Police Abbreviations UK: The ULTIMATE Police Jargon Buster!

Policing in the UK is carried out by 43 separate police forces, not including the British Transport Police. Each force has its own police abbreviations. They can be confusing at first, but luckily there a lot of these are common across the forces. Check out our police jargon buster now!

If you are new to policing, it can be like listening to a different language. This can be really daunting and is one thing that you do not need to panic about. Here we have done a poll of over 10 forces to compile a list of the most common police abbreviations for you.

This is not an exhaustive list as there are 100’s if not 1000’s of TLAs (Three Letter Abbreviations) used in policing. Hopefully, this Police jargon buster will cover all the main terms that you will need to get through day-to-day policing.

Police Abbreviations / Police Jargon Buster / Police Slang!

See, police abbreviations/police jargon/police slang; three terms for saying the same thing! A way to avoid this is to all use the same terms!

A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z

A

Ab Load	Abnormal Load
ABC	Acceptable Behaviour Contract
ABH	Actual Bodily Harm
ACC	Assistant Chief Constable
ACK	Acknowledge
ACPO	Association of Chief Police Officer
AFO	Armed Firearms Officer
Airwaves	Radio System
AIU	Accident Investigation Unit
ANPR	Automatic Number Plate Recognition
ARVU	Armed Response Vehicle Unit
ASB	Anti-Social Behaviour
ASBOs	Anti-Social Behaviour Orders
AWOL	Absent Without Leave (Military Personnel)

B

BCU	Basic Command Unit
BOP	Breach of the Peace
BPA	Black Police Association
BT	British Telecommunications
BTP	British Transport Police
BUA	Built-Up Area
BVPI	Best Value Performance Indicator
BVR	Best Value Review

C

C & C	Command and Control
CAB	Citizens Advice Bureau
CAMHS	Child & Adult Mental Health Services
CB	Casualty Bureau
CBO	Criminal Behaviour Order
CBRN	Chemical Biological Radiological Nuclear
CC	Chief Constable
CI/CInsp	Chief Inspector
CID	Criminal Investigation Department
Claire’s Law	Find out if a partner has a violent past
CMHT	Community Mental Health Teams Compact
COMPACT	Missing person system
CPU	Child Protection Unit
CSI	Crime Scene Investigator
CSupt/Ch Supt	Chief Superintendent

D

D & D	Drunk & Disorderly
D/L	Driving Licence
DC/DCon/DConst	Detective Constable
DCC	Deputy Chief Constable
DCI	Detective Chief Inspector
DCS	Detective Chief Superintendent
DI/DInsp	Detective Inspector
DIB	Divisional Investigation Bureau
DNA	Deoxyribo-Nucleic Acid
DOB	Date of Birth
DPP	Director of Public Prosecutions
DS/DSgt	Detective Sergeant
DSU	Dedicated Source Unit (as per RIPA/CHIS)
DSupt	Detective Superintendent
DVLA	Driver Vehicle Licensing Authority
DVU	Domestic Violence Unit

E

EGT	Evidence Gathering Team
Elvis	Vehicle Recovery System
EMAS	East Midlands Ambulance Service
ETA	Estimated Time of Arrival

F

F/S CODE	Force/Station Code
FHQ	Force Headquarters
FIB	Force Intelligence Bureau
FIO	Field Intelligence Officer/Officer
FIO	Force Intelligence Officer/Officer
FLO	Family Liaison Officer
FME	Forensic Medical Examiner

G

GBH	Grievous Bodily Harm
GMP	Greater Manchester Police

H

H/A	Home Address
HATO	Highways Agency Traffic Officer
HMIC	Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary
HMP	Her Majesty’s Prison
HO	Home Office
HQ	Headquarters
HR	Human Resources
HR	Human Rights
HSE	Health & Safety Executive

I

I/P	Injured Party
Insp	Inspector
IP	Injured Party
IPCC	Independent Police Complaints Commission

J

No common abbreviations

K

No common abbreviations

L

L&D	Learning & Development
LIO	Local Intelligence Officer/Officer
LPU	Local Policing

M

MAGS	Magistrates Court
MAPPA	Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements
MISPER	Missing Person
MOD	Ministry of Defence
MPS	Metropolitan Police Service

N

N/T	No Trace
NAI	Non Accidental Injury
NCALT	National Centre for Applied Learning Techniques
NCRS	National Crime Recording Standard
NDM	National Decision Making (Model)
NFA	No Fixed Abode
NFA	No Further Action
NFPA	No Further Police Action
NHWA	Neighbourhood Watch Association
NIB	National Identification Bureau
NIM	National Intelligence Model
NIRS	National Incident Recording Standard

O

OBS	Observation
OIC	Officer in Charge/Command
Ops	Operations
O’SARA	Problem-solving model used by Neighbourhood Policing
OST	Officer Safety Training aka PST

P

P/Staff	Police Staff
PACE	Police and Criminal Evidence Act
PAT	Pro-Active Team
PC	Police Constable
PCSO	Police Community Support Officer
PDF	Personal Descriptive Form
PDP	Potentially Dangerous Person
PDR	Personal Development Record/Review
PNB	Pocket Note Book
PNC	Police National Computer
PNCID	Police National Computer Identification Number
POLAC	Police Accident aka PVA
PRECONS	Previous Convictions
PS/PSgt	Police Sergeant
PSD	Professional standards department
PSH	Person Susceptible to harm
PST	Personal Saftey Training aka OST
PSU	Police Support Unit
PSV	Police Support Volunteer
PVA	Police Vehicle Accident aka  POLAC
PYO	Persistent Young Offender

Q

No common abbreviations

R

RTC	Road Traffic Collision
RTI	Road Traffic Incident

S

S/Insp	Special Inspector
S/Sgt	Special Sergeant
Sarah’s Law	Child Sex offender Disclosure Scheme
SARC	Sexual Assault Referral Centre
SB	Special Branch
SC	Special Constable
SIO	Senior Investigating Officer
SNT	Safer Neighbourhood Team
SNU	Surname Unknown
SOCO	Scenes of Crime Officer (This is being replaced by SSO)
SOLO	Sexual Offences Liaison Officer (see SOIT)
SPOC	Single Point of Contact
SUDI	Sudden Unexplained Death of an Infant
Supt	Superintendent
SWOT	The model used in assessing options to address situations resolve problems
SYP	South Yorkshire Police

T

T/DC	Trainee Detective Constable
TA	Tactical Advisor
TACT	Terrorism Act
TFMV	Theft from Motor Vehicle
TIC	Taken Into Consideration (In respect of sentencing)
TWOC	Taking Without Consent (Concerning motor vehicles)

U

U or U/K	Unknown
UNISON	Professional Body representing Police Staff
URN	Unique Reference Number
USI	Unlawful Sexual Intercourse

V

VEH	Vehicle
VEL	Vehicle Excise Licence
VIN	Vehicle Identification Number (PNC Facility)
VISOR	Violent Sex Offenders Register
VRM	Vehicle Registration Mark

W

WM	Wanted/Missing

X

No common abbreviations

Y

No common abbreviations

Z

No common abbreviations

Printable Version of your Police Abbreviations!

If you are a student officer and want to look like you know what you are talking about from day one – why not print off a copy of these police abbreviations. If you train student officers, why not print off this jargon buster and put it on your classroom wall! 

Wow! That was a lot of abbreviations. As in all organisations, communication is key. It’s important that everybody is using the same terms.