General Information About Police Callsigns and Radio Networks

All frequencies are in MHz and are useful for the metropolitan areas.

The police in Australia also use a setup referred to by the acronym KDT. If you hear this referred to it will usually be because it's transmission has had interference. KDT stands for Keyboard Data Terminal and is operates as a wireless modem. The Station receives a call from the public or one of the officers and they type this into a computer. This is now known as a job. The job is coded into a radio transmission of 868.7625MHz and is picked up in the police vehicle on a handheld box measuring about 20cm by 12cm. This box has a small LED display and a keypad. Apart from receiving jobs using this device an officer also has the capacity to check the data of a known perpetrator or the criminal background, if any, of a person they are questioning. They request your name and age and they find out about any prior offences, psychiatric illnesses or warnings.

Australian Police Codes

101-DISTURBANCE

102-INTOXICATED

103-PROPERTY DAMAGE

104-POTENTIALLY VIOLENT DISTURBANCE

105-ASSISTANCE REQUIRED

106-DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

107-STREET OFFENCES

108-MISCELLANEOUS

109-STANDBY BREACH OF PEACE

110-BONA FIDES

111-CHECK WELFARE

201-ACCIDENT

201A-ACCIDENT-INJURY

202-ACCIDENT-FATAL

203-ACCIDENT-HIT/RUN

204-ACCIDENT-DEPARTMENTAL

205-ACCIDENT-MISCLLANEOUS

206-ACCIDENT-INDUSTRIAL / DOMESTIC

207-PERSON COLLAPSED

208-GAS LEAK

209-SPILLAGE

301-LARCENY

302-ROBBERY

303-ARMED HOLDUP

304-SHOPLIFTER

305-FRAUD / CHEQUES

401-ALARM

401A-AUDIBLE ALARM

402-BREAKER ON PREMS.

403-INTRUDER ON PREMS.

404-SUSPECT LOITERING

405-PREMISES OPEN

406-BREAKING

501-ASSAULT

502-ASSAULT-INDECENT

503-HOMICIDE

504-SUDDEN DEATH

505-RAPE

506-INDECENT EXPOSURE

507-CHILD ABUSE

508-ABDUCTION

601-HIGH SPEED PERSUIT

602-D.U.I/P.C.A.

603-TRAFFIC BREACH

604-STOLEN VEHICLE

605-INTERFERENCE WITH M/V

606-VEHICLE ABANDONED

607-TRAFFIC LIGHTS U/S

608-TRAFFIC HAZZARD

701-FIRE-BUILDING

702-FIRE-GRASS/SCRUB

703-FIRE-VEHICLE

704-FIRE-RUBBISH

705-FIRE-FENCE

706-EXPLOSIVES FOUND

801-POLICE IN TROUBLE

802-BOMB REPORT

803-ANIMAL DISTRESS - INJURY

804-ANIMALS-STRAYING

805-MISSING PERSONS REPORT

806-CONVEYANCE / ENQUIRY

POLICE COUNTRY FREQUENCIES The Police Department has stations in most medium to large country towns. These stations normally only consist of two or three personnel per station. Country patrols cover a much larger area than metropolitan patrols do. Communication with other stations and vehicles is essential for efficient and safe service. For effective communications they use a combination of VHF and HF networks. Some of the larger towns eg Mount Gambier, Port Augusta, Berri, and Murray Bridge also have UHF repeaters which link into the VHF system. This enable vehicles from other areas to still be able to communicate with local patrols. The VHF network involves numerous repeaters set up at strategic locations around the state.

The network is set up so that all radios have the same channels in them, the country vehicle simply chooses the voting channel for the area. The radio then scans all the channels for that voting group and chooses the strongest signal to listen or transmit on. Because all transmissions are simulcast on several frequencies from several sites it would be difficult for the patrol to keep track of which channel to listen on. This way they can cover hundreds of kilometres without having to change channel, the radio does it all for them. When patrols are out of VHF range they use HF. This is a state wide network consisting of Bases and Mobiles in many locations. All HF radios are equipped with selcall which means one radio can call another using tones over the air. When the radio being called receives the tones it will beep and flash, if it is in a vehicle it can activate the vehicle horn. Some radios are connected to a GPS receiver this can give the exact coordinates of the radio to whoever is interagating it. The comcen in Adelaide can call vehicles any where in the state using HF. Police HF radios are also programmed with frequencies for other services eg; Royal Flying Doctor Service, Country Fire Service, State Emergency Service and any other HF frequency that may be relevant to them.