Whew.....OK. Here goes: CPD Patrol Bureau currently (well, this week) has 24 Districts. These are the officers assigned to District Law Enforcement. When you call 9-1-1 an event is generated and it is assigned to a District unit. The 238 square miles of city is broken up into geographical subdivisions called "Beats." Listening to any of the 13 radio Zones, you will hear calls given to District units.
Officers in Districts are either "Watch" officers (1st, 2nd and 3rd watch) or "Tactical" officers (usually from 6:00 a.m. til 2:00 a.m.) who are in plainclothes and unmarked vehicles. Tac guys are the "60-series" units, e.g. 1461A, 863C, etc. They have their own office in the District and operate independently from the watch units. They are the plainclothes supplement to the watch officers with the additional responsibility of enforcing Vice laws (narcotics, prostitution, gambling and liquor-license violations) within the District.
"Incident Cars" are WATCH OFFICERS that, on shifts with enough staffing, will operate in plainclothes in unmarked cars and who covertly patrol the streets of the District at the behest of the Watch Commander/Executive Officer ("XO"). These officers usually have a Directed Patrol mission (Gang Members congregating on 63rd St, possible turf war between drug factions, etc) and use the "06" callsigns 1906C, 1206D, etc.
Rapid Response cars are officers assigned to the Watch who cover a general HALF of a District. Districts are comprised of 3 Sectors, specifically the 10, 20 and 30 Sectors, with 3-5 beats per sector. Rapid Response cars are not confined to an individual beat but can roam over half of a district. The Rapid cars are the 40 and 50 series cars. So 2433 is a beat car in the 30-sector where 2452 can float anywhere in the, let's say, east or west side on the 024th District.
Gun Team and Saturation Teams (or any units that are not assigned to District Law Enforcement) are dispatched on a Citywide frequency and have obvious responsibilities. Is there a firebug setting insurance fires in Uptown? Send in the Saturation Team. Someong get ahold of a shipment of Tec-9's and they're showing up in Gresham? Get the Gun Team on the case.
TRU (Targeted Response Unit) and MSF (Mobile Strike Force) have been disbanded and the officers assigned to them have been returned to Districts.
Hope that helps. But, hey.....half the fun is listening,
