How Many Departments Still Use 10 codes? Can You Talk to Police on Your Radios?

We were taught not to use 10 codes. Are dispatch still uses them to talk to PD so alot of our pages they use them. I know a few 1070 1050PI or 1050PD stuff like that. But it throws me for a loop at times. I feel like an idoit asking for the meaning on the radio but I do ask. I thought I should learn them But was told no by a chief officer on are department. He said they should not be using them anymore. We don't even have a up to date list anyway.

I did not think to be NIMS compliant they could be using them at dispatch?

I thought it was suppose to be Plain Language has something changed?

 

While on the radio subject we can not talk to any police dept. They did not want there talk groups on are radios. This is a sore spot with me. When paged we are all suppose to go to a tac channel. But the LEOs don't, They say they can't hear if another LEO calls for help somewhere else. We have to relay though central if there busy it takes time. I believe this will get someone hurt or killed someday praying I am wrong.

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The only 10 code we use is 10-33 which is police assistance. Even for that we rarely use the 10 code. It's only there when we want to call for it without the person knowing because it might make him even more violent. Otherwise we just say that we need MPD on scene.
10 - What? Just use plain termionology, avoids confusion... and who cares who is listening.

Yes we can talk to our PD direct. As part of the homeland security federal radio interoperability grant, we now can talk to almost every department in our state. Local or regional 10-codes will only add confusion in a major event.
Plain english is the way to go. We have older members that still dont know the 10 Codes. We still are using them some. Theres a couple i just cant see replacing. 10-4 being one of them and 10-69 for our area is Death. theres just some things better left off the airways though. We can talk to our LEO's they have our channels alot of time if they get to the scene before Fire they will give us updates.
I was just thinking about the time I had to use 10 code so the citizens didn't know what I was saying. It was a crazy lady so I called fireboard on a land line and told them "its 10-1 but this is a 10-81 situation, any further calls let 10-87 handle it" which meants its under control and shes crazy so let the police handle it.

Once had a mvc and the IC kept calling for a 10-45, fireboard keep asking him to repeat it hoping he would just say it. Finally they said, so you want another rescue..... instead of asking for a 10-44 which is a tow truck...or vica versa...it was a long time ago.
What really needs to be kept hush hush on the radio today? Any significant operation should have multiple tactical channel choices, so the public or the media can't keep up unless you stay on primary dispatch.

Example: In our area cop talk a 10-54 is a death and not your 10-69. And the example of 10-4 over the word "recieved".... is it really saving any radio airtime? No, just sets you up for other 10-codes.

So from a continuity standpoint plain english is best.
Now to throw a monkey wrench in the gears. We also use signals, I do not know most and we do not have a list.
Signal 100 stop all radio traffic
Signal 9 disreguard the run
NonSignal 10 non-emergency
Signal 10 emergency
Wow what a mess it appears that NIMS is not being followed alot.
I have had a few times when I thought someone was going to want to fight me. I had to walk off far enough so they could not hear me ask for LEOs or I know I would have been in a fight.
Nope, never really have. Cops used to in a limited amount, but not that much either.

Yes, we can talk to the cops on their freqs--really not supposed to--but we can. Or on their car-to-car. They are usually monitoring our traffic and if on scene will give an update on our freq, but not always.
Scene safety, situational awareness, PD secure the scene before entering.

We also respond with multiple personnel and therefore unless it is a group looking to fight all of us, I just step back and ask for the PD to step it up if not already there.

You should never be alone in a response.
No 10-codes.

The local police detachment has a County portable fire radio.
They will self-dispatch themselves to our calls from time to time.
Plain English, even if some have a hard time doing that!!
We use 'Plain English' in my County Department. The only codes used are Code 99 for a cardiac arrest and Code 100 for a situation that needs immediate response of Law Enforcement due to possibility of crew endangerment. Not using '10' or any other codes greatly helps to avoid confusion, especially in a few areas of the county where signals aren't the best. As far as communicating with Law Enforcement, our Dispatch Center also dispatches our County Sheriff's Office as well. Information can be and nearly always is relayed rapidly. We do have the capability of switching to their frequency and vice-versa, but for most day-to-day operations stay on our own. There are also a few City Police Departments that have County Fire coverage, but I am not aware of communication becoming an issue.

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