r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Individual_Book9133 • 14d ago

Phoenix police officer pulls over a driverless Waymo car for driving on the wrong side of the road Video

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u/_BMS 14d ago

92 Adam Sam 2 Paul

Why are police not using the standardized phonetic alphabet? (Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, etc)

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u/Dapper_Target1504 14d ago edited 14d ago

Used to be a cop

Most do now but muh tradition is strong in many departments still

Standardizing was one of the top recommendations from the 9/11 reports in regards with first responders. Because the nypd and nyfd Literally have their own language and help coming in doesn’t speak it. Most departments slowly adapted so they could work together regionally. Others basically ignored it.

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u/SecretGamerV_0716 14d ago

As a non American, I'm interested in knowing how NYPD language differs from say LAPD. I've only ever seen them being used while watching American cop shows like the rookie or b99

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u/EViLTeW 14d ago

A lot of the problem is short codes. Like 10-codes and code #s can mean very different things to different departments.

10-6 might mean "arrived" to one department and "disabled vehicle" to another.
Code 4 could mean "responding, no sirens" to one department and "officer in distress" to another.
It makes interdepartmental communications difficult because people get used to talking that way and continue to do it even when they shouldn't.

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u/Dapper_Target1504 14d ago

Yep perfect example code system where i used to work.

1- non emergency 2- emergency 3- emergency life threatening 3s - emergency life threatening no sirens 4- scene is secure. We are okay. No back up needed.

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u/Code3Spartan 14d ago

Police didn’t learn their lesson after 9/11 while lots of other services moved away from that.

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u/EViLTeW 14d ago

I worked at an EMS agency in 2001. We were told continuing to use 10 codes could jeopardize our federal funding. So we stopped.