A Discussion On The Police Reform Talk Radio

By Roger Sanders


Law enforcement has come a long way from its primeval roots. Nowadays, there are nifty gizmos that allow the easy transmission of events immediately and at real time. This is achieved through the police radios and scanners used by its personnel. However, it seems another development is looming in the horizon, what with Police Reform Talk Radio.

After all, police communications dont come in the nifty form of plain everyday language. No, these uniformed blokes actually use quite a considerable amount of doublespeak when it comes to corresponding with their control center. The thing, though, is that a portion of the general public is quite interested and even entitled to listen in, but the smorgasbord of codes make the communications totally unintelligible.

One may then argue that these ways and means defeat the enterprises whole purpose. After all, these correspondences are meant to inform not only the uniformed personnel, but also the general public, of the goings on in the society. Using lingos is as good as using a foreign language, as far as everyone else uninitiated to the language is concerned.

Naturally enough, these are all hard to decipher, both for the workaday citizen and the starting police officer. However, these arent at all employed for nothing. They actually also serve a nifty purpose.

One might assume that these are used so that the public wont be able to figure out what the police are saying. However, this doesnt at all make sense since these police codes are researchable, especially these days as we are cruising along the information superhighway. So these doublespeak codes are actually reachable within everyones fingertips. Also, some agencies actually make their dispatch calls and other communications public.

Anyway, to cut the chase, lets just say that the purpose of cop codes and jargon is to keep communications short and concise. This goes back along the days when police departments have been mandated by federal commissions to make their communications short so as to save bandwidth and make sure that theres no traffic in the airwaves. Also, it provides some sort of unique lingo for cops, and accordingly a sense of inclusivity and professionalism.

These reforms have taken the police world by storm, especially after the nine eleven terrorist attacks. The subsequent repercussions have made the public more proactive in these regards. One such move is the use of plain English in these communications.

However, and as with every and all developments, there are drawbacks to it as well. Of course, we have already mentioned the case wherein the hoi polloi finds it hard to comprehend what exactly is going on. But so far we havent considered the law enforcements new recruits. The long list of codes might be overwhelming and might weigh on them since they are used at stressful and taxing moments. It goes without saying that learning it can be more than a tad intimidating.

Reformers argue that there is no universally accepted list of codes, anyway. So the use of plain, correct language is better able to facilitate communications between agencies, other service entities, and the public. Of course, this tradition also holds clout and it has many benefits as well, such as keeping communications concise. It also provides some sense of community and professionalism among its users. But of course, were in a fast paced and fast changing world, and everythings open to developments, especially if the opposing arguments are admittedly reasonable and valid.




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