Policy Text
University of California, San Francisco
Police Department General Orders
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4.6 Patrol Operations
4.6.8 Radio Procedures (Revised: 6/ 6/17)
A. Operations are more efficient and officer safety is enhanced when the ECC dispatchers,
supervisors and fellow officers know the status of officers, their locations and the nature
of incidents and developments in their investigations. Officers will communicate via
radio with a dispatcher upon arrival at the scene of an incident, when clearing the scene,
reporting incidents or when otherwise appropriate. Officers will comm unicate via radio
when making vehicle, pedestrian or bicycle stops. Officers making high -risk stops or
high-risk contacts of any kind will communicate via radio immediately to alert the
dispatcher and other police units.
B. Officers will utilize the police radio system only for proper transmission of police -related
messages and will strive to keep all messages as professional, concise and complete as
possible. At no time will members of the Police Department misuse or disrupt the radio
by transmitting unauthorized or personal messages. Names of officers shall not be
transmitted over the police radio. Officers will be referred to only by assigned radio call
sign.
C. Whenever the ECC needs to call an officer, the dispatcher will state the officer’s radi o
call sign and appropriate radio code. The officer will respond with the radio call sign, and
then the dispatcher will continue with the message.
1. When an officer needs to contact the ECC, the officer will state the radio call sign
on the radio and ap propriate radio code. The dispatcher will respond with the
officer’s radio call sign and then the officer will continue with the message.
2. When an officer needs to contact another officer, the officer will state the officer’s
radio call sign followed by the call sign of the officer desired on the radio. The
second officer will respond with a radio call sign; subsequently the first officer will
continue with the message.
D. When making a stop of a vehicle, bicycle or pedestrian, the officer will inform t he ECC
via the radio of the location and any other pertinent information, such as vehicle
registration number, color and make of vehicle, or a brief description of the pedestrian.
E. The appropriate radio codes should be used by members of the Police Depa rtment when
transmitting messages over the police radio. If necessary, plain English may be used.
F. Officer Emergency Request for Assistance
Officers requiring immediate emergency assistance will radio the ECC, stating “Code 33,
Emergency 1025 backup requested,” the reason for the emergency request and the
location (e.g., shots fired, officer down). Officers should try to
University of California, San Francisco
Police Department General Orders
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remain calm and provide as much information to the ECC as possible to assist the
responding officers (e.g., safe routes of ingress to the location if under fire, landmarks
and/or physical descriptions of the officer’s surroundings if injured).
G. The pho netic alphabet will be used when spelling is necessary.