Sonoma County SO/Police phonetic unit assignments

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AndrewD

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Ok, I may get slammed for not knowing if this exists or not, but oh well.

Is there a resource for what the different police units correspond to?

For instance, there are various teams that will use a phonetic for the team, such as Edward, followed by the officer's individual number. Sam units are sergeants, King is K9. I believe that Adams are LTs. Tonight I heard a unit call for an on-duty David unit, which made it sound like a special assignment or other agency such as probation. Every once in a while I hear something like this and was wondering if anyone has compiled a database for this type of thing.
 

gg13

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David unit are Detective's. I have found Government Radio Systems guides have been very useful. I have only found them at HRO in Oakland. hope this helps.
 

cousinkix1953

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David unit are Detective's. I have found Government Radio Systems guides have been very useful. I have only found them at HRO in Oakland. hope this helps.
Good luck finding any of this stuff on line. Most of those HRO searches are to store locator map sites. and by the time I found one that resembled a retail website, it was a frigging mess. There was no listing for publications. So I tried scanners and got nothing.

Don't even try Government Radio Systems; because it will find everything but this damned book. I've tried the publisher's name before and got nothing there either...
 

kg6nlw

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You have to visit HRO in Oakland for the books they are worth it! They replace, and then some for me, the old Radio Shack Police Call Books!

Regards,

-Frank C.
 

cousinkix1953

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You have to visit HRO in Oakland for the books they are worth it! They replace, and then some for me, the old Radio Shack Police Call Books!

Regards,

-Frank C.
Those are much better than a POLICE Call book, that was nothing but a FCC records print out sheet. HRO's crappy website is gonna cost them some $$$. I have no plans to visit "CrimeVille" in Alameda county any time soon and certainly not just for a damned book...
 

AndrewD

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I'm guessing the units are pretty standard across the country. I wonder if a simple list of known assignments could be stickied somewhere here, or even created as a database.
 

KMA367

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I have no plans to visit "CrimeVille" in Alameda county any time soon and certainly not just for a damned book...
Good heavens... hundreds of thousands of people live, work, do business and drive through Oakland every day without being bothered. :)

I always had better luck, though, finding Gov't Radio Systems books at HRO's Sunnyvale store, the closest one to where Bob lives (or did live). You can always give 'em a phone call (408-736-9496) and ask if they still carry the volume(s) you want - they do mail stuff. I don't use printed directories much any more, since all the changes in "radioland" make them pretty much out-of-date the minute they hit the shelves.

For the most part unit numbering is pretty unique to each agency, though there are sometimes patterns, especially among adjacent agencies. I've been with three agencies (9 PDs total) and the only things that were "standard" - and that was with just two of them - was "A" for two-man patrol cars and "L" for one-man cars. For everything else the letters and numbering had completely different meanings and patterns.

Check your Private Messages, AndrewD
.
 

selgaran

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I'm guessing the units are pretty standard across the country. I wonder if a simple list of known assignments could be stickied somewhere here, or even created as a database.

You'd be guessing wrong. Unit identifiers can be quite different between neighboring agencies, never mind countrywide. If you are lucky, your county or region may have a semi-standardized system, but even then, each agency is likely to have some unique id's.
 

kloppenator

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Is there a resource for what the different police units correspond to?

None that I've been able to find for SRPD, but they use kind of odd-ball codes as well (11-86 for a traffic stop)
But I've figured a few things out on my own. "Mary" units are motorcycle cops, and "Tom" units are traffic-oriented. But yeah it'd be nice to get the cheat-sheet!
 

sheriff77

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Every agency in Sonoma Co. can be very different. A good example is, an SRPD Edward unit is an officer, in Sebastopol, an Edward unit is an Explorer. Two very different ranks.

Here is what I know for SRPD:

Adam-Administration
Charles-Field Evidence Tech's
David-Detective
Edward-Officer (day shift?)
Frank-Officer (I believe swing shift or gravyard shift)
George-Officer (unknown shift)
King-K9
Lincon-Officer (unknown shift)
Mary-Motor units
Nora-Unknown
Ocean-Officer (day shift)
Robert-Officers (unknown shift)
Sam-Sergeants
Tom-Traffic officers
Union-Officer (unknown shift)
Victor-Downtown Officers
Yellow-Special event officers (often used at events held at the fair, or other highly populated events)
 

sheriff77

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Here's what I know for SCSO:

Adam-Administration (High rank deputies)
Charles-Community Service Volunteers or "transport units"
David-Detective
Frank-Deputies
George-Deputies
Henry-Helicopter (Henry-1)
John-Deputy
King-K9
Mary-Marine unit
Sam-Sergeant
X-Ray-Magnet Team (Gang Unit)

Thats not all, but thats all I know of off the top of my head. Hope that helps.
 
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