The CAD

The radio

The radio is built into every CAD, on the side of the Dispatch screen and on its own Radio chat screen. There are six channels: Dispatch, TAC 1, TAC 2, Fire / EMS, Car to car and Supervisors. Anyone on the CAD can listen. Officers and dispatchers can talk.

• Voice. Hold the talk button and speak, up to 20 seconds. Your browser (or the desktop app) asks for the microphone the first time. Everyone on the CAD can play it back for 30 minutes, and the radio can play new ones by itself (turn that off with Radio sound).
• Text. Type up to 150 characters. Language that is not allowed and links are refused.
• Messages from the system. Flock BOLO hits and emergencies are posted on the radio by Uplink.
• Dispatcher voice (TTS). When a new call comes in, or an officer presses the emergency button, the radio says it out loud in a dispatcher's voice, with a two-tone first: the priority, what it is, the place (postal and street) and the call number. Emergencies cut in over anything being read. It uses the voices already on your computer or phone, so nothing is sent anywhere, and calls that were already open when you opened the radio are not read out. Turn it off and on with the TTS button on the radio bar or the Voice key on the full radio. Your choice is kept on your account, so it is the same on every radio and device. It also stops when you mute the radio, and the radio volume sets how loud it is. If you have the radio open twice (for example the bar and the CAD), only one of them speaks. In a browser, click the page once after it opens so the browser allows it to talk.
• Emergency button. An officer presses it (on the radio bar it is held for one second so it is never hit by accident) and a Priority 1 Officer emergency call opens at their place, with them on it and on scene. It is announced on Dispatch and the channel they were using, and a red alert shows on every CAD and in the alert toasts. A dispatcher answers with one press of Respond, which tells them on the radio that units are on the way. Each person has to wait before pressing it again: a minute until an admin changes it in Settings > CAD, anywhere from 10 seconds to 10 minutes.

Pick your radio. The radio comes in four looks, and they all work the same way. The Handheld is the classic. The Patrol is a black radio with a small screen and three bars of keys under it. The Rugged is a lime green rubber radio with a tall screen and a big channel knob. The Touch is a dark touchscreen radio that shows your unit, the channel, quick buttons for scan, mute and the log, and the last message. Switch with the buttons above the radio in the CAD's Radio panel or at the top of the radio window that floats over your game. Your choice is kept on your account, so every radio and device shows the same one, and people who can only listen can pick one too.