I occasionally hear a unit mark up with the prefix "Scout" before the unit number. Just curious what sort of unit this is? Is this an unmarked unit or something else?
Unless I am mistaking all of the patrol units are technically "Scout" units. A marked patrol car is a scout car. So for example "Scout 411C" is just another way of saying "411C". Supervisors designators however are "Cars" i.e. "Car 70C" would be a sergeant for West Springfield. They dont always say the scout part as you mentioned.
No problem. I personally find fairfax's radio designators to be a bit confusing myself. I like they way we do it down in PWC. Each officer has their own designator.
Hello. Looks like Samuel has it right. A friend of mine who works at that dept. just emailed me with the answer:
The prefix "scout" merely means a regular patrol officer working a beat.
DavidNVA said:
I occasionally hear a unit mark up with the prefix "Scout" before the unit number. Just curious what sort of unit this is? Is this an unmarked unit or something else?
Thank you all for asking and answering that question! I've been meaning to post this myself for months and now I have the answer and you're right, it could be a lot simpler. Probably a hold-over from a previous time/radio system. Thanks again.
Thank you all for asking and answering that question! I've been meaning to post this myself for months and now I have the answer and you're right, it could be a lot simpler. Probably a hold-over from a previous time/radio system. Thanks again.
The previous posts hit the nail right on the head - and it is a hold over from their previous radio system, where the system would sometimes cut off the first bit of a transmission, so all you'd hear is "...Hundred adam" instead of "Four Hundred adam", so they started using scout and car, because who cares if that gets cut off. Not as much of a problem with the newer system, but it just never got removed from the GOs - at least that's what a dispatcher told me