Police codes

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Sorry if this is the wrong forum for this. I figured it should go in here because its a question better answered by LEO's, though it is not necessarily Legal, and is definately not Political. I was wondering about police radio codes. After looking through a list of them, there must be hundreds of them. Are LEO's required to memorize all of these, or is there a book or a cheat sheet that you guys have for you to look at whenever you need it?

Also, there seems to be a few that are not always the same (based on the the department) but is there pretty much a standard for all Police Codes, or is there really no way of telling what department will use each code for, unless you're employed by them?

One last thing...this is the most complete list that Ive managed to find. It seems fairly accurate from what I know (almost nothing) can a LEO on this forum look this over and tell me if this is accurate? I have one question about 10-41 and 10-42 on that list however. 10-41 is supposed to be "start of duty" and 10-42 is supposed to be "end of duty". I cant remember what they said those two codes are, but theyre not what I said above.

Heres the site: http://faculty.ncwc.edu/toconnor/polcodes.htm
 
I could be wrong but I thought after 9/11 the 10 codes were abandoned for plain English. This would have been due to the fact that different departments used different 10 codes, making it difficult to communicate with other agencies...it would be like speaking different languages. On a day like 9/11 I can imagine the confusion between departments.
 
They vary by dept, as stated. Some agencies primarily use signals rather than 10-codes.

That's sort of sensitive-but-unclassified info. If you can't find it on your own, people are going to be leery of giving it to you. There are plenty of online scanning resources, like radioreference.com. Try them.
 
Police radio communications

"Ten codes" and police signals have been an evolving thing for many years. They change as needed, and from one agency to another. Most of them originated during the early days of two way radio communications, when the low-band frequencies were subject to a great deal of interference, static, and long range "skip." Sometimes agencies intentionally set up their service codes to differ from those of other outfits who shared the same frequency, some distance away. This was supposed to prevent confusion.

I recall in the 1960s, at least three sets of "codes" for traffic accidents. A minor collision, without injuries, could be a "Signal 1," or "an 81," or a "10-76 minor." One with injuries was a "signal 2," an "82," or a "10-76 major."

Probably the most famous set of "signals" or "codes," popularized by TV and movies, are those based on the California Penal Code - - A two-eleven is an armed robbery, a 187 is a homicide, four-five-nine for burglary, and so forth.

Another area of difference had to do with states of "service.' In general, 10-8 was in service, and 10-7 was out of service. But an officer might radio, "Unit 3116, 10-41," indicating "Beginning tour of duty." At end of shift, he/she would announce status as 10-42. When arriving at a call for service, an officer might say "10-23," and when clear, "10-24." Some places, this used to be 10-97 and 10-98, respectively.

Notice that the link you provided has a large number of references to teletype communications. This is a thing of the past. It is a rare agency where at least the suplervisors and investigators do not have cellular telephones at hand, and probably a majority of patrol units have in-car mobile computers for dispatching.

Even where voice radio is used, in the past ten years or so, there has been a trend away from such number jargon. Advances in radio technology, crystal clear signals, private bands, trunked high frequencies, encoding, and such have all but erased the need for such, and clear language transmissions are pretty much the order of the day.

As long as there are cops on the street, though, someone will be transmitting, "Ten-four." :D

Best,
Johnny
 
Are LEO's required to memorize all of these, or is there a book or a cheat sheet that you guys have for you to look at whenever you need it?
Click to expand...
Dispatch: "Check on a signal 45, intersection of 5th & Washington"

Unit: "10-4"

Silence.....

Text appears on MDT's: "Anybody know what the heck a sig. 45 is??"

Silence.....

Finally, from a brave soul: "No idea, anybody got a code sheet?"

Reply: "Got one in my locker.... somewhere"

Cell phone call to dispatch: "OK, I give; what the &$%# is a sig. 45???"

Dispatch: "Gotcha! It's a traffic light outage"

:D :D :D

Then there's the infamous "Signal X". I'll leave that one to your imagination, but it involves a, uh... necessary stop :D .

The trend is going towards plain speech, but there are times codes are necessary for officer safety. If I'm talking to someone and dispatch finds a "hit" on that person, I don't want him finding out at the same time I do. So we use a signal, along with "Mike" for misdemeanor warrant, "Frank" for felony, and of course, "Charlie" for caution.
 
Ahh...I gotcha all. It makes more sense for police departments to use plain speech now, or atleast abbreviated speech, as a few of you said, radio signals are much clearer.

Blackwater-I was just wondering, because you always hear LEO's use codes on any cop shows, like Third Watch, Cops, Real Stories of the Highway Patrol, Worlds Wildest Police Chases...etc...and I was reading some of them to see what some of them meant, and there was hundreds of them, so I was just wondering if LEO's are required to memorize all of them. I didnt understand how LEO's seem to speak the codes so fluently and know what they mean right from the bat without having to look at some kind of book that has a listing of them all.

One more question: Example-You're running a plate to check if the car comes back stolen. To try and avoid any confusion, you use words in place of letters. Is there a set word for each letter, or do you just quickly think of a name...etc that starts with that letter?
EDIT: Over the radio I meant....Im sure you guys run plates on your computer, just giving an example. If for some reason you had to call in a plate over the radio
 
Depends. There are two APCO phonetic codes. A could be adam or alpha. Codes and styles of communication vary widely. NYPD/FDNY use K quie a bit. My system used BY for ending a request for radio a la standing by. I worked with NYC and our radio communications were a little difficult until we picked up on each others lingo. One confusing issue is calling for aid and assistance in an emergency. California uses 11-99, NYC uses 10-13, Kentucky uses Signal 7 and even halting emergency response is not the same. Code 4 is not universal. There is a triage style radio form being developed for disaster response. Colours are being tried out for response levels. Check over at www.apco.com for current dispatch protocols. My agency used a numbering system for racial descriptions until the ACLU stopped its use by a court challenge.
 
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It can get pretty confusing, especially when there are multiple agencies involved. I'm noticing more and more agencies are going to "Signal Zero" for officer needs help / officer down. That "zero" really stands out from other radio traffic.
 
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