American cop language confuses the force. How wikis can help.
Does your organization communicate effectively? Drawing from the BBC’s report on an American police force decision to stop using 10-4 and 10-20 type codewords (I was surprised to hear these are incompatible across different counties), I draw a parallel of how wikis can generate the common linguistic ground needed for purposeful communication.
The BBC reported today in “Virginia police sign out on code words”
Since they were first introduced in the 1930s, abbreviations such as 10-4 and 10-20 have been the natural language of the American cop; part of police folklore.
After many years on the force the commander of the Arlington police department’s operations division is adjusting to life after the 10-codes.
On a drive through the streets of Arlington, Capt Nuneville explained that the problem was a lack of compatibility.
Individual counties have their own 10-codes, and while some are common to all police forces, many are not.
When talking to organizations, I often contest that a key value of a wiki is to surface language used by siloed groups and to provide a mechanism to blend language as a common way of looking at the world.
Without a common body of knowledge and common lexicon that defines a common viewpoint, departments can sit in a meeting together and agree on tasks without really any appreciation of what their communications really entail for the others they want to work with.
As a car skidded to a halt next to us - narrowly avoiding a pedestrian - [Capt Nuneville] was able to give a concrete example.
“If there had been an accident,” she said, “I would have called in a 10-50, a 10-50i if the pedestrian had been injured. A 10-50f, if there’d been a fatality.
“Now, I happen to known that in neighboring Montgomery County, a 10-50 means ‘officer in trouble’.”
When the plane hit the Pentagon [on Sept 11], the Arlington force found themselves co-ordinating rescue efforts, with the help of colleagues from neighboring counties, who had offered their services.
But the contradictory 10-codes complicated an already-confused situation, convincing the state authorities that it was time for a change.
Like the UK’s Plain English Campaign which has been:
Campaigning against gobbledygook, jargon and misleading [] information. We have helped many […] with documents, reports and publications. We believe that everyone should have access to clear and concise information.
And conciseness is plainly key:
In Calvert County, Maryland, Assistant Sheriff Maj Thomas Hejl says [codes are] not about folklore or nostalgia, but about practicality.
Brevity on the airwaves is still preferable, he argues, when mere seconds could save a life, and the codes help to ground an officer in his job.
Wikis are a negotiation tool for a community to collectively agree on a summary. The fact that most wikis are text-based gives them a natural affinity for helping communities negotiate language. In this context, a wiki can help socialize and negotiate terminology so that far-flung departments, or indeed, police departments, find common linguistic ground.
While “wiki,” “blogs”, “technorati” and “digg” are not exactly plain English, like map-making, language-making is a key human ability. We can learn, and this poses few problems as long as the same words have compatible meanings to all that use them.
In sum: to get along, we have to ensure the same words mean the same thing. With this, the phrase “moving forward” “together” is truly acting on a shared perspective, leading to fewer disappointments, higher engagement, and better utilization of company resources. If language is not organized, how is the organization going to be?
May the power of the shared language force be with you! And… if anyone knows of a police department that needs wiki coaching, just let me know! +1 416-786-6752
