Cop Lingo . . .

[Writer1]

I've just completed a draft and I'm looking to fill in a few blanks...does anyone know a site to find Cop-lingo(radio procedures and terminology)?...I'm tired of seeing Car 54 as the cop car in my script! Also, what is the numerical term for homicide or assault with a deadly weapon, crowd riots, etc...?

[PurpleCurtain]

sinai.critter.net/mutant/dawn/slang.htm (http://sinai.critter.net/mutant/dawn/slang.htm)

[phatgirl]

Hey, great link, Purp. Any chance you know of one for inner-city/ghetto slang?

I bet you're related somehow to the Red Carpet..

Thanks.

[BeefMissile]

and check the Advice Squad's website for more police/LE terms, slang, radio 10 codes, etc. BTW: 10 codes are the phrases police use on radio systems to be brief and to avoid any non-police listeners from understanding the transmissions. EXAMPLE: A police officer may say; I'll be 10-19 on that 10-11(this can mean I'll be out of service at that car accident).

[Frank Miranda]

Writer- worked as a PD dispatcher for many years- feel free to email me direct with any questions.

BTW, a homicide is a 187, an assault with a deadly weapon is a 245 and a crowd riot- well, that can be several things, but the most common code would be a 415.

[Hessian]

Hey Frank. Whats the code for a felonious assault with dead squirrel? Seriously. It's for a half finished comedy I have floating around my computer. Is there a close approximation for this crime?

[Frank Miranda]

Writer and Hessian- I should qualify my previous post by noting that these radio codes refer to law enforcement agencies in California (being based on the Cal. Penal Code section numbers), especially in LA County. If your scripts place your PD's in a different state, than I can't help you there.

Hessian- the radio code would probably remain the same, a 245 (what Penal Code one would actually be charged with is beyond me). However, some agencies (such as my own) might also use the radio code of 242 (assault) or 243 (assault and battery). In fact, one of those two would be best unless the victim suffered severe injury- then use 245. Might make for a funnier scene: officers getting a call for a 245 at such and such location, then the description of the incident- they'd be puzzled trying to figure out how a dead squirrel is a deadly weapon only to arrive and find the suspect beating the hell out of a guy with a rodent as stiff as a board (that could cause some serious hurt).

[Hessian]

Is there a code for the mistreatment of an animal?

[Frank Miranda]

We didn't have one and I don't think LAPD has a specific one either. We would have used a 415 (basically a general disturbance; pronounced "four-fifteen") or a 925C (suspicious circumstances; pronounced "nine-two-five circ") along with a brief description of the incident.

[LoganSF1]

When I was on LAPD it was usually a 415 call. I believe we used the following CA Penal Code for animal neglect.

597. (a) Except as provided in subdivision (c) of this section or Section 599c, every person who maliciously and intentionally maims, mutilates, tortures, or wounds a living animal, or maliciously and intentionally kills an animal, is guilty of an offense punishable by
imprisonment in the state prison, or by a fine of not more than twenty thousand dollars ($20,000), or by both the fine and imprisonment, or, alternatively, by imprisonment in a county jail for not more than one year, or by a fine of not more than twenty thousand dollars ($20,000), or by both the fine and imprisonment.
(b) Except as otherwise provided in subdivision (a) or (c), every person who overdrives, overloads, drives when overloaded, overworks, tortures, torments, deprives of necessary sustenance, drink, or shelter, cruelly beats, mutilates, or cruelly kills any animal, or
causes or procures any animal to be so overdriven, overloaded, driven when overloaded, overworked, tortured, tormented, deprived of necessary sustenance, drink, shelter, or to be cruelly beaten, mutilated, or cruelly killed; and whoever, having the charge or
custody of any animal, either as owner or otherwise, subjects any animal to needless suffering, or inflicts unnecessary cruelty upon the animal, or in any manner abuses any animal, or fails to provide the animal with proper food, drink, or shelter or protection from the
weather, or who drives, rides, or otherwise uses the animal when unfit for labor, is, for every such offense, guilty of a crime punishable as a misdemeanor or as a felony or alternatively punishable as a misdemeanor or a felony and by a fine of not more than twenty thousand dollars ($20,000).
(c) Every person who maliciously and intentionally maims,
mutilates, or tortures any mammal, bird, reptile, amphibian, or fish as described in subdivision (d), is guilty of an offense punishable by imprisonment in the state prison, or by a fine of not more than twenty thousand dollars ($20,000), or by both the fine and
imprisonment, or, alternatively, by imprisonment in the county jail for not more than one year, by a fine of not more than twenty thousand dollars ($20,000), or by both the fine and imprisonment.

www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bi...y=&hits=20 (http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/calawquery?codesection=pen&codebody=&hits=20)

[Frank Miranda]

Logan- yep, I do remember our officers also using that PC in discussions on the air, but like you, we used 415 as the actual radio code.

[Hessian]

Ok. So the dispatchercalls in a 223 and 415 inprogress on the corner of 'Here and There'. The cops, a little confused, roll up thinking their gonna be atending 2 seperate incedents. Only to find a guy beating the snot out of some other guy with a very dazed, and none to happy squirrle.

Maybe I'll change it to a snake, and have guy be going at the other guy Indiana Jones style, using the snake like a whip.

[Frank Miranda]

A 243 or a 245- there is no 223. Also dispatcher wouldn't use two different radio codes for the same incident- he'd just pick one (whatever's closest). That's just a technicality, of course- you should go with what's best for your script.

[OkeyDokey]

What about 311? I always wondered about that band name...

[Frank Miranda]

Cal. Penal Code section 311 deals with obscene matter- don't know if the band, 311, took their name from that.

[BeefMissile]

311 was Ponch and Jon's CHP(CA Highway Patrol) radio call sign.

Your Welcome!

:b

[LoganSF1]

We used to call the CHP "Triple A with a gun." We made sure they locked up their jumper cables before entering our jail. :)

[Frank Miranda]

:lol
We used to call them "Triple A security!" One of our dispatchers' husbands was a chippie and she would fume everytime we called them that.