Police code

Short description: Brevity codes used by law enforcement

A police code is a brevity code, usually numerical or alphanumerical, used to transmit information between law enforcement over police radio systems in the United States . Examples of police codes include "10 codes" (such as 10-4 for "okay" or "acknowledged"—sometimes written X4 or X-4), signals, incident codes, response codes, or other status codes. These code types may be used in the same sentence to describe specific aspects of a situation.

Codes vary by state, county, and agency. It is rare to find two agencies with exactly the same ten-codes, signals, incident codes, or other status codes. While agencies with adjacent or overlapping jurisdictions often have similar codes, it is not uncommon to find differences even within one county or city. Different agencies can have codes dissimilar enough to make communication difficult. There are similarities among popular sets of 10-codes.[1]

The topic of standardized codes has long been discussed in U.S. law enforcement circles, but there is no consensus on the issue. Some law enforcement agencies use “plain talk” or “plain codes” which replaces codes with standard speech and terminology, albeit in a structured manner or format. Arguments against plain language is its lack of brevity, variability, and lack of secrecy that is often tactically advantageous or a safety issue when officer communications can be overheard by the civilian public.[2]

## Contents

* 1 Examples
* 1.1 California
* 2 See also
* 3 References
* 4 External links

## Examples

Code | Description

|

2 | No Lights Or Sirens
3 | Lights And Sirens
4 | Disregard
121 | Priority on the air
122 | Priority on silence
123 | Sick or injured person
124 | Operation completed
125 | Operation continue
126 | Intercept suspects
127 | Proceed with caution
128 | No siren, no flashing
129 | Request back up
130 | Emergency
131 | Shooting
132 | Armed robbery
133 | Possibly dangerous person
134 | Kidnapping
135 | Escape
136 | Hold of hostages
137 | Riot
138 | Bomb alert
139 | Air disaster
140 | Murder
141 | Accident
142 | Unlawful assembly
143 | Hit and run
144 | Impaired
145 | Prisoner transport
146 | Breaking and entering (vehicle or residence)
147 | Suspect armed
148 | Brawl/Family feuding
149 | Ascertainment
150 | Theft

### California

The Hundred Code is a three-digit police code system.[3] This code is usually pronounced digit-by-digit, using a radio alphabet for any letters, as 505 "five zero five" or 207A "two zero seven Alpha". The following codes are used in California . They are from the California Penal Code except where noted below.[4]

In the 1970s, the television show Adam-12 was considered so authentic in its portrayal of Los Angeles PD officers and their procedures that excerpts from the shows were used as police training films around the country.[5] This led to widespread use of California Penal Codes as radio codes.[citation needed]

Code | Description

|

187 | Murder
505 | Kidnapping
207A | Kidnapping attempt
211 | Robbery
211A | Robbery alarm
211S | Robbery alarm, silent
212 | Illegal use of drugs
213 | Use of illegal explosives
214 | Kidnapping and murder
215 | Carjacking
216 | Child Abuse
217 | Assault with intent to murder
218 | Sexual activity with a minor
219 | Cutting or Stabbing
240 | Assault
241 | Impaling
242 | Battery
243 | Battery with dangerous weapons
244 | Murder with Illegal weapons
245 | Assault with a deadly weapon
246 | Shooting at inhabited dwelling
261 | Rape
261A | Attempted rape
273A | Child neglect
273D | Domestic violence – Felony
288 | Lewd conduct with a minor
311 | Child pornography
314 | Indecent exposure
374B | Illegal dumping
390 | Drunk
390D | Drunk, unconscious
415 | Disturbance
417 | Person with a gun
417K | Person with a knife
417B | Person with bomb
419  | Dead human body
428 | Child molest
444 | Officer-involved shooting
459 | Burglary
459A | Burglar alarm
459S | Burglar alarm, silent
470 | Forgery
480 | Hit and run – Felony (great bodily injury or death)
481 | Hit and run – Misdemeanor
484 | Theft (definition)
486 | Major Theft (value < 10,000)
487 | Grand theft (value > $950, or certain livestock)
488 | Petty theft (value < $950)
501 | Drunk driving – felony (great bodily injury or death)
502 | Drunk driving
503 | Auto theft
504 | Tampering with a vehicle
505A | Reckless driving
507 | Public nuisance
510 | Speeding or racing vehicles
586 | Illegal parking
594 | Malicious mischief
604 | Throwing object
647 | Lewd conduct (various subsections)
653M | Threatening phone calls
998 | Officer Involved Shooting

"500" codes are only radio codes that substitute for other code sections. For example, a "503" is not Penal Code section 503 (embezzlement). All of the "500" codes, generally, involve vehicles and are thus grouped together (except 594, which is an actual Penal Code section). Additionally, "390" and variants are also radio codes only (CPC 647(f) is the legally enforced section "public intoxication").

In California, some radio codes in the 400–599 range that refer to vehicle violations are left over from the California Vehicle Code (CVC) which was revised in 1971. Some agencies, such as the California Highway Patrol (CHP) use the current vehicle code numbers while municipal and county police agencies, especially the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) still use the 500 series.

Old | New | Description

|
|

480 | 20001 | Felony Hit and Run
481 | 20002 | Misdemeanor Hit and Run
501 | 23151 | Felony Drunk Driving
502 | 23152 | Misdemeanor Drunk Driving[6]
503 | 10851 | Stolen Vehicle (also a penal code section, 487A)
504 | 10854 | Tampering with a Motor Vehicle
505 | 23103 | Reckless Driving
510 | 23109 | Speed Contest / Racing
586 | 22500 | Illegal Parking

## See also

* Emergency service response codes
* APCO phonetic alphabet
* ICAO spelling alphabet
* Ten-code

## References

1. ↑ "Police 10 Codes". https://copradar.com/tencodes/.
2. ↑ "Police 10 codes vs. plain language: The history and ongoing debate" (in en). https://www.police1.com/police-products/communications/articles/police-10-codes-vs-plain-language-the-history-and-ongoing-debate-zFVa5Fkggm8NKBPM/.
3. ↑ "Police Codes Explained". https://www.zipscanners.com/blogs/learn/police-codes.
4. ↑ Dansker, Zack. "Police Radio Codes". https://web.stanford.edu/~reneeb/bill/n.radio.code.html.
5. ↑ "How the TV series 'Adam-12' helped the LAPD sell the 'good cop' image" (in en). https://www.kpcc.org/show/the-frame/2016-09-16/how-the-tv-series-adam-12-helped-the-lapd-sell-the-good-cop-image. "We had a technical advisor working with us every day that we shot the show. Once we left the car, they'd say: You do the approach this way, to this automobile where there's this suspected felon. And, interestingly enough, during the whole run of "Adam-12," episodes of the show were being bicycled all over the country to police departments to be used as training videos."
6. ↑ A drunk driver is often referred to as a "deuce". This comes from the "2" at the end of the original code, "502", which subsequent codes have retained.

## External links

* "Police Scanner Codes Site". http://www.policecodes.org.
* "Radio and Identification codes". http://www.mendosa.com/code.html.
* "Police Codes". https://policecodes.net.

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