Public safety officials used ten-codes as a precise, concise way to communicate information on the county’s public safety radio network in the past. When someone wanted to say okay, it was 10-4. That universal shorthand worked fine, but an automobile accident was a different story. Fire & EMS dispatchers intoned 10-10 on the radio when there was a vehicle collision. But in police parlance that meant a fight as their signal was 10-50 for a wreck. An earlier generation of county emergency personnel used other schemes so that signal 9-I informed units to respond to a car wreck with injuries.
The change came after 9/11, when Homeland Security recommended the use of plain language, as there were many different versions of these signals that created confusion when multiple jurisdictions worked together. As public safety codes quickly become a thing of the past, these old pieces of ephemera, documenting that era, hold historical interest. Weaver’s Discount Liquors in North East published the 10 code card for curious customers, and as an added value to patrons, Weaver’s added the fire company equipment roster.
It even different than Harford & Baltimore counties. In Harford county, 10-99 meant a crew or part of a crew was needed. 10-50 was a traffic accident. 10-74 was a DOA. Harford county in additon, used plain talk.One county could not talk to another directly. It had to be done by cross monitoring, since each was on their own frequencies. There was also some difference in equipment numbering, in Harford an aeiral piece was x31, in Cecil county, it was x61.
John, how did we keep it all sorted out back in the day.