Police Slang, Jargon, and New Words from Double-Tongued Dictionary

Citations in the Category Police

Police, cops, officers, correctional officers, security guards, military police. You can also see entries assigned to this category.

(6/25 pages) « First < 4 5 6 7 8 > Last »

contagious shooting n. It is known in police parlance as “contagious shooting”—gunfire that spreads among officers who believe that they, or their colleagues, are facing a threat. It spreads like germs, like laughter, or fear. An officer fires, so his colleagues do, too. [English Police] [full cite] (Nov. 27, 2006)

coptometer n. “This is a different kind of training, because usually an officer rushes right in. Here, we get them to approach slowly and size up the situation.”…“Identify. Isolate. Notify. Stay uphill, upwind, upstream and at least 300 feet away.…Don’t be a blue canary. Don’t be a coptometer.” [English Firefighting Police Slang] [full cite] (Jun. 3, 2006)

crack in the crack n. “So if an officer has probable cause, they can perform a strip-search?” Whaley asked. “A reasonable officer would believe that’s constitutional,” O’Hara replied. She used a street term—“crack in the crack”—to describe where suspects sometimes hide drugs. [English Crime & Prisons Drugs Police] [full cite] (May. 24, 2007)

crank rental n. Call it a crank rental. Then there’s the “rock ride,” when a crank addict reports his own car stolen after lending it out in exchange for a rock of methamphetamine.There’s one particular upscale car, a Lexus, on Tuesday morning’s list that the officers immediately greet with suspicion as a rock rental in their daily briefing. [ Language English Subject Automobiles & Transportation Drugs Police] [full cite] (Oct. 6, 2005)

creeper n. A 32-year-old woman told police last week that a cunning creeper made his way into her 5th Avenue apartment, taking only her $400 blue hybrid road bike. [English Crime & Prisons Police] [full cite] (May. 19, 2007)

CSI effect n. Juries, swayed by the special effects and scripts of television, have in some instances come to expect more evidence than is really necessary to establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. It is a phenomenon that has actually come to be known as “the CSI effect” in law enforcement parlance. [English Law Police] [full cite] (Aug. 3, 2005)

cuff and stuff v. Why she was then cuffed and stuffed, to borrow from the vernacular, is still up for discussion. School officials are saying that they were following state law by calling the police, who are themselves saying that they were following procedure by handcuffing her and taking her downtown. [English Police] [full cite] (Dec. 14, 2004)

cuff and stuff v. “The homeless were cuffed and stuffed into patrol cars,” said attorney Ed Connor. “Not one of them were charged with property crimes.” [English United States Crime & Prisons Police] [full cite] (Dec. 14, 2004)

cuff and stuff v. Last year, with the help of police, Turner got an incorrigible trash dumper “cuffed and stuffed.” [English United States Crime & Prisons Police] [full cite] (Dec. 14, 2004)

cuff and stuff v. A weapon from one of the Somalis falls to the ground and is kicked away by one of the MPs. Both Somalis are handcuffed and taken away. “Cuffed and stuffed” as one of the Marines says. [English United States Crime & Prisons Police] [full cite] (Dec. 14, 2004)

(6/25 pages) « First < 4 5 6 7 8 > Last »