Law enforcement phonetic alphabet “political correctness”

[mmckenna]

Well, obviously nothing to do with "Political Correctness".

The NATO standard is a good one since it allows different dialects and different countries to communicate effectively like K2HZ said above.

As for local agencies, there seem to be a general consensus. The APCO project 2 was an early stab and standardizing, then it sort of morphed into different versions. APCO has tried a few times, but no such luck.

Individual agencies may have their own commonly used version. Individual officers sometimes make up their own. Dispatchers will tell you how annoying it is trying to have someone spell something out to you over the phone/radio and making up cute versions.

APCO radiotelephony spelling alphabet - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[mmckenna]

And like my signature says: "The nice thing about standards is that there are so many to choose from.".

Allied military phonetic spelling alphabets - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Take your pick, any one of the alphabets is going to result in someone getting triggered.

 

[fxdscon]

And yet another of the many "standards".....

http://life.itu.int/radioclub/rr/ap14.pdf

 

[WX4JCW]

why not use the Military Version - Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Foxtrot, etc

 

[mmckenna]

why not use the Military Version - Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Foxtrot, etc

Which military version would that be? There's several to choose from. Which ever one you pick will be the wrong one and some stranger on the internets will complain.

The only thing that really matters is that the two parties communicating understand the radio traffic. Agencies have figured that out, long ago, without the help of the scanner community.

 

[hill]

Our state agencies switched from the police one to International one I guess at least 10 years ago.

 

[ATCTech]

I'm deviating from law enforcement standards I know, and I can't speak for the FAA, but here in Canada ongoing performance evaluations of air traffic controllers include phrasology and phonetics assessment. ICAO standards are the benchmark. The emergency services I listen to in the southern Ontario area are primarily in line with those same words for the alphabet. The numbers maybe not so much. Fife and Niner aren't part of the local fire dispatch lingo!

 

[APX8000]

I had to use "Adam, Boy, etc." early on in my career. That later changed to "Alpha, Bravo, etc." I still think the Adam, Boy etc is quicker when having to run names over the radio, mostly due to less syllables ("Sam vs Sierra" as an example). Just my .02

 

[WX4JCW]

never mind

 

[RRR]

No agency in the South wants anything to do with "NATO" speech standards, I can assure you of that

 

[NJEMT12982]

Once trained a young kid who had ZERO work experience. Long story short were on the road one afternoon and do a motor vehicle lockout. He goes to give Dispatch the plate of the vehicle and two of the character's in the plate were "W and J." So when he comes across those last two he says, "Wonder bread, Jesus." I spit my coffee all over the dash laughing. Dispatch didn't know how to reply.

 

[K2KOH]

Westchester County PD has been using Baker for years...Baker units are their Bronx River Parkway cars.

 

[NYAirOne]

F = Phone, Q = Cucumber, etc. etc.

In the (real) South, it's still "Adam, Boy, Charles, David, Edward, Frank, George, Henry, Ida, John, King, Lincoln, Mary, Nora, Ocean, Paul, Queen, Robert, Sam, Tom, Union, Victor, William, X-ray, Yankee, Zebra.

I have never heard of a male child referred to as a "B-Boy" or "B-Baker" That just doesn't make sense. The accurate terminology would be, for example, "An 11 year old White Male" if that was the description.
Or "Black Female" if that was accurate, with "Adult / Juvenile" etc.

Your list is correct from back in the day. This was considered the Police phonetic list. Military uses the Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot, Golf, Hotel, India, Juliet, Kilo, Lima, Mike, November, Oscar, Papa, Quebec, Romeo, Sierra, Tango, Uniform, Victor, Whiskey, Xray, Yankee, Zulu.

Nowdays seems like anything goes depending on the department.

I have heard from people that some now use Baker instead of Boy as to not offend people.

 

[NYAirOne]

There are also "proper" phonetic codes for numbers as well as letters. I have never personally heard them in actual usage.

Yes military usually uses that. Have heard on Milair comms before. Tree is the number 3

 

[OpenCarrier]

I have heard "ZED" for Z, From HAMs and LEOs alike.

 

[KK4JUG]

I have heard "ZED" for Z, From HAMs and LEOs alike.

I believe they use that term across the pond.

Anyway, a byword that is becoming more ingrained in everything I do:
"The older I get, the more I dislike political correctness, incompetence or stupidity."

 

[RRR]

B is Boy in "Plain talk" and B is "Bravo" in Mil. talk.

"Baker" just sounds irritating.

 

[R8000]

I love it when things that aren't broken are fixed three times over.

 

[KK4JUG]

That's the RR way.

 

[n5ims]

I have heard "ZED" for Z, From HAMs and LEOs alike.

If you didn't learn anything else from the movie Pulp Fiction it should be "Zed's dead".