Posted on Dec 04, 2006
RICHMOND, Virginia (AP) -- Anyone who ever played cops-and-robbers as a kid, listened to a police scanner or watched TV shows such as "Dragnet" or "Adam-12" knows that "10-4" and other codes beginning with 10 are radio cop-speak for "OK," or "officer down" or "burglary in progress." But now it looks as if it's over-and-out for 10-codes. The Virginia State Police and some local police departments are dropping them and switching to plain English. Among the codes that have been shelved in favor of their English translation are the mundane 10-23 (arrived at the scene), the blood-pumping 10-47 (chase in progress) and the grim 10-82 (dead body).