LST — Local Support Team. The standing unit of officers who provide public order, search and low-level surveillance tactics on a division.
MIR-1 — Major Incident Room 1. One of the large rooms in the Major Incident Suite where most of the investigation team work and brief.
Misper — Short for ‘missing person’.
MO — Modus Operandi (method of operation). The manner by which the offender has committed the offence. Often this can reveal unique features which allow crimes to be linked or suspects to be identified.
NCA — The National Crime Agency.
NPAS 15 — The call sign for the helicopter that provides air support to Sussex Police.
Ops-1 — The call sign of the Force Control Duty Inspector, who has oversight and command of all critical incidents in the initial stages.
PCSO — Police Community Support Officer. These are uniformed neighbourhood officers who work in communities but do not have police powers such as arrest, search, use of force, etc.
PO Box — Post Office Box. An alternative address at which to receive mail in the UK. PO Box addresses can be used to keep your address private and post can be delivered to a forwarding address or collected.
POLSA — Police Search Advisor. A trained and accredited officer who provides advice on where to search for something or someone, and how in any given circumstance. Will often supervise the search teams used in such searches.
RPU — Roads Policing Unit. The new name for the Traffic Division.
RTC — Road Traffic Collision (commonly known as an ‘accident’ by the public, but this term is not used as it implies no one is at fault when usually someone is).
RV Point — Rendezvous Point. The designated location where emergency services meet prior to deploying to the scene of a crime or major incident. Used when it would be too dangerous or unwieldy for everyone to arrive at the scene at the same time in an uncoordinated way.
SIO — Senior Investigating Officer. Usually a Detective Chief Inspector who is in overall charge of the investigation of a major crime such as murder, kidnap or rape.
SOCO — see CSI.
SSU — Specialist Search Unit. The team who provide expert search skills such as searching underwater or in confined places at height, as well as locations where a high degree of search expertise is required, such as large or complex crime scenes.
TFU — Tactical Firearms Unit. The small, permanently armed department of the police that responds to firearms incidents. They often deploy in ARVs (see above), and also have other specialist capabilities.
UC — Undercover Officer.
Slang and Phrases
ABC — Assume Nothing, Believe No one, Check Everything. The Senior Investigating Officer’s mantra for maintaining an open and enquiring mindset in investigations.
Bosher — the heavy metal handheld ram used to force open doors, allowing officers to enter a locked premises or room swiftly and with the advantage of surprise.
Bundle — a fight, or a file of documents prepared and presented at court or to CPS for advice.
Copper’s Nose — police officer’s instinct. The sixth sense which often guides an officer’s suspicions.
Golden Hour — the first hour after a crime has been committed or reported when the best chances of seizing evidence and/or identifying witnesses exist.
PC Rain — so called as a good downpour has a greater chance of clearing people, including drunks and criminals, off the street than any number of police officers can!
Q Word — short for ‘quiet’. Emergency services personnel never say the word ‘quiet’, as it invariably is a bad omen causing all chaos to reign!
Shit magnet — slang for a police officer who seems to attract trouble and around whom disaster invariably reigns.
Shout — slang for an emergency (999) call. All emergency services use this term.
Chart of Police Ranks[1]
Police ranks are consistent across all disciplines and the addition of prefixes such as ‘detective’ (e.g. detective constable) does not affect seniority relative to others of the same rank (e.g. police constable).
Acknowledgements
The idea for this book came from a chance meeting with Detective Constable Andy Gibbs, whilst I was spending a day at the Professional Standards Office of the Metropolitan Police back in 2014. He revealed that the two tins of Quality Street on his desk contained not chocolates, but food for his poison dart frogs. And it gave me food for thought. Researching this book has been a fun, fascinating and sometimes downright scary experience — particularly the day I found myself holding a live Arabian flat rock scorpion in the palm of my hand! But I lived to tell the tale and I hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it. As ever there is a myriad of people to thank starting with many officers, former officers and support staff of Sussex Police, Surrey Police, the Metropolitan Police, City of London Police, Munich Police and the NYPD.
Police and Crime Commissioner Katy Bourne; Chief Constable Giles York, QPM; Deputy Chief Constable Olivia Pinkney, QPM; Chief Superintendent Nev Kemp; Detective Superintendent Nick Sloan; Chief Inspector Jason Tingley; Detective Inspector Mick Richards; Inspector Roy Apps; Sgt Russell Phillips; Sgt Phil Taylor; Sgt Andy Newman; Sgt Chris (Thomo) Thompson; DS Peter Billin; Accredited Financial Investigator Kelly Nicholls; PC Sam Bruce; PC Gavin Crute; PC Damian Hunter.
Michelle Websdale; Suzanne Heard; Katie Perkins; Jill Pedersen and Tony Case.
Maria O’Brien; Chris Gee; Lucy Steele; James Stather, Crime Scene Services.
Commissioner Adrian Leppard of the City of London Police; Commander Christopher Greany, Economics Crime Unit, City of London Police; Superintendent Paula Light, Metropolitan Police; Detective Inspector Richard Haycock, Surrey Police; Juliet Smith JP, High Sheriff of East Sussex; PC Martin Light, Metropolitan Police; Detective Investigator Pat Lanigan, NYPD.
Former Chief Superintendent Graham Bartlett; Former Detective Chief Inspector Trevor Bowles; Former Inspector Andy Kille; Ray Packham, formerly of the High Tech Crime Unit.
Thank you to those who gave me invaluable medical, scientific or technical help: Iain and Georgie Maclean; Dr Haydn Kelly; Mike Gilson, editor of the Argus; Anette Lippert; Sigrid Daus and Klinikum Munich — Krankenhaus Schwabing; Dave Wooton from DEFRA — the Department of Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs; Steven Charman and Danny Yeoman of Pets Corner; Peter Schilperoord (one of the few living survivors of a saw-scale viper bite); Dr Gerhard V. Verdoorn, Griffon Poison Information Centre; Shaun Harris; Phil Homan; Sharon Bolton; Dave Breden and Alison Macqueen; Ross and Ginevra Duncton; Christophe Chmiel; Dr Peter Dean, Coroner for Essex; Richard Mastembroek; Dr Dunecan & Nicky Massey; Paul Williams; Arnie Wilson; Kate Sissons and Brian Dick; Mike Sansom; Jill Hunt, Kent, Surrey and Sussex Air Ambulance Trust; herpetologist Mark O’Shea.