three questions about police jargon and procedure

[AuntBee09]

first: what’s “INTEROP” mean?

second: I know what “rp” means, but what’s “ro”?

third (the most important question): when police clear the air on a talkgroup because of some important thing happening (and you usually hear the beeping), is it true that all other calls are not dispatched until the air is opened again? and if true, then why . . ? i mean, why don’t police just switch channels when they want clear-air so then the police not assigned to the priority case/call could still get dispatched to less priority cases else where. And also, wouldn’t the talkgroup be really confusing after the air opened from being closed a long time because everyone would be talking over each other trying to replay information they held off on doing while the air was closed? I'm not trying to be critical, I just am wondering lol. Hope you all had a good new year. Thanx, ttyl

 

[Colin9690]

Interop means "Interoperability" which means other departments being able to communicate with each other. An example of this is a channel that is used by both the city police and fire departments so they can communicate with each other if needed.

When you hear the emergency beeps, and the dispatcher says something like "Emergency traffic only", or "Clear the air" means that only cars with an emergency are allowed to transmit. However, if they need to dispatch other units to non-emergency calls, they will send them the run and the address through MDT. MDT stands for Mobile Data Terminal, and this is how alot of departments send the runs when the channel is "Emergency traffic only".

I believe RO means "Reporting Officer".

Hope This Helps,

 

[dustin486]

1) Interop is where different agencies help each other.

2) not sure.

3) They do switch to another channel. Normally they say the channel... for instance here they say "10-33 Emergency traffic only, all other traffic go to 3." All places should do that. The only place I could see them not doing it would be some really small mayberry type town.

 

[K7MRT]

R/O could mean several things........

1/Restraining Order; and 2/Registered Owner in reference to a vehicle.

Others ??


And as far as closing the air... yes that channel becomes closed and reserved for priority traffic for those cars on that incident. Assinging the air as "Closed", SHOULD trigger normal traffic to another channel, and units NOT on the call need to monitor their backup channel for routine traffic. At least that is how its supposed to work where I monitor. The other option is to assign the incident to another channel, but, in a high risk incident you dont want officers fumbling with their radios, when technically they are probably drawing a weapon.

 

[Stavro35]

In my old hometown when there was an emergency or even that would tie up a channel/talkgroup. they did "clear the air". But if the incident was going to take any length of time, they'd move the communications to another channel.

In the case of R.O. in this case I think it's short for reporting officer. I could be wrong. I have a friend with SPD (Seattle police) I'll ask her.

 

[im800mhz]

r/o is registered owner

 

[ac7nu]

R/O Is for registered owner, and any time they clear the ch. for emergency traffic only, we will move to ch.2 or so on untill they tell us that ch.1 is an open ch. again.

 

[mcgyver911]

R/o

R/O is registered owner of property or a "Restraining Order" depending on the context of the call.
When "Clear Air", "Code 33", or "Emergency Traffic" is designated, all other calls will be dispatched via MDC or MDT (computer or terminal), or another channel that has been previously designated for the particular dispatch system. The main reason for holding the air in an emeregency situation is to allow for all personnel invloved to direct unimpeded access to the net for calling for help. This lets other responders not currently attached to the call to quickly develop a mental picture of the scene and to respond quickly if the situation deteriorates.

 

[AuntBee09]

thanx so much every one! that helps a lot in understanding how police operate. interesting comments/answers about the 2nd and 3nd questions. thanx agian. ttyl

 

[devil505]

RO is also known as "Responding Officer." You may hear it like this: "The RO was 2 blocks from the incident at the time."

 

[AuntBee09]

i have another question: reverse 911

wat's a " reverse 911" . . . i thought it was calling back the RP, but i recently heard a situation where the police where talking about a "reverse 911" and it didn't seem like they were trying to call back anyone. any one know? thanx

 

[K7MRT]

Reverse 911

Reverse 911 is when we in the dispatch center can designate an area within a jurisdiction to receive an emergency notification to a very large group, or neighborhood. For example, there is an armed suspect hiding out in a neighborhood. We can select a midpoint on a map, select a radius, and the computer will generate a phone call to eveyone living within that radius, warning them of a potential danger. Or we have also used it when a child is missing, a disabled person is missing, etc. Thousands of calls can be made within minutes to all residents in the "alert zone".

The problem with it is that then, you might have 30% of them calling 911 to find out if it was a hoax, and/or want full details of what is going on. You can imagine how much this clogs our lines. So we have to be careful how often we use it, and the weigh the risk of not using it at all.

 

[AuntBee09]

Reverse 911 is when we in the dispatch center can designate an area within a jurisdiction to receive an emergency notification to a very large group, or neighborhood. For example, there is an armed suspect hiding out in a neighborhood. We can select a midpoint on a map, select a radius, and the computer will generate a phone call to eveyone living within that radius, warning them of a potential danger. Or we have also used it when a child is missing, a disabled person is missing, etc. Thousands of calls can be made within minutes to all residents in the "alert zone".

The problem with it is that then, you might have 30% of them calling 911 to find out if it was a hoax, and/or want full details of what is going on. You can imagine how much this clogs our lines. So we have to be careful how often we use it, and the weigh the risk of not using it at all.

o ok. thanx. i also looked it up at bpd website and read this: http://www.bellevuewa.gov/Reverse_911_Change.htm . interesting, i think i'll sign up