clfe wrote:
Here - before "our" 911 system came on
board - the 10 codes tended to vary among
Police units like people's choice of colors
of homes. It could be very confusing...

I used to be the director of communications
at an S.O. Our codes shared SOME common
terms with the PD, others vaired quite a bit.

Example:
Signal 10 (SO) Minor traffic accident
Signal 10 (PD) Armed robbery

So one day one of the local armored car
transporters, who all had the SO frequency
for emergencies, called in and said -
"Advise the PD they have a signal 10
here at the corner of central and 3rd"

Were they reporting a fender bender or
were they reporting that the armored car
had been robbed?

PD, hearing the traffic on their scanners,
went screaming to the scene code 3, to find
a fender bender, no robbery. BTW code 3 meant
"Injury Accident" to yet another local agency.

Another difference:

One agency 10-53 = tow truck
10-54 = ambulance
Neighbor agency 10-53 = ambulance
10-54 = tow truck
Very confusing when one agency sends a terminal
message or comes up on your freq and says
"We have a 53 enroute to XXX location"

I'm a firm believer in plain language.
Although that has it's problems as well.

Example:

DISPATCHER "County units, I'll be off the air
for a few minutes, troubleshooting
in the jail"
Came across to some mobile units as
"triple shooting in the jail"

COUNTY ELECTION OFFICIAL:
"We have a machine gone down in the courthouse"
Came across as
"We have a machine gun down in the courthouse"


Sgt Lumpy