Law enforcement jargon

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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.

1 United Kingdom
2 United States
3 Popular culture
4 External links

United Kingdom

Offenses

ABH: Actual bodily harm
D&D: Drunk And Disorderly Public Intoxication
DIP: Drunk In Public Public Intoxication
GBH: Grievous Bodily Harm
TDA: Taken and Driven 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
RTC: Road-Traffic Collision
DORTC: Damage Only Road Traffic Collision
NFA: No Further Action
NFA: No Fixed Abode
MOP: Member Of the Public

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 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

APB: All Points Bulletin
APC: All Points County
CJ: County Jail
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
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

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
COMPL: Complainant
DESC: Description
JUV: Juvenile
MOD: Model (of vehicle, for example)
M/N: Model Number (of article, for example)
PROP: Property
REG: Vehicle registration
RELD/RLSD: Released
RPTS: Reports (verb)
SER: Serial number
S/N: Serial number
SUSP: Suspect
S/V: Suspect Vehicle
TKN: Taken
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.