Even more police jargon
The back and forth with the Baltimore's Sun's Copy Desk chief, John E. McIntyre, on policespeak has turned into lists of police cliches. Mr. McIntyre just posted a blog on his site on old words that still crop up from time to time. He lists bust, finger, heist and to cop a plea.
Back when Ed Norris stormed into Baltimore from New York, he brought more than a new form of tough policing. He brought his own lingo. Much of it was familiar -- straight from the proliferation of New York cop shows on TV such as NYPD Blue and Law and Order.
The New York influence is long gone, though New York's former top cop, William J. Bratton, visited recently and talked about crime. But he speaks with a Boston accent, and now leads the LAPD, so I'm not sure that counts anymore.
Norris started to introduce some New York terms, which I realized when I heard now retired Col. Bert Shirey say "perp." That's not a Baltimore word. We simply say "suspect." Nor do we use the New York word for a minor perp, skell.
Baltimore calls an arrest a "lock-up"; New Yorkers call it a "collar." A fugitive is "on the wing" in Baltimore but "in the wind" in New York; we both call a vagrant a "mope"; we have "PO-lice" (used as a noun); they have "cop"; we take our injured to the hospital in an "ambo," New Yorkers make the trip in a "bus"; our cops just go to the station, while New York cops go back to "The House."
Baltimore PO-lice have at least two terms we can call our own. You can still be yoked -- an unarmed mugging from behind -- and sometimes you hear an old-time dispatcher send an officer to a "yoking in progress." I'll admit, it's rare, but I heard one just the other day.
And we own the word "espantoon" -- the wooden, hand-carved nightstick. It's defined in Webster's, Third Edition, as "Baltimore, a policeman's club" though I haven't seen it in print in years.
Comments
espantoon - I don't know about hand-carved, but in states north of here cops used to carry Billy Clubs.
Posted by: Eve | October 30, 2008 11:02 AM
What about "on the job?" Is that another that I know solely because of cop shows set in NYC?
Posted by: Brian Carmen | October 30, 2008 12:27 PM
From "spontoon".
Look it up.
Posted by: c o'donnell | October 30, 2008 12:35 PM
"Collar" (v) - placed under arrest
"Apprehended" (v) - caught. If it was the guy that bailed out of the car that failed to negotiate the turn, it included repeated applications of the espantoon, first for the offenses related to the car, and then again for making the police run. Ahhhh, sweet justice.
"Espantoon" (n) - intricately carved and decorated piece of equipment carried by police officers of a long gone era. It was reminiscent of a mace, an ancient symbol of authority now seen principally at graduation ceremonies. In addition to the decorative carving, the espantoon was fitted with a leather strap through which an officer could fit his fingers and improve his grip on the equipment. The strap also contained a small metal swivel that permitted the officer to swing the espantoon and twirl it to the amusement of small children. Like its symbolic predecessor, the mace could also be used to inflict authoritative pain. Because of its long history, it rarely took more than a display of the equipment to obtain grudging compliance from the people talking to an officer so equipped. In part, due to the threatening appearance of the espantoon, it has been replaced. modern police officers carry a telescoping steel rod that carries no symbolic authority. It is used only to inflict pain. Progress?
(A cross post from "You Don't Say", http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/mcintyre/blog/2008/10/finger_the_perp_in_the_heist.html
Posted by: Bruce Robinson | October 30, 2008 1:20 PM
Brian, great addition with "on the job." I completely forgot about it!
Posted by: Peter Hermann | October 30, 2008 1:30 PM
Bruce, thanks for the great definitions. Actually, the espantoon is back on the street. Former Baltimore Police Commissioner Thomas C. Frazier had banned it and replaced it with the Koga stick from the West Coast.
Ed Norris brought it back and now it's an optional but sanctioned piece of equipment. I did two stories on it -- one when it was taken away and another when it returned, and interviewed the retired officer -- Joe Hlafka, known as Nightstick Joe -- who made the espantoons in the basement of his Federal Hill rowhouse.
I've seen officers carrying them.
Posted by: Peter Hermann | October 30, 2008 2:47 PM
Peter -
Can you post a picture of the an espantoon?
Posted by: bryanintimonium | October 30, 2008 3:17 PM
To bryanintimonium,
Yes, I'm getting some estantoon pics up on the blog shortly.
Posted by: Peter Hermann | October 30, 2008 3:59 PM
Twenty-onehundred= all things homicide.
As in "call 2100" would mean to contact that department...
"chickenhawk" was used quite colorfully a few times, generally refering to someone looking for male prostitutes
The best espantoon wearers also perfected a spinning of it so that it would whip back into their hands. Those who used to walk the beat in the SE put it to good use plenty of times in the "paddy wagon."
Posted by: Cheese | October 30, 2008 4:23 PM
Thanks, Peter. I learned after I wrote to you that the stick was back! I try to minimize my exposure to Baltimore City. I no longer carry a rod and staff to comfort me.
Posted by: Bruce Robinson | November 1, 2008 11:53 AM
Baltimore police lingo has some wonderful slang, like "jackpotting" when they get mired in the dept's discipline process. There's no NYPD equivalent.
There are "humps" in the BPD who don't work too hard. And you find "holes" to take a little break. In New York holes are coops.
And "jack up" has very different meanings in Balto and nYC.
A suspect in Balto can be "30-1" from the box in the arrest report that was used till 2000. I hope that term is still used.
And a person's race is #1 or #2 (not too many #3s when I was there).
"Yoking," isn't really uniquely Baltimore. It was used in New York and may still be in D.C. Maybe it was used more in Baltimore. I think it was even an official bubble in the M.O. section of the "new" forms that came out in 2000.
Posted by: Peter Moskos | March 28, 2009 3:19 PM