Police Radio Protocol

Vandal said:

I have a scene in which two police officers talk to each other over the radio. One is a Lieutenant (Carvalho) manning the front desk and the the other is a patrolman (Alvanas) who is in the station garage. This is a small town police force, it that makes a difference.

Here is part of the scene:


"Alvanas here, Lieutenant."

Carvalho turned down the music to hear. "Yes?"

"I'm out here in the garage and, well, you're not going to believe this."

"What is it, Tom?"

Alvanas paused. "You better come out here."

"I'll be right there." Carvalho rushed out the front door...


Would the patrolman identify himself by his last name or is there typically another moniker like "Adam-12"?
No, by number...1125 say.
Than radio dispatch says "go ahead 1125"

Would the Lieutenant use the first name of the patrolman or his last (or other)?
Never a name as dispatch does not want any outsiders to listen or know the chatter

Do I assume correctly that each statement does not need an end word like "over" (which seems annoying)?
Again usually a number for over..1080 or I'm 1026 on the scene.


Unfortunately, I didn't watch a lot of police shows when I was younger.

Thanks.

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ok

That's official chatter, what kimmi just said.

UNofficial chatter - which I unfortunately get to hear all day - is much more . . . pathetic. There's pair, I call them Starsky and Hutch, who bleed over onto our channel, who like to talk about BBQ-ing, spending weekends together, and what their wives are doing.

I'm pretty sure they have no clue we can hear them since they're two counties north - they switch to another channel and bleed into ours, but they can't hear us.

Every day at lunch, like clockwork, it's the Starsky and Hutch show.

But Kimmi has the official chatter right

Vandal said:

Thanks for the input. That sounds much better.

I'm wondering if maybe this should be a cell phone conversation, instead. I see our local cops on cell phones all the time (business only, I'm sure.) No need for jargon.

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If they are on cell phone they are probably talking to their other
Now occasionally they will be asked to return a victims call--and if they are beat officers i.e on the streets they won't have a reg desk or phone.
Now about your LT. He should not be manning a phone but doing administrative duties in his'her office--
At the very least put a beat officer that's on light duty on the phones or get a civilian.

Here's a recent news article that these "radio codes" used by police have been dropped by many departments:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003425144_coptalk14.html
You might have one of your characters "slip" and use a code (a real one you look up), and the other say "Stop using codes! We don't use those anymore."

Ben I'm sitting in a big metro city and the codes are still used here.

As a former police officer, having worked both in a small town and a mid-sized city, there's nothing wrong with that dialogue, esp if it's a small town. The only caveat I'd have is that if it were even a large town, the officer would probably use the word "sir" over the radio, even if they were close friends, as in "You'd better come out here, sir."

P.S. It would not be uncommon for a Lieutenant or Sergeant to address an officer over the radio by his or her first name.

kimmi 57 said:

Ben I'm sitting in a big metro city and the codes are still used here.

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We haven't used "10" codes in years, all we use is plain language now.

rugcat said:

As a former police officer, having worked both in a small town and a mid-sized city, there's nothing wrong with that dialogue, esp if it's a small town. The only caveat I'd have is that if it were even a large town, the officer would probably use the word "sir" over the radio, even if they were close friends, as in "You'd better come out here, sir."

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I've never heard anyone use the word sir on the radio and I've been a dispatcher for 12 years.

All the police departments I dispatch for are pretty darned small, except for the state police.

Most of the officers call each other on the radio by their call numbers...until they get each others attention...so it would go something like this:

"22 to 11"
"go ahead"
"Yeah, Kevin, can you come around to the back of the garage?"

It can be pretty casual at times but as dispatchers we're always trying to stay professional...it's not always easy though!

kristie911 said:

I've never heard anyone use the word sir on the radio and I've been a dispatcher for 12 years.

All the police departments I dispatch for are pretty darned small, except for the state police.

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Different places have different protocols, both official and unofficial.

Larger departments tend to be more formal. That doesn't mean all radio traffic is uptight and proper, but a patrol officer would tend not to use a first name when speaking to a Lieutenant over the radio, even if they were on an everyday first name basis in person. It's considered unprofessional. Since you can tell rank by assigned call numbers, a common exchange might be:

211, 635.
"Go ahead, sir."
"Have you got an eyeball on the car?"
"Affirmative."
"What's he doing?"
"Haven't the foggiest."

"22 to 11"
"go ahead"
"Yeah, Kevin, can you come around to the back of the garage?"

It can be pretty casual at times but as dispatchers we're always trying to stay professional...it's not always easy though!

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That sounds about right.

In my area the city police use just strict numbers. Our county units use letters and numbers.

Such as someone whose badge is D52 would be called on the radio as "david fifty-two". Corporals are 'charles' and sergeants are 'sam' which goes with our phonetic alphabet. The local highway patrol has gone to the same letter/number system.

And depending on the relationship between the officer/dispatcher it can get downright fun to listen to the radio at times.

Just the other night, on an *extremely* slow night, a 'rousing' game of 'six degrees' was being played.

