ShawnCowden
Member
Police codes will not be scrapped
By Dean Manning / Staff Writer
Posted-Monday, October 10, 2005 10:50 AM EDT
The Department of Homeland Security has issued a new directive reversing a mandate that local law enforcement agencies drop the use of codes“ in their radio traffic.
Jason Keller, chief public affairs officer for the department's Kentucky office, said as part of a policy to improve communications among first-response units, local law enforcement agencies were going to be required to switch to plain language for radio traffic by October 2006.
”I don't know exactly why this was changed, but at a meeting of the National Association of Police Chiefs, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff stated that the 10 codes would remain in use,“ Keller said.
Keller said while the majority of the 10 codes are the same, there are some variances from department to department and that could inhibit communication between agencies in the event of an emergency that required numerous agencies to work together.
Laurel County Sheriff Gene Hollon said he was not happy about the prospect of his department being forced to drop the 10 codes. Hollon said eliminating the 10 codes would have hurt communication between officers.
”Without the 10 codes, what you can say in a couple of words would take two or three sentences,“ Hollon said. ”That would have just increased the amount of time it takes to communicate and the amount of radio traffic.“
In addition, Hollon said 911 dispatchers would have had to been retrained to use plain language.
By Dean Manning / Staff Writer
Posted-Monday, October 10, 2005 10:50 AM EDT
The Department of Homeland Security has issued a new directive reversing a mandate that local law enforcement agencies drop the use of codes“ in their radio traffic.
Jason Keller, chief public affairs officer for the department's Kentucky office, said as part of a policy to improve communications among first-response units, local law enforcement agencies were going to be required to switch to plain language for radio traffic by October 2006.
”I don't know exactly why this was changed, but at a meeting of the National Association of Police Chiefs, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff stated that the 10 codes would remain in use,“ Keller said.
Keller said while the majority of the 10 codes are the same, there are some variances from department to department and that could inhibit communication between agencies in the event of an emergency that required numerous agencies to work together.
Laurel County Sheriff Gene Hollon said he was not happy about the prospect of his department being forced to drop the 10 codes. Hollon said eliminating the 10 codes would have hurt communication between officers.
”Without the 10 codes, what you can say in a couple of words would take two or three sentences,“ Hollon said. ”That would have just increased the amount of time it takes to communicate and the amount of radio traffic.“
In addition, Hollon said 911 dispatchers would have had to been retrained to use plain language.
