The ten codes are used only for voice communication, usually for radio transmissions and refer to frequently used phrases; For example, for some organisms, 10-16 means domestic disorder. The use of ten-a-side codes is intended for clear, timely and concise communication between law enforcement officers. Law enforcement jargon is widely used in police proceedings and similar broadcasts. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, a TV series about forensic pathologists, uses many acronyms such as AFIS, CODIS and DB. Tim Dees is an author, editor, coach and former law enforcement officer. After 15 years as a police officer at the Reno Police Department and elsewhere in northern Nevada, Tim taught criminal justice as a full-time professor and instructor at colleges in Wisconsin, West Virginia, Georgia and Oregon. He also served as the Regional Training Coordinator for the Department of Oregon. Public safety standards and training, providing training to 65 criminal justice agencies in central and eastern Oregon. Tim has written more than 800 articles for almost every national law enforcement publication in the United States. He is the author of The Truth About Cops, a collection of written responses for Quora.com. He now writes about police applications of technology in law enforcement from his home in Washington state. Tim holds a Bachelor of Life Sciences from San Jose State University, a Master of Criminal Justice from the University of Alabama, and a Certified Protection Professional degree from ASIS International.
He can be reached at tim@timdees.com. Law enforcement jargon refers to a large number of acronyms, abbreviations, codes, and slang used by law enforcement agencies to provide quick and concise descriptions of people, places, property, and situations in oral and written communications. These vary from country to country and, to a lesser extent, from region to region. [1] Although there are now many radio channels, today`s agents still use these codes to keep communications concise and somewhat secret to the public. Over the years, public servants have also cultivated their own language, using certain phrases that only law enforcement officers would understand. Three-letter abbreviations are often used to describe topics mentioned in incident reports. The first letter indicates the apparent race or ethnic origin; The most commonly used letters are: A – Asian, B – Black, H – Hispanic, O – Other, W – White. The letters PI are sometimes used to refer to the Pacific islands, resulting in an abbreviation of four letters. [8] The second letter indicates gender: F – Woman, M – Male. The last letter indicates whether the subject is legally an adult: A – adult, J – teenager. Thus, the initialism WFJ (or wfj), which appears after the name of a subject in a police protocol, would designate a young white woman.
Over the years, public servants have cultivated their own language, using phrases that only law enforcement officials would understand; Check out our list to see if you`re up to date on your police jargon The digital code 187 in the section of the California Penal Code dealing with murder has been used in many songs, including the gangsta rap song Deep Cover by Dr. Dre and Big Pun and the alternative hip-hop ska-punk song April 29, 1992 (Miami) by Sublime. It also serves as the title of the film One Eight Seven. A crime drama program called «Detroit 1-8-7» aired in the United States on the ABC network in 2010-2011, although 187 does not mean murder under Michigan law. Response codes consist of the word «code» followed by a number; For example, «Code 3» means lights and sirens. Alphanumeric numbers and combinations referring to crimes and actions covered by legal codes are often used as both nouns and verbs in oral and written communications. Since each State has its own legal system, this use varies considerably from one State to another. For example, in California, if a suspect is 849B`d, it means that they will be released after being arrested (rather than being enrolled in a county jail) and refers to Section 849(b) of the California Penal Code. Police and FBI acronyms, codes, and terminology used in the books* Note: Names of crimes vary by jurisdiction; As a result, several acronyms can mean the same thing Some shows, such as «Adam-12» and CSI, use the Penal Code, where the show is based, to describe a crime. This would be understood by people in this state or others who know it, but it would be nonsense to others. Below are some common expressions, acronyms, and slang terms that are commonly heard throughout an officer`s career. And because we know that the terms of each department are different, send us an email with the ones we missed and we will add them to the list.
Well, radios at the time were anything but hi-fi, and few agencies had more than one channel to use. There were a lot of static and mutilated gearboxes. The airtime was precious. In an effort to break the disruption, many agencies have adopted easy-to-understand abbreviations. Many codes began with a hard consonant like «T» to strike the spoken phrase. Some codes, like «10-4,» found their way into the general lexicon through their use in TV shows like «Highway Patrol» and pop radio songs like «Convoy.» Have you ever wondered how coded police language was born?.