LAPD slang, codes, and regulations

Information about LAPD police codes and other professional terms used on *The Rookie*.

### Verbal shorthand and abbreviations

* BOLO = Be On the Look Out
* PHQ = Personal History Questionnaire
* PR = Party Reporting
* RA = Rescue Ambulance
* RD = Reporting District
* TO = Training Officer
* TC = Traffic Collision
* GOA = Gone on Arrival
* DB = Dead Body
* ATL = Attempt to Locate

### LAPD Manual

* In "In Justice", on Lopez' first day as a detective, she is reminded that "duty manual prohibits detectives from displaying equipment in public, unless in use". This probably refers to Section 1/140.25: "The public display of any covered equipment item by Department personnel in response to an incident requiring investigative or enforcement action shall be considered a 'deployment' of the item."
* Section 1/210.46: "An employee's obligation to report and prevent misconduct begins the moment that employee becomes a member of the Los Angeles Police Department."
* Section 1/556.40: A firearm can be discharged at a moving vehicle only if the person in the vehicle is immediately threatening an officer or another person with deadly force using something other than the vehicle.
* Section 3/760.40: Probationary Service Rating Reports.
* Section 3/760.75: Notice to Correct Deficiencies describes the term "blue page": The Notice to Correct Deficiencies (NTC), Form General 78, may be used to document deficient performances or censurable incidents, involving Department employees, including members of the Police Reserve Corps. The concerned employee shall receive the original (white) copy of the form and the blue copy shall be placed in his/her Division Employee Folder, for one year; then sent to Personnel Division, Personnel Records Section, for permanent retention and the pink and yellow copies shall be destroyed.
* Section 4/244.50: A complete description of the firearm involved ... shall include: Make; Type; Caliber or gauge; Finish; Barrel length; Serial number; Frame number; Type or color of grips or stock; Marks or initials; and Unusual features.
* Section 4/271.20: Reporting Intelligence Information - "The unlawful disruption of public order through civil disobedience.”
* Section 4/385.20 Locking Department Vehicles: "Unless it is impractical, an employee shall securely lock a Department vehicle when leaving it parked on the street or other public places."

#### LAPD radio codes

*LAPD Manual, Section 4, LAPD radio codes*

* Code 2 = Urgent, no lights or sirens
* Code 3 = calls for an immediate response with lights and sirens.
* Code 4 = No further assistance needed.
* Code 6 = "When a unit is conducting a field investigation and no assistance is anticipated, a "Code Six," followed by the location, shall be broadcast. A unit shall not go "Code Six" until it arrives at the scene of a call."
* On the radio, Sergeant Grey uses the designation "7-L-20"; the letter L ("Lincoln") indicates that his unit is a single-man unit (1 officer in the unit).
* The reference to "a lot of 11-3 at that location" may refer to a police scanner code 11300 regarding narcotics.

### Slang and jargon

* The Free Dictionary defines "flake" to mean "[for the police] to place drugs or traces of drugs on a person during an arrest." (The person is then charged with possession of drugs.)
* "Five by five" originally referred to the quality of a radio or telegraph signal, meaning the best quality possible. In popular culture, it has come to mean "all is well".
* "Lick bag" is a slang term for a bag that once held drugs, named because addicts were known to lick the inside of the bag to consume the last grains of a substance.
* PIT maneuver = Pursuit Intervention Technique; a pursuit tactic by which a pursuing car can force a fleeing car to abruptly turn sideways, causing the driver to lose control and stop.

### California legal codes

* California Penal Code 148.4: Anyone who "willfully and maliciously tampers with, molests, injures, or breaks any fire protection equipment, fire protection installation, fire alarm apparatus, wire, or signal" is guilty of a misdemeanor.
* California Penal Code Title 8, Chapter 4, Section 211 – Robbery
* The "245" reported during vehicle chases refers to California Penal Code section 245, which deals with "assault with a deadly weapon".
* California Penal Code 266i: Anyone who "by promises, threats, violence, or by any device or scheme, causes, induces, persuades, or encourages another person to become a prostitute" is gulty of pandering (a felony).
* California Penal Code: 273(g) - "intoxicated in the presence of a child" - No section g, and no mention of intoxication elsewhere in 273 ("Free Fall")
* California Penal Code Section 372: Every person who maintains or commits any public nuisance, the punishment for which is not otherwise prescribed, or who willfully omits to perform any legal duty relating to the removal of a public nuisance, is guilty of a misdemeanor.
* California Penal Code 415 - Disturbing the peace
* Hanging an obscene picture of the Vice President in public view is *not* a violation of Penal Code 415.5; 415.5 only covers fighting, noise, and obscene language, not imagery.
* California Penal Code: 417 (a) (1) "Every person who, except in self-defense, in the presence of any other person, draws or exhibits any deadly weapon whatsoever, other than a firearm, in a rude, angry, or threatening manner...is guilty of a misdemeanor..."
* California Penal Code 459 - Burglary
* California Penal Code: 597(h) - 597 concerns mistreatment of animals but doesn't mention the act given in the script ("Free Fall")
* California Penal Code Section 647b: Except as provided in paragraph (5) of subdivision (b) and subdivision (l), every person who commits any of the following acts is guilty of disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor: ...(b) (1) An individual who solicits, or who agrees to engage in, or who engages in, any act of prostitution with the intent to receive compensation, money, or anything of value from another person.
* California Penal Code Section 844: "To make an arrest, a private person, if the offense is a felony, and in all cases a peace officer, may break open the door or window of the house in which the person to be arrested is, or in which they have reasonable grounds for believing the person to be, after having demanded admittance and explained the purpose for which admittance is desired.
* California Penal Code, Chapter 5, Article 849(b)(1) - (b) A peace officer may release from custody, instead of taking the person before a magistrate, a person arrested without a warrant in the following circumstances: (1) The officer is satisfied that there are insufficient grounds for making a criminal complaint against the person arrested.
* California Penal Code: 12020 - Illegal possession of a firearm - has been amended; closest now is 12021.5 ("Free Fall")
* California Penal Code: 21510(b) - Having a blade 2” or longer on his person.
* California Vehicle Code 23123 is the hands-free vehicle code.
* California Vehicle Code 23120: No driver shall operate a motor vehicle while wearing glasses having a temple width of 1/2" or more if any part of said temple extends below the horizontal center of the lens so as to interfere with lateral vision.
* The "Peace Officers' Procedural Bill of Rights", as cited by Officer Bishop, is part of the California Government Code, sections 3300-3313.

## References

1. ↑ Later revised as Section 1/556.10, "Policy on the Use of Force"
2. ↑ Wikipedia, "Los Angeles Police Department resources - radio cars"
3. ↑ Five by five
4. ↑ Wikipedia, "PIT maneuver"

## External links

* California Legal Codes
* LAPD Manual

*This list is still in progress.*