Ten-codes are radio brevity codes representing frequently used phrases in public safety, mainly law enforcement radio communications.  Ten-codes were developed in the 1940’s, when police radio channels were extremely limited, to reduce the amount of radio airtime and streamline communications. In the 1970's, the Association of Public Safety Communications Officials adopted ten-codes and further standardized their meanings.

While ten-codes are intended as a standardized means to exchange information, there are countless agency-specific versions of the same “standardized” list. This proliferation of different meanings has rendered ten-codes useless in situations where agencies from different jurisdictions must communicate.  For this reason, ten-codes, or any agency-specific radio codes, is expressly forbidden in the Incident Command System (ICS).  “Plain English” is the FEMA recognized standard for radio communications. The Los Angeles County Disaster Communications Service ( DCS ) similarly discourages the use of ten-codes.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department uses 44 ten-codes. While not typically used in DCS, below is a list of the most commonly used ten-codes you may find helpful when monitoring LASD communications on a radio scanner or if assigned to monitor or use a Sheriff’s radio channel during a DCS activation.