What do beeps mean on police scanner

Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem. We are a country of skeptics, raised by skeptics, founded by skeptics. Originally posted by ateamer View Post. We do everything in plain language without tones or anything. When there is an emergency situation and all traffic should be held except for the units on the emergency we use a channel marker, which is put in from Motorola. It creates a simple quick beep on the channel every 5 seconds.

We call it the "tone" here in Tucson. Its a long beep, then the priority call gets dispatched. Only level 1 calls get the tone. Until the situation is code4, there is an intermittent beep during radio traffic.

Thats your cue to stay the heck off the radio unless its call related. The tone is officially called the priority traffic signal. Officers can also request the tone when clearing buildings, arresting felony suspects etc Originally posted by Omega View Post. I'm just trying to understand In my department, we just know when to run Code 3 and can run it all day long if necessary.

Just curious. Last edited by ateamer ; , PM. Cover is our local term for backup. Code 3 is lights and siren. Aside from Code 3 cover, Code 3 responses have to approved by the sergeant. You advise you are responding Code 3, dispatch confirms the S-unit copies and he can reduce you to Code 2 do not delay, but no lights and sirens if Code 3 is not warranted.

If it's a Code 3 cover call, everyone goes Code 3. The closest two or three units come up on the air, and everyone just responds and leaves the channel clear for the guy who needs it. Yep, we have a pretty restrictive Code 3 policy. We also have Code 8, which is a major emergency request for Code 3 cover. All agencies send all available units Code 3 - almost always a crowd control situation. Originally posted by Mrpulo View Post.

So if there is a officer down or something in the city next to yours and you are responding I am assuming you would be responding to assist you have to ask the sgt if you can respond with lights and sirens.

That is retarded if I say so myself. You are hired to do the job you should have enough sense and they should trust you enough to respond how you think is right. Originally posted by Fuzz View Post. That is funny MRx Tablet.

What's Going On. This is used to alert the users that the channel is being "held" or used for a special situation. It usually tells the other users not to use the channel for regular activities like running a tag. I have one agency that I listen to that have the beeps as well. It is an indicator to all users that the channel is closed except for Emergency traffic. N4DES Czar. It is called a "channel marker" and it is utilized doing a critical incident, like some mentioned above.

We had the audio level pretty low so it wouldn't give away the officers location, but it was high enough that the typical user would hear it. The dispatcher would activate it along with a flashing blue light as a visual indicator to the communications supervisor. Joined Dec 19, Messages Location Chicago.

In my former home of Louisville KY, they would do this during holdup alarms and officers in trouble. Joined Jul 27, Messages 16, Location From the land of sky blue waters! Joined Nov 26, Messages Location connecticut. I remember when I was a kid watching "cops" a long time ago hearing the beeps in the background.

Seemed like it was very popular out on the west coast. First time I heard it in person was when I've been to Las Vegas. I live in New England and I don't know of any department that uses it out here.

I'm surprised NYPD doesn't. Seems like when they get a major call the dispatcher just comes over and tells them to clear the air. Then once the priority situation is over Durham Dispatch will say "Signal 20 clear". Joined Jun 3, Messages RolnCode3 Member. Used on the west coast too. IIRC the old Mobile traffic wasn't repeated regularly so other mobiles wouldn't know the channel was busy. IredellMon Member. Now back when I was working LE The dispatcher would just announce it It was like it was playing DTMF "".

JoeyC Senior Member. And they continued to use that tone until about 2 years ago when they upgraded the SmartZone software on the system.