How to Decode State Police Reports

911 dispatchers often use numbers to manage emergency radio traffic.

State police accident and arrest reports are public records. Officers are encouraged to write in plain English and avoid industry jargon, but inevitably you will come across some codes. State penal law assigns numbers to different crimes, and 911 dispatchers and public safety agencies use codes to differentiate emergencies and manage radio traffic. According to Dispatch Magazine, the word "Ten" precedes each code so the person on the other end of the radio knows that they are talking about an emergency identifier and not an address, age or phone number.

Things You'll Need

• Notebook
• Pen

Instructions

1. Separate the state police report by narrative/incident description and by arrest or disposition summary. The narrative will have the most text and begin something like, "At 1800 hours I was dispatched to a 10-72 on Earl Avenue."

   The arrest or disposition summary will be in a separate section. It will have one or more lines noting a suspect's name, date of birth, address and charge. The charge might be indicated by a penal law code and not spelled out.

2. Contact a records clerk or officer for a 911/dispatcher code summary. Someone at the station can probably tell you the code off the top of her head, particularly if the code is for a common occurrence.

3. Obtain a state penal law book, which lists all crimes in numeric code order and by alphabetical order. The state police should make one available to you. Penal law codes are also published online. Legal Law Help, for example, has listings for every state.

Tips & Warnings

• Emergency 911 dispatchers can also identify specific police, fire or rescue agencies by unit numbers. Call the 911 center's non-emergency number if you need to know the name of one or more units noted in a report.

References

• Dispatch Magazine On-Line: 9 Code, 10 Code

Resources

• Legal Law Help: Criminal Law Codes & Criminal Procedures By State