All professions have their own jargon. While on the job, soldiers, sailors, tinkers and tailors may speak a lingo that only those in the trade can decipher easily. Aviators, lawyers, sports casters, weathermen, needle workers, vintners, librarians and chefs have their own vocabulary. Some insider language can be mind numbingly unintelligible to those not interested in the subject. (My eyes glaze over when I hear stock market chatter involving hedge funds, put and call, options etc. while my husband takes an animated interest in such terminology.) Others use mysterious sounding words and acronyms just to feel self important. But often code words and cryptic languages develop in professions where quick and clear communication is crucial – sometimes involving life and death. Perhaps that is why we pay special attention to medical and police jargon. The rapid fire talk of medics and crime stoppers are made even more impressive by TV shows and movies involving hospital and police procedures.

We are quite familiar with common cop-shop words and phrases like perp walk, mug shot and DWI. But we have all heard policemen speak on their radios in numerical codes that sound mysterious as well as urgent and which most of us don’t understand. This system of police communication is called Code 10 where each code is prefixed by the number 10.  “10-4” which means “message received” or “okay” is perhaps the best known Code 10 phrase. Cops have a coded language system to describe real life situations ranging from “cattle blocking the road” to “murder.”

Code 10 was developed in simpler times (in the 1930s) when police forces operated in limited territories within a state or county. Also in those less technologically endowed days, police radios had just one frequency assigned to them and policemen had to communicate quickly and concisely in order to not jam up the signal with verbosity. Since terrorists entered the American crime scene on 9/11/2001, the scope of police work has expanded beyond regional law and order situations. In light of this new development, the venerable Code 10 may soon become history. Why? Because while some 10 codes are common to all police forces in North America, not all two hundred or so codes mean the same thing to different police units (I was surprised to learn this). For example, Code 10-40 can mean one of the following:

• run silent (no lights & siren)
• false alarm, no activity, premises appears secure
• please tune to channel ___
• expedite
• advise if available
• suspicious person
• dead animal
• mental patient
• lunch

If this is not confusing enough, the FBI has its own Code 10 which the ordinary policeman doesn’t understand. On 9/11, when the terrorists’ plane flew into the Pentagon, police forces from Washington D.C, Montgomery County in Maryland and Arlington, Virginia were called in to help, along with the FBI. The result was a Tower of Babel type of situation with each group speaking in its own “tongue” causing confusion during an extreme emergency.  The situation caught the attention of police higer ups and some are taking steps to solve the problem. The solution?  Speak plain English!  But not all policemen are happy with the prospect of seeing their secret insider language disappear.

“Since the Sept. 11,
2001, attacks, local governments have spent millions on high-tech
radios to improve communication among police forces. Now, Virginia is
taking the next step: changing the very way cops talk.  Starting this
month, Virginia State Police have banned the “10 codes” used by
generations of officers to flag everything from murders to bathroom
breaks. Gone is the language of “10-4” and “What’s your 10-20
[location]?”

The codes are as much a part of police culture
as badges and coffee. But over time, individual police departments have
adapted the codes in their own ways, creating confusion when they have
to work together — such as on Sept. 11.

Eager to avoid such mix-ups, Virginia’s
government has become one of the first in the nation to try to
eliminate traditional cop talk. For months, officials in Richmond have
worked with police and firefighters to come up with a substitute for 10
codes, finally deciding on a statewide “common language protocol.” …
In other words, English. ….

The 10-code system started catching on in the
1920s, when police radios had only one channel. Officers needed to bark
out information succinctly to avoid tying up the system. But over time,
a Babel of codes developed.

The jumble wasn’t such a problem when police
were on different radio systems, or were not as tuned in to the
potential for apocalyptic disasters. But five years ago, as law
enforcement agencies rushed to the Pentagon, they found that sometimes
they were speaking in different tongues.

Local “police were talking 10 codes. So were
the Pentagon police. The FBI have their own little 10 codes,” said
Capt. Richard Slusher, communications officer for the Arlington Fire
Department. “You didn’t know what they were talking about……

But, clearly, the attraction goes beyond efficiency.

“It’s just our own little language,” said
another officer on the Alexandria force, Capt. Hassan Aden. He uses 10
codes so instinctually that his 4-year-old son has picked them up. When
the boy has soccer practice, for example, Aden says: “Hey, come on,
we’ve got to 10-18,” or hurry. Dinner is “10-7 time.”

His police officers switch to common language
when working with other departments. Still, after years of code, they
must make a conscious effort to speak plain English.

“It’s like a different language,” he said.”

The post above was originally published on
Accidental Blogger.  I am re-posting it here to inform readers of this
little known fall out from the panic and confusion that ensued after
the planes hit their targets on 9-11-2001. We associate the date with
the crumbling twin towers at the World Trade Center. That day’s
dreadful tragedy also inadvertently revealed the shaky Tower of Babel
within the US law enforcement system.