10-8 Back in Service

10-9 Repeat

10-10 Fight

10-13 Weather and Road Conditions

10-16 Domestic Case

10-20 Location

10-21 Telephone, as in "ten-twenty-one the office"

10-22 Disregard

10-23 Arrived at Scene

10-24 Assignment Completed

10-25 Report in Person to Meet, usually used simply as "meet"

10-27 Operator's License Information

10-28 Vehicle Registration Information

10-29 Check Records for Stolen, modern usage also means "warrant" or "wanted"

10-32 Suspect with Gun, also used in reference to knives and other devices

10-33 Emergency

10-46 Disabled Vehicle

10-50 Motor Vehicle Crash

10-51 Wrecker 10-52 Ambulance

10-55 DWI

10-56 Intoxicated Pedestrian

10-61 Personnel in Area, frequently used to indicate that a civilian can hear the radio

10-70 Fire

10-76 En Route

10-78 Need Assistance

10-79 Notify Medical Examiner, also used to indicate a deceased subject

10-80 High-Speed Pursuit

10-96 Mentally Disturbed Subject

As an example, if you as an officer were to suddenly encounter an armed suspect, shots were fired, you needed help, and thought somebody had been injured, you might transmit:

"ten-thirty-three, ten-thirty-two, need ten-seventy-eight, and get me a ten-fifty-two, this is ten-thirty-three!"

(Note the use of 10-33 twice, which officers tend to do when emphasizing dire straits.) An excellent dispatcher will get the whole picture, and may merely try to discover your position by saying "ten-four, ten-twenty?" As with any system, the clarity and usefulness depends entirely on the quality of the personnel involved. An excited officer may be merely garbled, and the transmissions result in a "ten-nine?" An inattentive dispatcher may "tune in" halfway through the message, and receive incomplete data. This, too, can lead to additional risk and hazard.

This is only one example of why the retention of your top-notch people is so important.

Acknowledgments

To Dr. Peter Stevens, I wish to express my great appreciation for his great knowledge of pathology, his enthusiastic advice, and his support of my efforts. I would like to express my gratitude to the Officers, Dispatchers, and Staff of the Clayton County Sheriff's Department, for their continued cooperation and assistance, and for the work they do every day and every night. I would like to thank my friends "on the boat," who explained some complex things to me. I thank my wife, Mary, without whose support and encouragement I would not be able to write; and my daughter, Erica, who provides honest and constructive criticism in the early stages of each book.

About the Author

DONALD HARSTAD is a twenty-six-year veteran of the Clayton County Sheriffs Department in northeastern Iowa, and the author of the acclaimed Eleven Days. A former deputy sheriff, Harstad lives with his wife, Mary, in Elkader, Iowa.