Buy-bust: A tactic used by plainclothes narcotics officers in which an officer (or officers) purchase illegal drugs from a suspect (or suspects), then another officer arrests the suspect(s).
Cap: Bullet.
Caper: An incident, usually involving some sort of criminal undertaking.
Capped: Fired one’s weapon. As in, “I just capped someone.”
CAR-16: A fully automatic assault rifle that fires .223-caliber bullets and is smaller than a standard M-16 (see M-16).
Carotid: Short for carotid neck restraint, a self-defense technique used to control combative suspects in which the officer—from behind—places an arm around the neck of the suspect, takes the suspect to the ground, and then applies pressure to the sides of the suspect’s neck in order to restrict the flow of blood and render the suspect unconscious.
Center mass: The middle of one’s torso. The primary aim point for police gunfire.
Chrome: A type of handgun finish.
Clear: To search a location to ensure that no suspects or victims are present. As in, “Clear the objective.”
Cleared leather: Drew one’s gun.
Colt .45: A large-caliber, semiautomatic handgun manufactured by the Colt Firearms Company.
Contact shot: A shot fired when the barrel of the gun is against the clothes or skin of the person being shot.
Cord cuff: A length of cord used to secure the legs of combative suspects.
Cover: Any sort of object or material that will stop bullets (for example, large trees, motor vehicle engines, armored vehicles). Also, being behind any such object.
Covered, Covered down on: Pointing one’s weapon at an individual or area. As in, “I covered down on the suspect while my partner cuffed him.”
CP: Command post.
Cracked-up: High on crack cocaine.
Drill: Shoot. As in, “I drilled him right between the eyes.”
Dry firing: A firearms training technique in which one pulls the trigger of an empty gun. Often done to familiarize novices with the mechanics of firing a gun.
DV: Domestic violence.
Entry stick: The single-file formation that SWAT team members or other officers form as they prepare to enter a dwelling, typically when serving a search warrant (see also stick and stack).
FATS: Short for firearms training simulator. A computer-controlled system that projects scenes of potentially violent encounters on a screen to test officers’ decision-making and shooting skills.
Fiber optics: A pinhole-type video camera attached to the end of a fiber-optics cable, essentially the same technology used by M.D.s in orthoscopic surgery. In police work, typically used by SWAT teams to view the interior of locations in which suspects are believed or known to be hiding.
Flash-bang: (see noise flash diversionary device).
Flier: A bullet that misses its intended target by passing or striking above it.
FTO: Field training officer.
Full auto: Short for fully automatic gunfire, a mode of gunfire in which a single pull of the trigger fires multiple rounds. When a weapon is operating on full-auto mode, bullets continue to fire as long as the trigger is depressed and there are bullets in the magazine or chamber.
Go out on: To get out of one’s patrol car to investigate something or someone.
Hallagan tool: A heavy-duty L-shaped breaching tool that is approximately two-and-one-half-feet long. Used primarily to pry open doors.
Hammer: Shoot. As in, “I was going to hammer him again if he kept coming at me.”
HK-53: A fully automatic assault rifle that fires .223-caliber bullets.
HK-91: A semiautomatic assault rifle that fires .223-caliber bullets.
Homicide: The unit of detectives that investigates homicides and other serious incidents, including police shootings.
Hooked up: Handcuffed.
Hot stop: A type of vehicle stop in which officers draw their weapons, stay behind their patrol car, and order the occupant(s) of the vehicle they have stopped out at gunpoint because they suspect the occupant(s) may be armed or dangerous.
IA, IAD: Short for Internal Affairs or Internal Affairs Division, the unit of detectives that investigates allegations of police misconduct and (in some police agencies) officer-involved shootings.
Index one’s finger: To keep one’s finger outside the trigger well by placing it against the frame of the gun that one is holding.
Jersey wall: A type of concrete retaining wall often used to separate lanes of traffic on highways.
Kevlar: High-tensile-strength fiber that is the bullet-stopping material used in the soft body armor many police officers wear.
Long gun: A rifle or shotgun. The term is generally used when one is not sure whether the weapon in question is the former or the later.
M-14: A semiautomatic rifle.
M-16: A fully automatic assault rifle that fires .223-caliber bullets. The standard-issue rifle in U.S. military infantry units and a weapon carried by many SWAT officers.
Mace: A nonlethal chemical irritant.
Magazine: The part of semiautomatic and fully automatic weapons in which bullets are stored.
Mandrix: A narcotic.
MAST suit: Short for military anti-shock trousers, inflatable pants that medics place on severely injured people to keep their blood pressure from falling to fatal lows.
Meth-head: A chronic methamphetamine user.
MO: Short for modus operandi, the way a crook capers.
MOBY: Term used by some SWAT teams when referring to large, heavy, handheld rams that are used to smash doors open, usually during the service of high-risk warrants. Named after the great white whale in the Herman Melville novel Moby-Dick. The MOBY man is the SWAT officer assigned to carry the ram during a given operation.
Model 60: A small, five-shot .38-caliber revolver with a two-inch barrel.
MOS: Short for military occupational specialty, one’s assignment in the military.
MP-5: A compact submachine gun that many SWAT officers carry. Comes in 9-millimeter and .40-caliber models.
No billed: A verdict from a grand jury that a shooting was justified, that they will not issue a bill of indictment against the officer.
