Boston PD Live

Terminology

The Boston Police Department dispatches their calls on the responsible district’s radio channel using plain English. “Codes” are not considered to be formal, however the following are often used by officers on the street similar to slang.

H&H

Means the city’s ambulance service (Boston EMS).

DK or ETOH

Drunk or intoxicated person.

Code 10 or 10

Meal break. (Can I have a 10 ma’am?)

Go to 7 or Going up

Officers use Channel 7 for non-emergent car to car communication. The station house’s also have access to this, and will use it if they need to talk to an officer. May also refer to Channel 9, which has the same use.

Ocean Nora and Ocean Frank

On air, available and off air, unavailable respectively.

Charlie Robert and Adam Robert

Clearing scene and arriving on scene

Code 19

Walking patrol, away from cruiser for an extended period.

“Miscle” 

Usually used like “I will send a miscle for that” or “Cars, miscle open calls please”. Means disposition on the call in the CAD software, “Miscellaneous Code”.

Code 19

The officer is out of the cruiser and walking his beat.

“R”

Used when clearing a call, means officers will file a report.

L-20

Indicates an officer will be tied up longer than 20 minutes on a task. For example, “I will be L-20 at the house on that R”.

EDT

Emergency Deployment Team. Specially equipped officers around the city available to respond to large or specialty incident.

Good to Go

Officers have probable cause to effect an arrest on an individual.

WMS

Refers to the Warrant Management System, the computerized system used by the courts to issue and track arrest warrants.

BOP

Refers to a Board of Probation check, a listing of an individuals criminal arraignments.

209A

Refers to a Restraining Order from the courts prohibiting contact or abuse between two individuals. Stems from Chapter 209A of the MGL handling domestic abuse.