Comments on: Avoiding 'cop talk' for journalists

By: fivetonsflax

fivetonsflax — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 23:34:00 +0000

My favorite aspect of cop talk is the tense I call the “police present”. They love to narrate past events in the present tense.

By: Peter Marks

Peter Marks — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 19:32:00 +0000

But why say “behind bars” when in fact they are in jail?

By: Spocko

Spocko — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 18:08:00 +0000

Agreed. Kids are not stupid. I knew where my Dad kept his guns and ammo. He went though an effort to keep them safe, but not all parents do.

By: kartwaffles

kartwaffles — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 17:24:00 +0000

Double-especially when the car is “black in color”.

By: ocker3

ocker3 — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 10:08:00 +0000

Don’t you mean flack vest which has Writer on the front?

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 08:58:00 +0000

You should plan a trip to Prague.

By: niktemadur

niktemadur — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 08:51:00 +0000

Once in Italy, a hotel entrance was closed and locked, we were several groups of people waiting for somebody inside to show up so we could get in.
Then somebody mimicked throwing a chair through the window, smiled and said “defenestrati”. First and only time I’ve heard the word used in casual conversation. Which made my day, many years later it’s one of 3-4 things I remember vividly from that day, everything else is a blur.

By: niktemadur

niktemadur — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 08:43:00 +0000

I blame Chuck Yeager. Seems like everybody in uniform AND their cousin attempt (poorly) to emulate the man’s vocal stylings.

By: Aram Jahn

Aram Jahn — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 07:50:00 +0000

Another obnoxious variant of cop talk is when they say they’re trying to protect the public from “the bad guys.”

Do they think we’re all mentally five years old?

On second thought: don’t answer that.

By: BillStewart2012

BillStewart2012 — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 06:31:00 +0000

There’s Castle’s jacket which says “WRITER” on the back.

By: That_Anonymous_Coward

That_Anonymous_Coward — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 04:51:00 +0000

Sadly there is much effort spent in making sure people don’t have to face responsibility.
Like the story of a mother who’d kids were found wandering the streets, I don’t know how they got away, I turned my head for a moment.
You failed to watch your kids, they could have come to harm but your more concerned with making sure no one suggests your a crappy parent.
My kid was hurt at the park, I’m going to sue for millions!
vs
I wasn’t watching my kids leaping from the playground equipment so the fault has to be someone else and I deserve to get paid for being a bad parent.

But then… I usually detest crotchfruit of people who refuse to keep them from being little hellions but the moment someone says anything about their lack control they get all mad about how dare you tell them how to raise their children.

By: cfuse

cfuse — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 01:58:00 +0000

Why can’t I wear a riot fedora?

By: BBReese

BBReese — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 01:53:00 +0000

The above seems more like a Statement Of Charges report that we “former officer here” place before the Court Commissioner. The facts have to be present in a fashion that smoothly takes the Commish through the events that took place. Indictaing every turn place and time of events.

By: BonzoDog1

BonzoDog1 — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 01:51:00 +0000

I still feel sorry for Richard Jewell, the cop who was crucified by the national TV news as a “person of interest” in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics bombing. If any of the network news directors had worked as a cop-shop reporter, they would have known any person reporting a crime is automatically a “person of interest” routinely at the start of an investigation, in no way a “suspect,” and usually quickly eliminated.

By: BonzoDog1

BonzoDog1 — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 01:43:00 +0000

As a reporter in the 1970s I had an editor who insisted we write “cars driven by X and Y were in collision.”

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 01:43:00 +0000

Person of interest can mean witness as well as suspect.

By: petr

petr — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 01:31:00 +0000

suspect was hatless. And was traveling in a … car. He is passing under the moon this very moment.

By: crenquis

crenquis — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 00:49:00 +0000

The one that annoys me is the use of “person of interest” rather than suspect — seemed to emerge after 911.

By: James Agenbroad

James Agenbroad — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 00:25:00 +0000

There is an effort in some circles to use the work “collision” rather than “accident’ when referring to unintended contact between cars.

By: James Agenbroad

James Agenbroad — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 00:20:00 +0000

A friend told me that he decided to NOT use the word “defenestrate” in a police report because everybody ALREADY thougt that he was a smartass.

By: Just_Ok

Just_Ok — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 00:18:00 +0000

There’s the more formal and antiquated “Pig Latin”

By: waetherman

waetherman — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 00:18:00 +0000

Seriously – you’d prefer a fedora to riot gear? you’re not living in the post-apocalyptic dystopia that I am, and that’s a pity.

By: Just_Ok

Just_Ok — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 00:16:00 +0000

Or a Fedora with a card in the hat band that said “Press”

By: Rindan

Rindan — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 00:02:00 +0000

It is kind of a tangent, but in the US libel and slander are almost impossible to win. You basically have to show that you said something untrue, knew it was untrue, said that untrue thing because you were specifically looking to be a hurtful asshole, and that your remark actually caused damage. Truth is always an absolute defense. The US has a lot of dumb laws, but our libel and slender laws are awesome. You can safely put up a website accuse Cory of trafficking in computer on midget porn with pretty much no fear of legal retaliation in the US. They can still TRY and sue you, but they won’t win.

That said, in this case, you would be pretty safe even in the UK. Two men are in fact behind bars, and this happened after a robbery. The rest is “police say”, which is just reporting what someone said.

By: Donald Petersen

Donald Petersen — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 23:56:00 +0000

Ooh! I can top that!

“At this particular point in time.”

By: Donald Petersen

Donald Petersen — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 23:53:00 +0000

Nah, she’s a Wesleyan Methodist. No need to be dead to be canonized, as the Catholics do. Just sanctified. And god knows she hasn’t had occasion to sin since the second Eisenhower Administration.

By: Dlo Burns

Dlo Burns — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 23:50:00 +0000

I hear it on the weatherband a lot.

By: Dlo Burns

Dlo Burns — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 23:49:00 +0000

That’s something I certainly could use.

By: Todd Knarr

Todd Knarr — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 23:39:00 +0000

On radio that “be advised” has a very good reason for existence: to provide an “alert” hook to get someone’s attention without having any information that’d be critical if missed. People aren’t always focusing on the radio, so that extra lead-in to tell me I need to pay attention to the radio now is really helpful. It also distinguishes “you ought to know this” from “do this now”. Think hearing “All units be advised, pursuit in progress on 19th west of Main.” vs. “All units please assist in pursuit on 19th westbound from Main.”. The first is informational, the second is an order.

By: welcomeabored

welcomeabored — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 23:15:00 +0000

If my grandmother had said “po-po”, she would have meant the poorest of the poor.

And your mum is very much alive and kickin’, last I heard. Saintly, maybe.