Noise flash diversionary device: A small, handheld canister that contains a small amount of extremely fast-burning material that emits a brilliant light and thunderous noise when detonated. Typically used by SWAT teams to distract suspects during operations such as high-risk warrants and hostage rescues.
North Hollywood bank robbery: A 1997 bank robbery in the North Hollywood area of Los Angeles that led to a nationally televised shoot-out between two heavily armed suspects who were wearing body armor and dozens of LAPD officers. Several officers and citizens were wounded. Both suspects were killed.
OC: Short for oleoresin capsicum, a nonlethal chemical irritant. Also known as pepper spray, because the irritant is derived from a pepper plant.
Optical sights: An “after-market” tubular device that attaches to the top of firearms that officers look through to aim the weapon. Most optical sights present crosshairs as the aim point, but some project electronic images inside the tube (usually a red dot) as the aim point.
Overpenetration: When a bullet travels all the way through its intended target, which raises the possibility that it could strike an unintended object or person.
Point: The lead officer in a tactical formation.
Probation: The first year to eighteen months that a new police officer is on the job.
Put out, Putting it out: Broadcasting a message over the police radio. As in, “I put out that we just capped somebody.”
Q-beam: A high-intensity spotlight.
RA unit: Short for rescue ambulance.
Rabbiting: To flee from the police.
Rape kit: A packet of materials for collecting physical evidence in sexual-assault investigations.
React team: A small group of SWAT officers who stand by in the immediate vicinity of a barricaded suspect and in
hostage incidents in order to take immediate action if the situation calls for it.
Red dot: The electronic image inside some optical aiming devices that indicates the aim point.
Red-handle training: Training with replica firearms that are made of a solid red hard-rubber composite material.
Remington 1100: A type of 12-gauge shotgun manufactured by the Remington corporation.
Riding the dot: Shooting a weapon multiple times while making sure that the red dot of one’s optical sights is on target before pulling the trigger each time.
Running code: Driving with the police vehicle’s emergency lights and siren turned on.
Sap pocket: A long, narrow pocket that is sewn into the side of many police trousers. Originally used to hold a sap, a lead-filled leather striking implement. Now used primarily to hold police flashlights.
Shooting team: A group of detectives in some big law enforcement agencies whose primary job is to investigate officer-involved shootings.
Sighted in for room distance: Setting the sights on one’s gun so that the aim point corresponds to where a fired bullet will strike when the shooter and suspect are approximately twelve to fifteen feet apart, the typical length of a room in a standard house. This is how many SWAT team members set the sights on their submachine guns and assault rifles because they often confront suspects inside houses at room distance.
SKS: An assault rifle similar to an AK-47.
Smith: Short for Smith & Wesson.
Smith & Wesson: A gun manufacturer.
Stack: (see entry stick).
Stainless: A type of handgun finish.
Stick: (see entry stick).
Sting ball: A noise flash diversionary device that contains numerous small rubber balls that are expelled when the device goes off.
Sub-gun: Short for submachine gun. Primarily used in reference to an MP-5 or similar submachine guns often carried by SWAT officers.
SWAT-cam: A pole-mounted camera system.
Tac vest: Heavy ballistic body armor worn on the outside of one’s shirt (and sometimes underneath one’s raid jacket).
Tap, rack, and shoot: A drill designed to clear a malfunction in a semiautomatic handgun in which the operator slams the gun’s magazine into the palm of his or her opposite hand (the tap), pulls the slide of the gun back (the rack), and then reengages the target (the shoot).
TASER: A handheld electronic stun gun that fires two small darts that are connected by wires to the gun. Used to disable potentially dangerous people by delivering a fifty-thousand-volt shock (with very low amperage) without killing them. TASER is short for Thomas A. Swift Electric Rifle.
Ten-ring: The middle of one’s chest. From the fact that the paper targets used in many police firearms qualification courses award ten points for each bullet that strikes the middle portion of the target.
Terminal wound: A wound that causes death.
Tweakerish: Having the appearance of a meth-head, sometimes called a tweaker.
UC: Short for Undercover.
Uwara handle: The short handle on the side-handle batons that many police officers carry.
Walther PPK: A semiautomatic handgun manufactured by the Walther Firearms company.
Watch commander: The police officer in charge of a patrol shift, or watch. Usually a sergeant or higher in rank.
About the Author
David A. Klinger is associate professor of criminology and criminal justice at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. He holds a master’s degree in justice from American University in Washington, D.C., and a doctorate in sociology from the University of Washington in Seattle. Prior to pursuing his graduate degrees, Klinger worked for three and a half years as a patrol officer for the Los Angeles and Redmond (Washington) Police Departments. He has held research positions at the Police Foundation in Washington, D.C.; the University of Washington, Seattle; the Washington State’s Attorney’s Office; and the Seattle Police Department.
In 1997, Klinger was the recipient of the American Society of Criminology’s inaugural Ruth Cavan Young Scholar Award for outstanding early-career contributions to the discipline of criminology. He has recently completed service as a member of the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Police Policy and Practices and has written more than twenty scholarly articles, book chapters, and encyclopedia entries that address topics such as arrest practices, the use of force, how features of communities affect the actions of patrol officers, and terrorism. He currently serves on the Police Foundation’s Research Advisory Board and on the Training Advisory Committee of the Texas Tactical Police Officers Association (TTPOA).
Into the Kill Zone Page 39