Post edited 8:11 am – July 16, 2011 by Foz

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UNDERSTANDING RADIO TRAFFIC

 

Q.    Please explain the audio traffic of a typical dispatched call?

 

A.   Each agency has their own procedure for dispatching calls. Below are examples of a typical law enforcement dispatch, a fire dispatch and an EMS dispatch.

Law Enforcement Dispatch Example:

Triple Beep = Priority Call

Dispatcher: (Beep, Beep, Beep) "District 2 units, disturbance in progress, Gleneagle Drive North, 218 King."

Officer: "2006″

Listen to the actual dispatch below.

 

In the above example, the dispatcher alerts the "District 2 units" that this call is in their area. "Disturbance in progress" is a brief description of the type of call. "Gleneagle Drive North" is the location. "218 King" refers to keymap 218K.

"2006″ is the unit number of the officer responding to the call. The dispatcher will send the call electronically to the unit's computer. The unit will then be able to read detailed notes about the call. The dispatcher may also "air" the information if the unit does not have a computer terminal.

 

Fire Dispatch Example:

Dispatcher: (Tone, Tone)(Beep, Beep, Beep) "Engine 101, illegal burn, 2900 Woodlands Parkway – Southshore Park, (Repeat), cross street Grogan's Mill Road, map page 813, respond on WFD one, 19:32″

Engine Company: "Engine 101 is responding, illegal burn, Southshore Park"

Dispatcher: "Engine 101 responding, calling party is advising subject has a campfire in the park area."

Listen to the actual dispatch below.

In the above example, the dispatcher "tones out" the appropriate station. "Engine 101″ dispatches from The Woodlands Fire Department station #1. "Illegal burn" is a brief description of the type of call. "2900 Woodlands Parkway – Southshore Park" is the location. "Cross street Grogan's Mill Road" refers to the closest major street or road. "Map page 813″ refers to a Woodlands Fire Department map page. "Respond on WFD one" informs the dispatched unit that their response to the call should be broadcast on Woodlands Fire Department's Channel 1. "19:32″ is the time in 24 hour format – this would be 7:32 p.m. in 12 hour format.

The Engine company responds repeating the pertinent information of the dispatched call – "Engine 101 responding, illegal burn, Southshore Park."

 The Dispatcher acknowledges that the Engine is responding and then gives any additional information that may be important to the call – "Engine 101 responding, calling party is advising subject has a campfire in the park area."

 

EMS Dispatch Example:

Dispatcher: (Tone, Tone) "Medic 38, Priority 2, 31 charlie 1, 14934 Greenbough off 1314, Keymap 220 November, (Repeat), 13:35″

Listen to the actual dispatch below.

In the above example, the dispatcher "pages" the appropriate medic unit. "Medic 38″ alerts the appropriate medic for the call. "Priority 2″ is the priority level of the call. (Priority 1 Is An Emergency Response – Fire Department 1st responders are also dispatched. Priority 2 is an emergency response – Fire Department is not dispatched. Priority 3 is a non-emergency response – Fire Department is not dispatched). "31 charlie 1″ is a determinate code. Go  HERE for a list of the codes. "14934 Greenbough off 1314″ is the location. "Keymap 220 November" refers to keymap 220N. "13:35″ is the time in 24 hour format – this would be 1:35 p.m. in 12 hour format.

 

Q.   Please explain all the numbers referenced on the scanner feeds?

 

A.    Listening to the scanner feeds, one will hear many different unit numbers as well as other numbers. 

Some of those numbers are defined below:

Law Enforcement Unit #'s

10XX units = District 1 Montgomery County Sheriff

13XX units = Forestry Service

16XX units = Montgomery Police Department

18XX units = Panorama Village Police Department

17XX units = Cut n Shoot Police Department

19XX units = Willis Police Department

25XX, 26XX units = Department of Public Safety (DPS)

27XX units = Oak Ridge Police Department

28XX units = Shenandoah Police Department

36XX units = Woodbranch Police Department

37XX units = Splendora Police Department

38XX units = Patton Village Police Department

39XX units = Roman Forest Police Department

46XX units= Montgomery ISD

48XX units = Magnolia Police Department

49XX units = Stagecoach Police Department

637X units = Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) 

81XX units = Precinct 1 Montgomery County Constables

82XX units = Precinct 2 Montgomery County Constables

83XX units = Precinct 3 Montgomery County Constables

84XX units = Precinct 4 Montgomery County Constables

85XX units = Precinct 5 Montgomery County Constables

86XX units = Animal Control

91XX units = Game Wardens

92XX = District Attorney's Office

93XX units = County Fire Marshals

95XR units = Reserve Deputies

 

MCSO Unit #'s 

All MCSO unit numbers have changed to the following as of Nov 1, 2010:

Unit # format = X₁X₂X₃X₄X₅X₆

X₁ = District Number (1-6)
X₂ = Unit Type (T=Traffic , T2= Woodlands Traffic , D=Detectives, U=Sex Offender, S=Swat, C=Crime Lab, N=Narcotics, P=Patrol, J=Jail, Z= Dispatcher, K=Canine, I=?
X₃ = Unit Number 
X₄ = Unit Number 
X₅ = Unit Number 
X₆ = Unit Number 

Example : 5P1010 = a District 5 Patrol Deputy .

