Plain talk is catching on

By April M. Silvaggio  

OCTOBER 26, 2009 3:57 a.m. (0)

Sounds like gobbledygook to most people. Doesn’t sound much different to any Anderson County deputy who might be listening.

That’s because Anderson County dispatchers using those codes would be asking officers to hold radio traffic for an urgent situation involving units picking up a deputy who is beginning his shift.

Greenville County dispatchers were actually talking about a situation where time is critical, all other communication is silenced and officers are scrambling to a shooting involving one of their own who is calling for backup.

It is the intricate language of police officers, firefighters, paramedics and other first responders. Problem is, the codes vary from county to county and agency to agency, and can cause mass confusion when the agencies are called to work together in a disaster.

“I think in the not so distant future, you will see the majority of law enforcement go to plain language to eliminate the possibility of any confusion,” said John Tucker, who retired as a lieutenant with the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division and now serves as president of the South Carolina Police Accreditation Coalition. “But most of us started out with 10-codes, and it gets ingrained in you.”

Officials say they aren’t aware of any problems occurring in Greenville County, but they know it has happened elsewhere, and acknowledge the potential exists for it to happen here.

Developed in 1937 and expanded in 1974 by the Association of Public Safety Communications Officials International, 10-codes were designed to standardize radio traffic and ensure communications were brief.

Officials with the Federal Emergency Management Agency of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security say too many variations in meanings have rendered 10-codes and call signals not only useless, but dangerous, in situations where people from different agencies and jurisdictions need to communicate.

It was a tough lesson learned eight years ago after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and underscored four years later in the midst of rescue operations after Hurricane Katrina.

Largely because of the communications problems that erupted in the wake of both of those national disasters, the federal government now requires that plain language be used for multi-agency, multi-jurisdiction events, whether they be actual emergency situations or exercises.

Since 2006, federal preparedness grant funding has been contingent on the use of plain language in incidents that require assistance from responders from more than one agency or jurisdiction.

Across the U.S. and in South Carolina, as well as throughout Greenville County, public safety organizations have signed on to a plan to use plain talk in such situations.

Still, most are reluctant to make the change when it comes to internal radio traffic.

Even if a 10-89 (death investigation) by deputies or city police in Greenville does have the potential of being misconstrued by state troopers as a conversation involving the arrival time of a radio technician.

Lt. Shea Smith, a spokesman for the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office, said the chance of that happening is slim. That’s because the radios in county patrol cruisers operate in the UHF range, while state Highway Patrol vehicles are equipped with a more modern 800 MHz system, he said.

Both the Sheriff’s Office and the Greenville Police Department using federal grant money have purchased portable, hand-held 800 MHz radios that can be used in situations requiring exchanges with multiple agencies. But if a deputy is communicating via the radio in his patrol car, state troopers aren’t even within earshot, Smith said.

Smith said there are two key reasons the Sheriff’s Office continues to use 10-codes and call signals.

“One is because of the sheer volume of radio traffic,” he said. “With 400 deputies, we want to keep each transmission as brief as possible. And secondly, it gives some confidentiality to transmissions so you don’t end up tipping a suspect off.”

Greenville Police Chief Terri Wilfong said 10-codes continue to be used for internal traffic within her department in the interest of brevity and keeping radio channels free of extraneous chatter that is almost inherent with plain talk.

Smith and Wilfong said they believe using plain language would increase chatter because instead of simply saying, “I’m 10-8 to Code 36 with a 10-47,” the tendency would be to say something like, “I’m heading over to Greenville Memorial Hospital to the emergency room with this mental patient from down on Augusta Road,” or even worse.Proponents of doing away with the 10-codes, however, say among officers who’ve used the 10-codes for so long, the tendency is to actually repeat themselves. For instance, they might say “I’m gonna be 10-13 (meal break) for lunch at Tommy’s Ham House.”

Officers have cell phones and with many agencies patrol and traffic units are equipped with Mobile Data Terminals that allow dispatchers to send information directly to those computers. Deputies can also send messages to each other.

Tucker said the resistance to getting away from 10-codes is simply because it is what has always been used. Smith said cell phones and mobile data terminals have cut down radio traffic by at least a third.

John Zaragoza, director of the Greenville County Emergency Medical Service, said while his agency still uses 10-codes and signal codes, plain talk is being used more frequently.

Like other department heads, his biggest reservation about plain talk is the likelihood of increased radio chatter. But ultimately, he said he believes public safety officials should go with plain talk anytime using 10-codes or signal codes might result in an error.

Mike Ellis, the chief deputy coroner of Greenville County, whose office deals with local law enforcement, the state highway patrol, EMS and firefighters on a daily basis, said that agency’s primary form of communication is plain talk using cell phones.

Radios are used primarily to notify an agency that a representative of the coroner’s office is entering their jurisdiction.

Officials with the Department of Homeland Security said it will be agencies like the Greenville County Coroner’s Office that will be best prepared in the event of an emergency.

It has published the “Plain Language Guide – Making the Transition from 10-Codes to Plain Language” to help jurisdictions move towards the adoption of plain language.

According to a National Incident Management System Alert issued by FEMA Sept. 10, while the federal government doesn’t yet require plain language for internal operations, it strongly encourages it.

“It is important to practice every day terminology and procedures that will need to be used in emergency incidents and disasters,” the alert said.

Tucker said he expects the day will come when 10-codes are 10-42 (at the end of a tour of duty).

Unless they are in Greenville County. Then they’ll be 10-7 (out of service.)

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