There is no single police code for a dead body that applies everywhere in the United States. Among departments that still use 10-codes, the most common death-related ones are 10-79 (notify coroner), 10-67 (report of death), and 10-66 (notify medical examiner). Some Florida agencies use Signal 7. In California, officers often say “187,” borrowing the penal code section for murder. And a growing number of departments have dropped coded language entirely in favor of plain English like “deceased on scene” or “DOA.”
Why No Single Code Exists
Police codes were never standardized nationally. The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) created the original 10-code list in the 1940s to keep radio transmissions short, but individual departments immediately started adapting it to local needs. Decades later, the same code can mean completely different things depending on who’s using it. At one agency, 10-54 might mean a possible dead body; at another, it means a hit-and-run.
That inconsistency gets dangerous when multiple jurisdictions respond to the same incident. The Department of Homeland Security released a Plain Language Guide in 2008 urging agencies to drop 10-codes for multi-agency operations. FEMA’s National Incident Management System encourages plain language for routine internal communications and requires it during major disasters, multi-agency events, and exercises involving responders from different jurisdictions.1FEMA. NIMS Alert – NIMS and Use of Plain Language
Many agencies still rely on codes for everyday dispatch because experienced officers and dispatchers communicate faster with them. Speed inside a department versus clarity across departments is the ongoing tension.
The Codes You’re Most Likely to Hear
Because usage varies so much, grouping the terms by type is more useful than any single list.
Numerical 10-Codes
Among agencies still using 10-codes, these are the most common ones tied to a death:
- 10-79: Notify coroner. This appears in the original APCO list and is used by many agencies nationwide.
- 10-67: Report of death, or investigate a reported death.
- 10-66: Notify the medical examiner.
Treat any other specific number with skepticism unless you know which department’s list it comes from. 10-45 means “animal carcass” at some agencies; others have added suffixes like 10-45D for a deceased patient. Same code, different meaning, different department. That’s the single most important thing to understand about police codes.
Signal Codes
Some agencies, particularly in Florida, use a signal system instead of 10-codes. Signal 7 (sometimes written S7) means a dead person in several Florida sheriff’s offices. Signal 5 can mean a homicide in those same systems. These signal codes are regional and don’t apply outside the agencies that adopt them.
Penal Code Shorthand
In California and in popular culture, “187” has become shorthand for a homicide. It comes directly from California Penal Code Section 187, which defines murder. Officers might say “we have a 187” to indicate a killing. The usage is specific to California law enforcement, though media exposure has made it widely recognized. Other states number their penal codes differently, and the same digits mean something else entirely elsewhere.
Plain Language
A growing number of departments skip codes entirely, especially on channels that might involve dispatchers or officers from other agencies. Common phrases include:
- DOA: Dead on arrival.
- DOS: Death on scene.
- Deceased person or deceased subject: the most straightforward description.
- Unresponsive: often used when a caller reports someone who may be dead but hasn’t been confirmed.
Plain language has a practical advantage beyond interoperability. When an officer radios “I have a deceased male, no signs of trauma,” every listener understands exactly what’s happening regardless of agency.
Why You May Not Hear Any of This on a Scanner
The question of which code gets used is becoming less relevant for a separate reason: many departments are encrypting their radio communications. A growing number of agencies have moved to encrypted digital channels that civilian scanners can’t monitor. California issued a statewide directive in 2020 requiring departments to either fully encrypt their radios or adopt a hybrid system. Some agencies, like San Francisco’s, keep dispatch calls and incident outcomes on public channels while routing personal information and tactical details through encrypted ones.
The trend has drawn pushback. Colorado passed legislation in 2021 requiring agencies that fully encrypt their communications to develop media access policies. Some cities that adopted blanket encryption have faced public pressure to roll it back. The debate centers on balancing officer safety and individual privacy against the public’s interest in monitoring police activity. In many parts of the country, the era of hearing codes in real time on a scanner is fading.
What Happens After the Call Goes Out
Whatever code or phrase triggers the response, what officers actually do when they arrive at a death scene is fairly consistent across agencies.
The first officer on scene checks whether the person might still be alive. If there’s any chance of survival, emergency medical services take priority. If the person is clearly deceased, the officer secures the area. Officers themselves do not formally pronounce someone dead; that determination falls to medical personnel or a medical examiner, though in some jurisdictions officers can determine death when obvious signs are present, such as advanced decomposition.
Once a death is confirmed, the responding officer cordons off the scene to preserve potential evidence. Detectives, the coroner or medical examiner’s office, and a criminal investigations unit are notified depending on what the scene looks like. Police and the coroner or medical examiner have related but distinct jobs: law enforcement works to determine whether a crime occurred, while the coroner or medical examiner establishes cause and manner of death regardless of whether criminal activity is involved.2NCBI Bookshelf. Medicolegal Death Investigation System Workshop Summary
Not every death triggers a full criminal investigation. A death is generally treated as suspicious when the cause isn’t immediately apparent, the circumstances seem unusual, or something suggests the death wasn’t natural. Someone found in bed with a known terminal illness and medications on the nightstand is handled very differently from someone found in an unusual location with no obvious explanation. When the cause is clearly natural and documented by a physician, the police role is minimal. When anything raises questions, the criminal investigation division takes over, and the manner of death, whether natural, accidental, suicide, or homicide, is ultimately classified by the medical examiner or coroner rather than by police.