spd766sgt said:
I work for Solon PD that uses i.d. numbers instead of car numbers,someone here mentioned it's a bad idea,i'm kinda curious why since it works fine? And by the way,soon Univ. Circle PD,which I once worked for,is disbanding.Case Western is becoming a actual Police Dept.
Hi, Sarge. Back when I lived in Cuyahoga Co, (worked in neighboring Bedford for a time), I seem to remember SPD using 68** on-the-air. This was some 10 years ago, though.
It's generally a bad idea to use badge numbers (or unit numbers) as callsigns because in public safety comms, callsigns should carry some on-air meaning other than identifying a certain individual or unit. Using badge numbers as callsigns is not really any better than using first names as callsigns. Someone calls out on the radio "This is Joe". No one knows anything about Joe except that Joe's talking, unless they happen to know something about Joe. But if Joe happens to be working in a certain capacity, and has a callsign based on this capacity, when he calls it out everyone immediately knows something about who's calling other than the guy's first name. Look at your badge number, which is used as a callsign. If you say "766" on the air, I have no idea based on that that you're a boss.
For smaller departments an easy system that cooperates with the suburb interoperability plan could be appropriate. For example, for Solon something like:
6800 Chief of Police
6801-6809 Patrol bosses, decreasing rank/seniority
6811-6839 Patrol officers (3rd digit could indicate shift, no last digits "0")
6841-6849 Other personnel
and so on... this is similar to the callsign plan that I put together for one of my agencies. If someone were to call out "6805", I'd know immediately that it was a Solon boss, and a lower ranking one than 6802. (And just to eliminate confusion, I'd leave badge numbers in the 7** and make the unit numbers some other system entirely.)
As a department grows, it becomes harder to maintain such a system, as the sheer number of personnel would outstrip the ability of this type of callsign system to cope. At some point, the system would have to be converted to one based on beats, zones, districts, etc. Something like Cleveland PD's, for example. Here, the callsigns indicate district, zone, shift, bosses, and sometimes 1- or 2-person car (and other items). 221A is 2nd district, 2nd zone, 1st shift, primary (2-person?) car (I might have the zone and shift flipped here, but the point is still valid).
To sum up, badge number, callsign, and unit number systems should always be kept separate, because they serve different purposes. Badge numbers identify individuals and should never change for the duration of employment of the officer. Unit numbers are unit specific, based on vehicle information, and may change (but usually don't) depending on the status of the unit and fleet operations. Callsigns identify operational significance, and change from time to time to accomodate operations.
Hope this helps.
PS That's interesting info about UCPD and CWRU PD...