Law enforcement jargon refers to a large body of acronyms, abbreviations, codes and slang used by law enforcement personnel to provide quick concise descriptions of people, places, property and situations, in both spoken and written communication. These vary between countries and to a lesser extent regionally. For the purpose of this article, only English speaking countries are considered.
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United Kingdom
Offences and description
- ABH: Actual bodily harm
- D&D: Drunk And Disorderly
- DIP: Drunk In Public
- GBH: Grievous Bodily Harm
- SKELL: Unsavoury character
- TDA: Taking and Driving Away
- TWOC: Taken Without Owner's Consent
Initialisms describing situations
- ASNT: Area Searched No Trace
- FATAC: Fatal Accident
- MFH: Missing From Home
- NAI: Non-Accidental Injury
- RTA: Road-Traffic Accident
- RTC: Road Traffic Collision (less prejudicial)
- DORTC: Damage Only Road Traffic Collision
- NFA: No Further Action
- NFA: No Fixed Abode
- MOP: Member Of the Public
Miscellaneous initialisms
- ARV: Armed Response Vehicle
- TFU: Tactical Firearms Unit
- NFA: No Further Action
- SOCO: Scenes Of Crime Officer; a forensic crime scene examiner
- VSS: Victim Support Scheme
Miscellaneous acronyms
- HOLMES: Home Office Large and Major Enquiry System; a computer system for major incidents
- PACE: Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984; Act of parliament providing a core framework of police powers and safeguards around stop and search, arrest, detention, investigation, identification and interviewing detainees
- PCSO: Police Community Support Officer; A civilian uniformed non-warranted officer
- PNC: Police National Computer
- NSPIS: National Strategy for Police Information Systems; a computer system for the management of police resources
Miscellaneous abbreviations
- MISPER: Missing person
- POLAC: A collision involving a police vehicle
- WOFF: Write off; a vehicle or other property deemed a total loss for insurance purposes
- WINQ: Warrant inquiry
United States
Numerical and alphanumerical codes
The ten-codes are used only for voice communications, usually radio transmissions and denote commonly used phrases; for example 10-16 means domestic disturbance for some agencies. Use of ten-codes is intended for the clear, quick, and concise communication between law enforcement officers.
The response codes consist of the word "Code" followed by a number; for example "Code 3" means lights and sirens.
Numbers and alphanumeric combinations referring to offenses and actions covered by legal codes are often used both as nouns and verbs in both spoken and written communication. Since each state has its own system of law, this usage varies widely by state. For example in California, if a suspect is 849B'd, it means they are released from custody after being arrested (instead of being booked into county jail) and refers to section 849(b) of the California Penal Code.
Subject description initialisms
Three letter abbreviations are commonly used to describe subjects mentioned in incident reports. The first letter denotes apparent race/ethnicity; the most commonly used letters are: A—Asian, B—Black, H—Hispanic, O—Other, W—White. The letters PI are occasionally used to denote Pacific Islander resulting in a four letter abbreviation [1]. The second letter denotes gender: F—Female, M—Male. The final letter denotes whether the subject is legally an adult: A—Adult, J—Juvenile. Thus the initialism WFJ (or wfj) appearing after a subjects name in a police log would denote a white female juvenile.
Code violations
- ADW: Assault with a Deadly Weapon
- HS: Health and Safety Code
- PC: Penal Code
- VC: Vehicle Code
- WI: Welfare & Institutions Code
- Fel.: Felony
- Misd.: Misdemeanor
- Inf.: Infraction
Initialisms describing situations
- ATL: Attempt To Locate
- BOLO: Be On Lookout
- DID: Drunk In a Ditch
- DOA: Dead On Arrival
- EDP: Emotionally Disturbed Person
- GOA: Gone On Arrival
- LKA: Last Known Address
- LNU: Last Name Unknown
- QOA: Quiet On Arrival
- UTL: Unable To Locate
Miscellaneous initialisms and descriptive terms
- APB: All Points Bulletin
- APC: All Points County
- CJ: County Jail
- CIVIES: term describing non uniform clothing used in undercover operations
- COMPSTAT: method of tracking criminal activity and subsequent enforcement
- CONDITION: problem or concern in need of police attention
- DA: District Attorney
- DV: Domestic Violence
- DOB: Date Of Birth
- EC: Emergency Contact
- FD: Fire Department
- PA: Prosecuting Attorney
- PC: Probable Cause (Reasonable Suspicion - for arrest or stop)
- PD: Police Department
- RO: Registered Owner
- RP: Reporting Person/Party
- SO: Sheriff's Office
- SA: State's Attorney
- SNEU: Street Narcotics Enforcement Unit
- SKELL: Unsavory character (term often used by NY Police Officers)
- SKELL GEL: Anti bacterial lotion used by Officers after contact with skell(s)
- MUTT: An extremely unsavory character
- PUKE: A pejorative for an inmate of the county jail or state prison
- WOOD SHAMPOO: Using less than lethal force to gain voluntary compliance
- GATT: Ilegal firearm
- GOA: Gone On Arrival
- NAT: Necessary Action Taken
- OLN: Operator's License Number
- UTL: Unable To Locate
- SOC: Social Security Number
- SOR: Sex Offender Registration/Registrant
- SRO: School Resource Officer
- HOUSE MOUSE: A police officer who seldom leaves the police station
Miscellaneous acronyms
- AFIS: automated fingerprint identification system
- CODIS: Combined DNA Index System
- IAFIS: Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System
- NCIC: National Crime Information Center
- VIN: Vehicle Identification Number
Miscellaneous abbreviations
- BKD: Booked (into county jail)
- BLK: Street block
- BTWN: Between
- COMPL: Complaintant
- DESC: Description
- JUV: Juvenile
- MOD: Model (of vehicle, for example)
- M/N: Model Number (of article, for example)
- PROP: Property
- PERP: Perpetrator
- REG: Vehicle registration
- RELD/RLSD: Released
- RPTS: Reports (verb)
- SER: Serial number
- S/N: Serial number
- S/H: Stationhouse
- SUSP: Suspect
- S/V: Suspect Vehicle
- TKN: Taken
- TANGO: Thank You
- UNK: Unknown
- UTL: Unable To Locate
- VEH: Vehicle
- VIC: Victim
- V/C: Victim / Complainant
- WARR: Warrant
Popular culture
Law enforcement jargon is heavily used in police procedurals and similar shows. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, a television series about forensic scientists, uses many acronyms such as AFIS and CODIS.
The numeric code 187 from the California Penal Code section dealing with murder has been featured in numerous gangsta rap songs and as the title of the movie One Eight Seven.
External links
- Police Jargon: How to Talk Like a Cop (a guide by Lynda Sue Cooper)
- Killeen Police Jargon Page (the local police department in Killeen, Texas)
- North Yorkshire Police Jargon Buster (the Police Force in North Yorkshire, England)
- Menlo Park Police Daily Log Glossary (PDF format) (the local police department in Menlo Park, California)
- Staffordshire Police Jargon Buster (the Police Force in Staffordshire, England)
- UK Police Slang and Acronyms (a large and growing list of police slang submitted by Police forum members.)
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