Gone are the days where those with police scanners could hear local authorities dispatched to Code 72s or announce that they are out on Signal 5.
Never fear, authorities still work Code 72s or traffic accidents with injuries and they still take Signal 5s or meal breaks, but what was once broken down into code is now stated plainly, in every day language.
On Jan. 1, law enforcement in Henderson County abandoned their former method of speaking in code to each other on the police radio and have now embraced "plain language."
"Departments across the nation are going to plain talk," said Henderson Police Major David Piller. "Basically, you say what you mean."
"A nationwide push of emergency services has been interoperable communications ... departments able to talk to each other in major events," he said.
There are certain situations, Piller said, such as in a tornado or other disasters where many emergency agencies respond.
One department's codes could mean something else to another department, he said. "It's confusing."
"If you talk on the radio and don't know what's being said it hinders response and communication," Piller said.
The police department studied the issue of plain language and its possible transition to it for several months.
An argument against plain language, Piller said, has been that "codes are safe and give us the ability to communicate what we need to without other people knowing what we're saying."
That belief is false, he said, and gave "a false sense of security ... People good and bad regularly monitor scanners, and anyone who wants the codes can get them."
Another argument against plain language centered around the privacy of people who may need police assistance.
Piller said here again, anyone with a list of codes knows what's being said, and therefore, no one is really being protected.
"For sensitive information we can send it via MDT's (mobile data terminals installed in cruisers) or by telephone," he said.
Piller said the transition appears to be "going very well."
"With anything, it's a learning process. There are times (officers) forget" and use the codes, he said. "Codes are a habit. And like with anything else, you have to develop a new habit."
The Henderson County Sheriff's Office also made the transition to plain language in January.
"It takes a little to get used to ... because you used codes" so much in the past, said Sheriff Ed Brady.
"Old habits are hard to break ... but now that I'm getting used to it, I think it's OK," he said.
The Kentucky State Police utilize their own dispatch center and will continue to speak to each other via codes, said Trooper Corey King, public information officer with Post 16.
"When it comes to disasters or emergencies where we're working with multiple agencies, we go to plain language," he said.
Henderson Police Officer Jennifer Richmond is a roughly 12-year veteran of the agency.
For her, she said that the transition to plain language has been difficult.
"The use of codes has been ingrained in us from the beginning. I slip up on occasion," she said. "It's getting better."
"I understand the importance (of plain language) because if something big was to happen, each agency needs to know what's going on with the others," Richmond said.
HPD Officer Joe Whitledge is a relatively new police officer and said that for him, plain language was simply part of his training.
"It wasn't hard for me to transition because that's what I was trained in on," he said.
"Of course the codes can make for quicker communication, but plain speak can be effective when communicating with other agencies."
Plain language doesn't just affect law enforcement. It was also a transition for the ones dispatching the calls.
"We still throw in codes (sometimes) because that's what we're used to," said Annette Glenn, a Henderson County dispatcher. "Otherwise, it's not a problem."
"It's basically very similar to using another language, going from Spanish to English (or vice versa)," said dispatcher, Amy Pile.
"We still have to use codes when inputting things in the computer," she said. "There were a lot of things more comfortably said in code, like someone has a mental problem.
"(Using plain language) still can be confusing," she said. "We're still working out the bugs."
"I think it's easier as far as talking to other agencies," said dispatcher Jessica Snyder. "We still mess up sometimes. Overall, I think it's gone really well."
