Police
The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and th ...
units in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
tend to use a tactical designator (or tactical callsign) consisting of a letter of the police
radio alphabet
A spelling alphabet ( also called by various other names) is a set of words used to represent the letters of an alphabet in oral communication, especially over a two-way radio or telephone. The words chosen to represent the letters sound sufficient ...
followed by one or two numbers. For example, "Mary One" might identify the head of a city's
homicide division. Police and fire department radio systems are assigned official
callsigns, however. Examples are KQY672 and KYX556. The official headquarters callsigns are usually announced at least hourly, and more frequently by
Morse code.
The
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...
uses tactical designators that change daily. They normally consist of letter-number-letter prefixes identifying a unit, followed by a number-number suffix identifying the role of the person using the callsign.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tactical Designator
Military communications
Law enforcement in the United States