Law enforcement jargon

 

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.

United Kingdom

Offences

• ABH - Actual Bodily Harm
• GBH - Grievous Bodily Harm
• TDA - Taken and Driven Away
• TWOC - Taken Without Owner's Consent

Initialisms describing situations

• ASNT - Area Searched No Trace
• MFH - Missing From Home
• NAI - Non-Accidental Injury
• RTA - Road-Traffic Accident

Ethnicity classifications

• IC1–IC6 - IC codes are used as radio shorthand for a description of a subject's ethnicity as perceived by the observing officer.
• SDE - Self Defined Ethnicity codes (also called "16+1") classify a person's self-perceived ethnicity after spoken contact has taken place, such as after questioning, stop-and-search or arrest.

Miscellaneous initialisms

• ARV - Armed Response Vehicle
• 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
• PNC - Police National Computer

Miscellaneous abbreviations

• MISPER - Missing person
• POLAC - An accident involving a police vehicle
• WOFF - Write off; a vehicle or other property deemed a total loss for insurance purposes

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 offences 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

• GOA - Gone On Arrival
• QOA - Quiet On Arrival
• DOA - Dead On Arrival
• UTL - Unable To Locate

Miscellaneous initialisms

• APB - All Points Bulletin
• APC - All Points County
• BOL' - Be On The Lookout
• CJ - County Jail
• DA - District Attorney
• DOB - Date Of Birth
• EC' - Emergency Contact
• FD' - Fire Department
• PA' - Prosecuting Attorney
• PD - Police Department
• RO - Registered Owner
• RP - Reporting Person/Party
• SO - Sheriff's Office

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
• SODDI - Some Other Dude Did It. From the common claim by those arrested as to their innocence. See SODDI Defense

Miscellaneous abbreviations

• BKD - Booked (into county jail)
• BLK - Street block
• BTWN - Between
• DESC - Description
• JUV - Juvenile
• MOD - Model (of vehicle, for example)
• PROP - Property
• REG - Vehicle registration
• RELD/RLSD - Released
• RPTS - Reports (verb)
• SER - Serial number
• SUSP - Suspect
• TKN - Taken
• UNK - Unknown
• VEH - Vehicle
• VIC - Victim
• WARR - Warrant

Popular culture

Law enforcement jargon is heavily used in police procedurals and similar shows. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation 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)
• Northumbria Police: Jargon Buster
• 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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