“We’re all doing Solo-Bandung here,” police First Brig. Bayu Aji told his colleagues through a telecommunication device.

To the uninitiated, the language code is weird. One could mistakenly think that Bayu was speaking about inter-city bus routes because Solo is a city in Central Java while Bandung is the capital city of West Java.

Solo-Bandung is actually police code for standing by.

In the communication center of the Jakarta Police headquarters in Central Jakarta, such jargon has become the “official language”.

Bayu is an operator for the Jakarta Police command and control unit, which monitors all police radio conversations. “Here, we communicate with all officers from precincts and sub-precincts,” he said.

One of the three walkie-talkies Bayu monitored that day was buzzing. “Komando [police office], monitor, Timur-Bandung-1 [National Police chief] is heading to Garut 4 [Jl. Rasuna Said in South Jakarta], TKA [situation under control],” a voice crackles.

“This is how we speak to each other. These codes are formal radio call protocol,” Bayu, who joined the force in 2005, said.

There are numerical codes including 10-2, for whereabouts, 10-8 for heading to, 3-3 for traffic accident, 6-1 robbery, 6-2 theft or burglary and 8-6 to confirm.

There are also letter codes or word codes such as TL or Timur-Lombok for traffic light, Lombok-Lombok for traffic condition (lalu lintas), Solo-Garut for alert (siaga), Jaya 65 for fire, Timur-Kupang-Ambon or TKA for situation under control and Medan-Solo for mass or crowd.

Bayu said traffic police also had a command center to control communications in relation to traffic management, adding that fellow officers also used informal codes to communicate directly.

“For example, Bandung-Bandung padat [solid] means eating, Bandung-Bandung cair [liquid] means drinking,” he said.

Some officers also often use panjang kali lebar (length by width, the area of a rectangle) for sleeping, “because people sleep on a rectangular mattress”.

Bayu said creating and using such codes for daily conversations had become a habit.

Comr. Sutardjo from the police public affairs unit said official codes were used by all officers, from the National Police chief to rookies.

“It’s easier to communicate in code. And of course, we don’t want civilians to overhear and understand our conversations,” he said, adding that anyone could tune in to police radio if they found the right frequency.

“We use the radio carefully, since anyone can tune in. So no vulgar language or personal details are allowed. And don’t forget, our chiefs also monitor the radio,” he said. (ipa)

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