367

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Nov 21, 2002
Messages
1,040
Location
Redwood Coast, N Calif
The agencies I have listened to use it to mean "sufficient units at the scene, no additional units need respond". It's usually used before the situation actually qualifies as code 4. Orange County simply uses the term "sufficient units" rather than "code 14".
Shows to go you that codes are anything BUT uniform from agency to agency. As I mentioned, "Code 14" has been out of LAPD's vocabulary for a half century. Now there are just two codes meaning that a situation is under control:

CODE FOUR: "No additional assistance is needed at the scene of an incident. A Code Four broadcast directs units not assigned to the incident to return to their assigned patrol areas...

Code Four broadcasts shall include the location and, if known, the nature. For example: “All units Code Four, Pico and Hill, suspect in custody.”​
and
CODE FOUR ADAM: "A Code Four Adam indicates that no additional assistance is needed at the scene of a call, but the suspect is still in the area.

"A description of the suspect (s) should follow. When a Code Four Adam is broadcast, field units not assigned to the call may patrol or strategically post themselves at locations near the scene."​

My most unfavorite use of "Code 4" is the seemingly contradictory and potentially confusing codes that used to, and may still be used by Redding (CA) Police:

Code 4A - Situation Stable, no further assistance needed
Code 4B - Situation NOT Stable, continue assistance​

I was once involved in an incident there, when a drunk guy came along smacking the sides and windows of cars with his skateboard. An officer arrived, and the suspect got belligerent and a fight ensued. The officer tried to call for assistance, but apparently all the dispatcher heard was "Code 4..." She must have asked him five times "was that Code 4A or Code 4B?" By then we had helped him get the guy under control, but there was one REALLY ticked-off cop, blaming the radio and the dispatcher, when IMHO the fault really lay with having exactly opposite meanings to two codes that differ by only one syllable.
 

finaldraft151

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Dec 21, 2010
Messages
31
Location
Lancaster / East Los Angeles
LASD Code 14

Code 14 is also the same at LASD.

As a dispatcher I recall it being used just a few times at the direction of a Station Watch Commander or field supervisor at the conclusion of a major incident to direct the many units at the scene to return to their respective patrol areas and handle calls for service.

LASD "Code 14" = Resume normal operations.

Like PaulINDaOC said, it is seldom used, if at all. I'm not sure if it was ever even frequently used, but the few times I have heard it used or been requested to relay a "Code 14" to field units was after the conclusion of a major incident - 998's, termination of a pursuit or when a pursuit was 10-22'd (cancelled) by a Station Watch Commander or Supervisor.

In plain English, stating "Code 14" means that an incident is Code 4 (no further assistance needed) and that personnel can return back to their respective areas and resume handling their assigned calls... Until the next 10-33 traffic and assistance request comes in.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top