Rabe...

Since we do two counties, we designate our units by their department and number.

Mason County would be "Mason" and their badge number i.e. "Mason 12"

If it's a village or city department such as Shelby it's "Shelby 2".

Everyone does it a little different, so just about anything you come up with will be pretty believable.

kristie911 said:

We haven't used "10" codes in years, all we use is plain language now.



I've never heard anyone use the word sir on the radio and I've been a dispatcher for 12 years.

All the police departments I dispatch for are pretty darned small, except for the state police.

Most of the officers call each other on the radio by their call numbers...until they get each others attention...so it would go something like this:

"22 to 11"
"go ahead"
"Yeah, Kevin, can you come around to the back of the garage?"

It can be pretty casual at times but as dispatchers we're always trying to stay professional...it's not always easy though!

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Yup, asked Hubby and we are the 16th largest Metro City in Nation and yup we use the 10 codes to reduce clutter free up--Yup I just got in his po car and Yup its still 1049 I'm 1089 got 1024 1050 here blah blah blah.
Of course, if and thats if we have a Homeland Security problem hubby says they will drop the 10 codes til its safe and go to talk as Homeland Security advises.. But for now our large Metro city is still using on the 10 codes

rugcat said:

Different places have different protocols, both official and unofficial.

Larger departments tend to be more formal. That doesn't mean all radio traffic is uptight and proper, but a patrol officer would tend not to use a first name when speaking to a Lieutenant over the radio, even if they were on an everyday first name basis in person. It's considered unprofessional. Since you can tell rank by assigned call numbers, a common exchange might be:

211, 635.
"Go ahead, sir."
"Have you got an eyeball on the car?"
"Affirmative."
"What's he doing?"
"Haven't the foggiest."
That sounds about right.

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BTHW Kristie I so admire you and your profession I do know and appreciate the stresses of Dispatching so hugs and thanks_

When I worked at the fire department we used 10-codes just because it sped up the conversation. However, not all departments used the same 10-codes, so sometimes it got confusing. For us, a typical radio exchange would go like this:

Dispatch: Dispatch to AR.
Station: AR, go ahead.
Dispatch: AR, have a report of a Code 2 with possible 43 at Main Street and Terrace.
Station: 10-4, Dispatch, Code with possible 43 Main and Terrace. AR out.
:::switches channels to drop tones within station::: AR to all personnel, Code 2 with possible 43 at Main and Terrace.
Chief: This is 120, I'm 10-17 the Code 2.
Engine 1: 121, 10-17 Code 2.
Station: 10-4, 120, 121, copy you're 10-17.
Eager Volunteer: 165 10-17 Code 2!
Chief: Negative, 165, 10-17 75 (the station)
Eager Volunteer (deflated): 10-4, I'm 17 75.

and so on. For years I found myself talking in 10-codes in everyday life. "Honey, I'm 10-17 the grocery store."

PattiTheWicked said:

For years I found myself talking in 10-codes in everyday life. "Honey, I'm 10-17 the grocery store."

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HA! I know your pain...I answer my home phone, "Central dispatch." And tell my two year old son things like, "Negative, you can't have a snack." Or "affirmative, you can play outside."

Can't seem to help it...

benbradley said:

Here's a recent news article that these "radio codes" used by police have been dropped by many departments:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003425144_coptalk14.html
You might have one of your characters "slip" and use a code (a real one you look up), and the other say "Stop using codes! We don't use those anymore."

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One state does not make a trend, and every police department I've talked to thinks the codes have more benefits than drawbacks. And there are times when plain English can cause mass hysteria on one end, and a whole bunch of rubbernecks on the other.

Codes may be brought into line, but I doubt they'll ever go away.

Just because codes are used does not mean plain English can't also be used, when there's a need. I suspect Virginia will be sorry they did this in the long run.

Good to see I'm not the only dork here.

Whenever I used to be going somewhere I'd tell the wife I'll be 10-51 (enroute) to my 42 (10-42 Home residence), ya need anything on the way?"

It is a habit, specially when you talk the talk for hours on end, week in, week out.

Our county and all the 9 cities or so within it use the same Codes/Signals to make things easier so we at the county level can understand the city kids, and vice versa. So, we have some level of uniformity.

We also have talk-around tacs so the deputies can use plain talk. The county also issues cell phones and those motorola walkie talkie thingies.

In a nutshell, our people and the city people have plenty of means to talkin the open that are relatively secure and not on the open tac that many police buffs would scan.

As for unit IDs. On the offical tac channel they'd use IDs and IDs only. Bravo52 to Bravo5210. Delta 1415 to Roger 1417.

We don't use "over" either. It's usually ends with a code (such as 10-24) message recieved with the time. Military time, not civie time.

"Bravo52, Dispatch 10-24 at 16:14hours."

Now, that's just our counties here in the Seminole/Orange, FLA area. Your mileage might vary elsewhere.

Sorry for the delay, work has kept me busy.

-Bill