240 Police Code

“240” is the California code for assault, and it names one of the most misunderstood crimes in the whole penal code. Most people think of “assault” as hitting someone — but in California law, an assault can happen without a single touch. This article explains what the 240 police code means, the legal definition that surprises people, how it differs from battery, and why the number belongs specifically to California.

The short answer: 240 is Section 240 of the California Penal Code, which defines assault. California law enforcement uses “240” on the radio and in reports as shorthand for an assault — an unlawful attempt, coupled with the present ability, to commit a violent injury on another person.

What 240 Means

California officers name crimes by speaking the penal code section number, and 240 is the section that defines assault. When a “240” goes out over the radio, everyone on the channel knows an assault is involved, because the number points directly to the statute.

Here’s the part that surprises people: under California law, an assault is an attempt to commit violence, not the violence itself. The statute defines it as an unlawful attempt, coupled with a present ability, to commit a violent injury on someone. Two elements sit at the core — there must be an attempt to apply force, and the person must have the present ability to actually carry it out. What there does not have to be is contact. No one needs to be touched, struck, or injured for an assault to occur.

This runs directly against everyday usage, where “assault” is often used to mean a physical attack. In California law, the physical attack — the actual contact — is a different crime called battery. Assault is the threat or the attempt that comes before contact, or that never reaches contact at all. Swinging a fist at someone and missing is an assault. Lunging at someone with the clear ability to strike them is an assault. The attempt, backed by the ability to follow through, is what the law is targeting. For the broader picture of how California’s penal-code radio language works, our overview of US police codes sets the context.

The Defining Feature: No Contact Required

The single most important thing about 240 is that assault does not require contact. This is what separates it from battery (242), and it’s the source of most of the confusion around both codes. Assault is the attempt; battery is the completed act where force is actually applied.

The clean way to hold the difference: assault is the swing, battery is the hit. If someone throws a punch and misses, they’ve committed an assault. If the punch lands, they’ve committed a battery. The moment of contact is the dividing line. Because a completed attack usually passes through the assault stage on its way to becoming a battery, the two are frequently charged together — but they are separate crimes with separate code numbers, and the difference is simply whether force was actually applied.

The “present ability” element matters too. A threat that can’t possibly be carried out — a threat to harm someone who is far out of reach, for example — may not meet the definition, because assault requires the present ability to actually commit the violent injury. This is what distinguishes a genuine assault from an idle or impossible threat. The attempt has to be real and capable of being completed. Our US 10-codes guide explains how officers combine codes to convey the specifics of a call.

How Officers Use 240 on the Radio

A 240 comes up in a wide range of situations — confrontations, fights, disputes that turn threatening. Because assault is often the opening stage of a violent encounter, a 240 can quickly become a 242 (battery) if contact is made, or a 245 (assault with a deadly weapon) if a weapon is involved. Officers responding to a report of an assault assess what happened: was there an attempt to strike someone, did the person have the ability to carry it out, and did it escalate to contact or a weapon?

Many 240 calls arise out of other disturbances. A report that starts as a 415 (disturbing the peace) can become a 240 the moment someone attempts to strike another person. Depending on the circumstances, a 240 might be handled with a report and, where warranted, an arrest, or defused if the situation calms. When a scene is under control, you may hear a Code 4. The response varies with the seriousness of the attempt and whether it escalated. Our US police code category shows how 240 sits among the other codes officers use.

240 Among California’s Spoken Penal Codes

Placing 240 alongside the related penal codes California officers speak aloud makes the distinctions clearer:

This grouping shows the ladder of physical-violence crimes. 240 is the attempt or threat — the base of the ladder. 242 is the completed contact. 245 is the aggravated version involving a deadly weapon or force likely to cause great bodily injury. Reading them together clarifies each one: 240 is where an attack begins, before contact and before any weapon raises the stakes. The master police code lists page collects these references in one place.

Assault vs Battery: Settling the Confusion

Because 240 and 242 are the two most commonly confused codes, it’s worth being explicit about the distinction, since getting it right clarifies a large part of the California code vocabulary.

Assault (240) is an unlawful attempt, coupled with the present ability, to commit a violent injury on someone. It’s the threat or the try. No contact is required — the crime is complete when someone attempts violence they’re able to carry out.

Battery (242) is the actual unlawful use of force on someone. It’s the contact itself, the completion of what an assault only attempts.

The clean way to remember it: assault is the swing, battery is the hit. Because a completed attack usually moves through both stages, the two are often charged together — but they remain separate crimes with separate codes, and the dividing line is always whether contact was made. Our guide to the 242 police code covers the battery side of this pairing in more depth.

Why 240 Is a California Code

As with the other spoken penal codes, 240 is specific to California. It means assault because that’s the section of the California Penal Code defining the crime. Other states cover assault under different statute numbers, or define it differently — some states use “assault” to mean what California calls battery — so “240” as an official code points to California or agencies using California’s penal-code radio conventions.

This reflects the wider reality of American police radio: there’s no national code book, and code meanings are tied to the jurisdiction that assigns them. The definitional difference between states is especially notable with assault, since the same word can carry a different legal meaning across state lines. Like other well-known California codes, 240 is recognised by many through media set in the state, but its official use remains Californian.

Why Understanding 240 Matters

For scanner listeners, 240 is a code worth knowing because it signals an attempt at violence, which may or may not have escalated to contact — and recognising that distinction tells you a lot about the call. For writers and journalists, using it accurately means understanding the real legal definition of assault, particularly that it doesn’t require contact, and recognising that 240 is a California statute rather than a universal code. And for anyone curious about the law, 240 is a striking example of how a legal definition can differ sharply from the popular understanding of a familiar word.

The real payoff of understanding 240 is getting the assault-versus-battery distinction right. Once it clicks — assault is the attempt, battery is the contact — a whole set of crime codes and news reports read more clearly. The number 240 anchors the “attempt” side of that pairing, and it corrects one of the most common misconceptions people hold about a word they use all the time.

Using Police Code to Explore Further

Police Code is a global police code explorer built to answer exactly this kind of question — what a code means, how it differs from the crimes people confuse it with, and where it applies. Instead of assuming 240 is a universal police code or that assault means a physical attack, you can search one organised database that shows how each code is used, how they relate, and how California’s system compares to the rest of the country and the world. It’s free to browse and built for scanner listeners, journalists, writers, and anyone who wants a code’s meaning to be right rather than approximately right.