Example:  6P102 = a District 6 Patrol Senior Sergeant (the Woodlands)

Example: 3P201 = a District 3 Patrol junior (buck) Sergeant

Example: 2P10 = a District 2 Patrol Lt.

As before, fewer digits in the X₃ X₄ X₅ X₆ positions denotes higher rank

 

Others –

Unit 1 = Sheriff

Unit 2 = Chief Deputy

Unit 7 = Jail Captain

Unit 8 = Patrol Captain

Unit W8 = District 6 Captain

9101 = JP1

9102 = JP2

9103 = JP3

9104 = JP4

9105 = JP5

 

 

Law Enforcement Codes

There are many other ten codes. The ones listed below are the ones most often heard on the law enforcement scanner feed. For a complete list go HERE.

10-6 = Busy/Out at a call, Out of service

10-8 = Back in Service

10-50 = MVA (Motor Vehicle Accident)

10-55 = Intoxicated Driver

10-96 = Mentally Abnormal Individual

Code 4 = Deceased Individual

 

Law Enforcement Acronyms

ATL = Attempt to Locate

DOA = Dead on Arrival

DWLI = Driving with License Invalid

EJ = Extra Job

FSGI = Failure to Stop and Give Information also known as Hit and Run

FSRA = Failure to Stop and Render Aid

FTA = Failure to Appear – As in Failure to Appear at a court date. Arrest warrants can be issued for FTA.

GOA = Gone on Arrival

OD = Off Duty

SO = Sheriff's Office, Signed ON

 

EMS (MCHD) Unit #'s

In general medic units can end up anywhere in the county. They each have what are called posting stations. However, it is not unusual for a medic unit to end up stationed for some time at a posting location other than their home location. Home posting locations are as follows(See Graphic Below):

 

 

 

 

 

 

Montgomery County Hospital District Determinant Codes can be found  HERE.

 

Fire Department Unit #'s

Fire Department #2 = Cut n Shoot (ie. Engine 21 is a Cut n Shoot Engine from Cut n Shoot station #1)

Fire Department #3 = Lake Conroe (ie. Engine 31 is a Lake Conroe Engine from Lake Conroe station #1)

Fire Department #5 = Montgomery (ie. Engine 51 is a Montgomery Engine from Montgomery station #1)

Fire Department #6 = Needham (ie. Engine 61 is a Needham Engine from Needham station #1)

Fire Department #8 = Caney Creek Fire Department(ie. Engine 81 is a Caney Creek Engine from Caney Creek station #1)

Fire Department #9 = North County(ie. Engine 91 is a North County Engine from North County station #1)

Fire Department #10 = The Woodlands(ie. Engine 101 is a Woodlands Engine from Woodlands station #1)

Fire Department #11 = South County(ie. Engine 111 is a South County Engine from South County station #1)

Fire Department #12 = Porter(ie. Engine 121 is a Porter Engine from Porter station #1)

Fire Department #13 = Montgomery County Fire Marshal's Office

Fire Department #14 = Timber Lakes(ie. Engine 141 is a Timber Lakes Engine from Timber Lakes station #1)

Fire Department #15 = New Caney(ie. Engine 151 is a New Caney Engine from New Caney station #1)

Fire Department #16 = Splendora(ie. Engine 161 is a Splendora Engine from Splendora station #1)

Fire Department #17 = River Plantation(ie. Engine 171 is a River Plantation Engine from River Plantation station #1)

Fire Department #18 = Magnolia(ie. Engine 181 is a Magnolia Engine from Magnolia station #1)

 

Anyone who has additional information in any of these categories, please don't hesitate to post the information. We will integrate it into this post. Also please make us aware of any mistakes or omissions in any of this data.

Hi COejax

Thanks for the kind words and thanks for the info on medic 62 and 67.

Your information has been added to the FAQ.

Hi Hack

Thanks for the additional info. :-)

It has been added to the original post.

HIya Hack

Thanks for the info… will remove the question mark after the TABC designation we have in the above post.

Do you have any info on the 91XX or 93XX units?

I hear fire marshal 1301 sometimes use the number 9301. Is that a badge number of some sort?

Hiya Hack

I may have confused them but I know that the fire marshal's office is considered department 13 as far as the fire related departments in the county go. Also I know the fire marshal's do or did use 13XX designation, usually the low 1300's for id numbers.

But as I said I have also heard them use the 93XX designation also. Will monitor more closely and see, could have sworn I heard a 1301 going to a fire when the fire department called for the fire marshal's office.

Starting yesterday it seems the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office has made some changes to their unit numbers.

New unit Id's appear to follow the following format

Example:
6P1005  

In this case the 6 refers to the District… the P = Patrol unit.  I imagine the 4 digit number has similar significance as it did before…probably something to do with shift and possibly rank of the deputy.

As the new system becomes clearer we will update the main FAQ.