I've been a public-safety dispatcher for the last 15 years now for 2
agencies (1 full-time, 1 on-call), dispatching PD/FD/EMS. I disagree with
the statement that 10-codes are losing popularity. At least in this
God-forsaken Hell of northern NJ 10-codes seem to be holding their own.
Both agencies I work for are in the same county of northern NJ and each of
the 2 police departments use their own 10-code list. The FD in the
full-time agency also has their own 10-code/signal list. The EMS unit uses
some of the PD 10-codes. The dispatchers and officers use a mixture of
10-codes/signals and plain english. The supervisors, including the comm
center supervisors, do not enforce the use of either style. Their only
concern is that we are clear, precise, and professional-sounding on the
radio. The on-call agency only has 10-codes/signals for the PD, and again
there is no enforcement of either style, just be professional on the air.
However, most dispatchers strive to be as professional as possible and use
the 10-codes/signals.

From a security standpoint the 10-code/signals do nothing. Anyone who
listens to an agency for even a short amount of time will be able to figure
out what the 10-codes/signals are. We're all scanner buffs here and I
venture to say that almost every single one of us didn't know what we were
listening to when we first set up our first scanner. But after a short
amount of time we figured it out.

My opinion is that 10-code/signals are fine for everyday ops involving just
your agency. Those incidents that require multiple jurisdictions are
obviously candidates for plain english. Again, security is not an issue
here.....look at how many media helicopters, TV and radio news vans show up
during a multi-agency event. Everybody is listening to their scanners...if
they weren't they wouldn't be there. What is an issue is the ability for
agencies to work together on a common frequency (such as SPEN in NJ) with no
misunderstanding. If there is sensitive information to be relayed it can
(and has been already) relayed via cell-phone or Nextel.

It'll be interesting to see what happens in the next few years. Now...can
somebody get me out of this Hell that is NJ????? I HATE THIS STATE!!!!!

--
.....lately it occurs to me....what a long, strange trip it's been.