Police code

A police code is a number abbreviation for a crime, incident or instructions for police officers.

The Hundred Code

The Hundred Code^[1] is a three digit police code system. 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 Adam".

The following codes are used in California;^[2] most are from the California Penal Code (except as noted below):

Please note: "500" codes are only radio codes that substitute for other code sections. Example: a "503" is not Penal Code section 503 (which is Embezzlement). All of the "500" codes, generally, involve vehicles and are thus grouped together (except 594, which is a legitimate Penal Code). 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.

Phonetic Alphabet

Note: California uses a phonetic alphabet distinct from some other states, such as Florida, that use the standard International Telecommunications Union (ITU) phonetic alphabet. Some California police agencies use a slightly different one, as listed here. Others, such as all police departments, the sheriff's department, harbor patrol, lifeguards, marshals, etc. in Orange County use the ITU phonetic alphabet.

Below is the "standard" police phonetic which usually only varies with the letter "Y" being either "Young" (LAPD-style) or "Yellow" (CHP-style). Federal law enforcement often uses a mix of the two (FBI-style) alphabets:^[4]

Cultural references

• In RoboCop, out on his first patrol, the titular character receives the message "415 in Progress" (which means Disturbance in progress) on his integral heads-up display.

• In the Cheech and Chong film Up in Smoke, Sgt. Stedenko, played by Stacy Keach Jr., calls in the message, "We’re changing from a code 3, direct pursuit, to a code 347…completely lost due to incompetence". (In reality, penal code 347 for California, where the film is set, concerns the mingling of poisons or harmful substances with food, drink, medicine, or water supplies^[5]).

• In the Batman: The Animated Series episode "Vendetta", Joey "The Snail" Martin is mentioned as having been arrested on a "605".

See also

• Ten-code
• ICAO spelling alphabetcode 4

References and notes

1. ↑ "Police Scanner Codes". 
2. ↑ In the 1970s, the television show Adam 12 was 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. This led to widespread use of California Penal Codes as radio codes in states where "187" and "211" were not on the books, only on the air.
3. ↑ A drunk driver is often referred to as a "deuce". This comes from the "2" at the end of the original code, "502", and has, coincidentally(?), remained a code ending in "2": 23102, 23152. To this day, people will still say someone "got busted for a 502" yet there will be no law, reference, ticket or report with that number on it for drunk driving.
4. ↑ "Law Enforcement Phonetic Alphabets". 
5. ↑ California Penal Code Section 347

External links

• Radio and Identification codes
• PoliceCodes.org Police Scanner Codes Site.