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Art Drama Cop Talk


look up: https://www.policemag.com/cop-slang/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_enforcement_jargon

ZULU TANGO - Zero Tolerance
ROLLING FILE NUMBER - A motor vehicle with a high potential that someone inside will be arrested when the vehicle is stopped.
FAT - failed attitude test
SOS - Stuck on stupid
BUGGED - A mentally unstable individual
IVORY TOWER - The Internal Affairs office.
WORKING THE BUBBLE - The bubble is referred to the place where disempowered or injured officers work front desk duty, usually behind a bullet proof glass partition at the precincts.

Boss - Supervisor as in "SHOTS FIRE...PERP DOWN...I NEED A BUS AND A BOSS"
GIG SHEET - A disciplinary referral letter, placed in your personnel file.
Bus - ambulance
Gear -
Cheries & Beries - Red and Blue lights
CODE PINK - Catching people having sex in a car or public place!
Green Tag - on the files of arrestees awaiting psych evaluations, become slag for people who are, or appear, crazy/insane
STREET KING - Gang leader
PAPER - A subject who is on probation or parole. You ask subject, "are you on paper"
GET SMALL - Disappear or run away
A KEEPER - A citation issued for a traffic violation.
BOMB - Old low-rider car
"FIDO" means "Forget It, Drive On."
FISH-EYE - When you are watching a suspect walk down the street, he obviously knows you're there, and he keeps watching you out of the extreme corner of his eye, and he keeps his head straight ahead.

To "Mirandize" is to inform an arrestee of their Constitutional rights.


Cops don't say, "We had a really bad accident on the highway." What is a "bad" accident to civilians is a "good" accident to a cop. A good crash, a good brawl,

The following list is the radio codes my department uses, which can be utilized verbatim or modified for your purposes: Code Zero------------------------------Officer safety issue, use caution.
For example, if another officer knows the person you're contacting, he may say, "use code zero, he's combative."

Code One---------------------------------------I need a cover car quickly (less serious than a code eight)
Code Two--------------------------------------Normal response, no emergency equipment
Code Three------------------------------------Respond with lights and sirens
Code Four-------------------------------------I'm okay or Are you okay?
Code Four for now---------------------------I'm okay for the moment, keep a cover car coming.
Code Five-------------------------------------Person with a warrant of some kind.
Code Six--------------------------------------Busy doing something. For example, "I'm code six with a suspicious vehicle at the corner of 38 and Kipling."
Code Seven-----------------------------------Out of service for lunch. Lunch is referred to as "taking a code 7."
Code Eight------------------------------------Officer calling for help.
Code Nine-------------------------------------Traffic stop. Referred to as "going code 9 with a vehicle."
Code Ten--------------------------------------Only essential radio traffic on a given channel. For example, if there is an armed robbery in progress, the dispatcher will announce that there is a code 10 on channel one. Only officers responding to the robbery may speak on that channel.

Code Eleven-----------------------------------I've arrived on scene.
Code Twelve----------------------------------I've left the scene and I'm back in service.
Code Thirteen---------------------------------I'm at the Police Department. Also used in the form of a question: "Can you code 13 for a walk in report?"


In addition to the codes, radio transmissions are unique in their format. By FCC regulation, the person transmitting must break their transmission every 15 seconds and wait for a "go ahead" from the person on the other end. In script form, a radio transmission about a wanted person would look like this:

Dispatcher: Adam Twelve code five.
Adam Twelve: Twelve, code five, go ahead.
Dispatcher: I'm showing a warrant on your party, Doe, John Q., date of birth three five of sixty, showing physical as white male,
six foot, two-eighty, blond and blue, break--
Adam Twelve: Go ahead.
Dispatcher: Out of Denver. Failure to appear on domestic violence/assault. Thousand dollar bond, break--
Adam Twelve: Go ahead.
Dispatcher: Also a second warrant out of Northglenn, same charge, fifteen hundred dollar bond.
Adam Twelve: Copy. Confirm them both.


You may never use a conversation like the one above, but understanding radio procedure helps to understand the "sound" of police.

A glaring difference between police language and normal speech boils down to the words we use to describe things. We learn to refer to people, places, and things differently than civilians. A lot of it starts with police reports which must be articulated in specific and formal ways. We write so many reports that the written vernacular carries over to our speech. A regular person would write: I walked up to the car and told the guy to get out. He wouldn't get out and started yelling at me, so I yanked him out and threw him on the ground. A cop would write: I approached the vehicle and ordered the suspect out. He failed to comply and became increasingly verbally uncooperative. In light of this, and for officer safety reasons, I physically removed him from the vehicle and placed him prone on the ground in accordance with departmental use of force policy. (Yes, we really write like this!)

The following is a list of the most common word differences:
You Say... Cops Say...
Person------------------------------------Party
Car----------------------------------------Vehicle
Fight-------------------------------------- Disturbance
Go to-------------------------------------Respond to
I'm on the way---------------------------I'm en route
Kids--------------------------------------- Juveniles
Ticket-------------------------------------Summons
Yes-------------------------------- --------Affirmative, Affirm, or That's affirmative
No----------------------------------------- Negative or That's negative
Got out of the car------------------------Exited the vehicle
To "hog tie" someone-------------------Place them in 4-point restraints

(proper terms) Suitcase them (common terms)
Get together with a co-worker---------Get a meet
"Who reported the crime?"-------------"Who's my RP?"
Tow truck------------------------------- -Hook
Wait---------------------------------------Stand by
Copy---------------------------------------I understand. Or, handle; respond to, as in, "Copy a call."
Accident----------------------------------Paul Ida (with injuries)Paul David (no injuries), or a "T.A."








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