Some police-related slang terms

As police are often interacting with individuals, slang terms, often considered offensive, exist and they are numerous for police officers. Many slang terms for police officers are decades or centuries old with lost etymology. These terms are rarely used by the police themselves and instead are used by criminals, prisoners or by the public. Police services also have their own internal slang and jargon.

- Bacon. Utilized interchangeably with the term “Pig / Pigs” and is often derogatory. Can be referred to a single officer or to any number of multiple officers.

- Bears. A slang term for the police.

- Bird. US, derogatory, slang for a police helicopter.

- Bizzies (“busybodies”). UK, said of the police who are always too “busy” to help citizens.

- Bobby. UK, derived from the Conservative British Home Secretary, Sir Robert Peel (Bobby being a nickname for Robert), the founder of the Metropolitan Police. Occurs in fixed phrases e.g. “bobby on the beat”, “village bobby”, etc.

- Bull. A slang term for railroad police in the US, most prevalent in the 20th century.

- Candy cars. Slang term for police cars in the UK.

- Clear. Often shouted when police, FBI or Swat team (группа захвата) have swept the area and no criminal activity is present at specific area of the criminal scene.

- Cop Shop. UK and Australia (and other Commonwealth English) slang for police station.

- Cop or Copper. The term Copper was the original, unshortened word, originally used in Britain to mean “someone who captures”. (In British English the term ‘Cop’ is recorded (Shorter Oxford Dictionary) in the sense of “to Capture” from 1704, derived from the Latin ‘Capere’ via the Old French ‘Caper’). The common myth is that it’s a term referring to the police officer’s buttons which are made of copper.

- Dicks. Slang for detectives.

- Feds. Usually used in the United States to refer to federal law enforcement agencies, especially the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the United States Marshals Service.

- Filth (грязь, мусор). Normally “the Filth”, UK, the police.

- Grass. Cockney (English) for a police informant: Grasshopper = Copper.

- Gumshoe. US, derogatory, slang for detectives, who allegedly wear soft-heeled shoes so they can follow suspects without being noticed.

- Kosmonavt. Russian, referring to OMON policeman.

- Legawye (pl). Russian Легавые, Легавый. Literally “gundog”, “pointer”. This was logo of Moscow Investigation Department in 1928.

- Man, the Man. Derogatory. Police officer or other government agent who has control, either by force or circumstance. Widely used in United States, especially among African Americans and prisoners.

- Ment. Russian. The word “ment” was known in the Russian criminal slang even before the revolution, when police and prison guards were named in that way. The word came to Russian slang of the criminal world from Polish criminal slang, where it was used for a prison guard. To the Polish language the word came from the Hungarian language. In Hungarian “mente” means – “a cloak, a cape”. A police officer of the Austro-Hungarian Empire wore a cape, so he was called “ment” (“a cape, a cloak”).

- Narc or Nark. 1. A term used for an informant. 2. An undercover narcotics agent.

- Occifer. A slang used mainly in Canada to satirically reference the title of a police officer that one naturally assumes while intoxicated.

- Panda Car. UK, a police car. Named because they were originally painted with large panels of black and white, or blue (usually light blue) and white.

- Peeler, Peelers. UK, slang, archaic, including Northern Ireland, from Sir Robert Peel (see “Bobby”).

- Pig. This derogatory term was frequently used during the 19th century, disappeared for a while, but reappeared during the 20th and 21st century. Now prevalent in many English-speaking countries.

- Po-po, Popo, Popos, PoPo. A street term for police. Originally from Southern California, where bicycle police, beginning in the 1980s, wore t-shirts marked with PO, for ‘police officer’. As these officers rode in pairs, their shirts would read 'POPO' when side by side.

- the Thin Blue Line. The role of the police in being the barrier between civilized society and chaos. - Town Clown. Town or city police officers. Usually considered derogatory.

Task 9. Read the text about the prosecutor and complete the sentences given below

Prosecutor

Typically, in the criminal justice process two branches of law enforcement closely cooperate with each other in fighting the crime. They are the police and the prosecutor.

The prosecutor is the chief legal representative of the prosecution in countries. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the case in a criminal trial against an individual accused of breaking the law.

Prosecutors are usually lawyers who possess a law degree, and are recognized as legal professionals by the court in which they intend to represent society.

They usually only become involved in a criminal case once a suspect has been identified and charges need to be filed.

In Australia, Canada, England and Wales, Hong Kong, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, Kenya and South Africa, the head of the prosecuting authority is typically known as the Director of Public Prosecutions, and is appointed, not elected, while in some other countries the prosecutor is elected.

In the USA, the prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the case against an individual suspected of breaking the law, initiating and directing further criminal investigations, guiding and recommending the sentencing of offenders, and are the only attorneys allowed to participate in grand jury proceedings. The titles of prosecutors in state courts vary from state to state and include the terms City Attorney, Commonwealth’s Attorney, County Attorney, County Prosecutor, District Attorney, District Attorney General, Prosecuting Attorney, State’s Attorney, State Prosecutor, Attorney General and Solicitor. Prosecutors are most often chosen through local elections, and typically hire other attorneys as deputies or assistants to conduct most of the actual work of the office. United States Attorneys, appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate, represent the federal government in federal court, in both civil and criminal cases.

1. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for ....

2. In courts, the prosecutors represent ....

3. In the USA the prosecutor is ....

4. In the USA the prosecutor prepares the case for the court together with ....

5. Usually the prosecutors in the USA are called ....

YII. Vocabulary

Task 10. Copy the vocabulary and learn it

Students’ self-study

Task. Writing. Read the text about work stress of a police officer and render one part of the text (I or II or III) in written in short (in 12 – 15 sentences) in Ukrainian (Russian)

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