The APCO phonetic alphabet, a.k.a. LAPD radio alphabet, is the term for an old competing spelling alphabet to the ICAO radiotelephony alphabet, defined by the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials-International [1] from 1941 to 1974, that is used by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and other local and state law enforcement agencies across the state of California and elsewhere in the United States. It is the "over the air" communication used for properly understanding a broadcast of letters in the form of easily understood words. Despite often being called a "phonetic alphabet", it is not a phonetic alphabet for transcribing phonetics.
In 1974, APCO adopted the ICAO Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet, making the APCO alphabet officially obsolete; however, it is still widely used, and relatively few police departments in the U.S. use the ICAO alphabet.[ citation needed ]
The APCO first suggested that its Procedure and Signals Committee work out a system for a "standard set of words representing the alphabet should be used by all stations" in its April 1940 newsletter. [2] [3] By this point, APCO President Herb Wareing "came out in favor of a standard list of words for alphabet letters, preferably suitable for both radiophone and radiotelegraph use." [4]
The list was based on the results of questionnaires sent out by the Procedures Committee to all zone and interzone police radio stations. The questionnaire solicited suggestions, but also included the existing Western Union and Bell Telephone word lists, plus another list then in general use by a number of police stations. Lists used by military services were excluded because of a lack of permission to reproduce. The resulting final list differs from the Bell Telephone word list by only five words, and from the Western Union word list by only eight words. [5]
In 1974, APCO adopted the ICAO International Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet, [6] replacing the Adam-Boy-Charlie alphabet APCO first published in 1940. However, most police departments nationwide have kept using the 1940 APCO spelling alphabet, with those using the 1974 APCO spelling alphabet being the exception, rather than the rule. A partial list of police departments using the modern APCO/ICAO spelling alphabet includes:
At some point in the early history of emergency service mobile radio systems,[ when? ] the LAPD adopted the APCO radio spelling alphabet for relaying precise information on individual letters. For example, the license plate "8QXG518" might be read by a civilian as "eight cue ex gee five eighteen" but with accuracy being paramount, the police dispatcher would say "eight queen x-ray george five one eight." Despite the development in 1941 of the Joint Army/Navy Phonetic Alphabet and its replacement, circa 1956, by the NATO phonetic alphabet (currently used by all NATO armed forces, civil aviation, telecommunications, and some law enforcement agencies), the LAPD and other law enforcement and emergency service agencies throughout the United States continue to use their traditional system.[ citation needed ]
APCO's Project 14 updated the definition of Ten-codes, and also adopted the international radiotelephony spelling alphabet for use by law enforcement nationwide. [8]
The APCO radiotelephony spelling alphabet and its variations represent the letters of the English alphabet using words as follows:
Letter | APCO Procedure Committee 1941 [5] | APCO Project 2 1967 [9] | LAPD code word [10] | CHP code word [11] | LVMPD code word [12] | APCO Project 14 (1974) [6] | Present ICAO code words [13] |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
A | Adam | Adam | Adam | Adam | Adam | ALPHA | Alfa |
B | Babe | Box | Boy | Books | Back | BRAVO | Bravo |
C | Charles | Charles | Charles | Charles | Charlie | CHARLIE | Charlie |
D | David | David | David | David | David | DELTA | Delta |
E | Edward | Edward | Edward | Edward | Easy | ECHO | Echo |
F | Frank | Frank | Frank | Frank | Frank | FOXTROT | Foxtrot |
G | George | George | George | George | George | GOLF | Golf |
H | Henry | Henry | Henry | Henry | Henry | HOTEL | Hotel |
I | Ida | Ida | Ida | Ida | Ida | INDIA | India |
J | John | John | John | John | John | JULIETTE | Juliett |
K | King | King | King | King | King | KILO | Kilo |
L | Lincoln | Lincoln | Lincoln | Lincoln | Lincoln | LIMA | Lima |
M | Mary | Mary | Mary | Mary | Mary | MIKE | Mike |
N | Nora (North was the original proposal) [14] | Nora | Nora | Nora | Nora | NOVEMBER | November |
O | Ocean | Ocean | Ocean | Ocean | Ocean | OSCAR | Oscar |
P | Poppy | Poppy | Paul [15] | Poppy | Poppy | PAPA | Papa |
Q | Queen | Queen | Queen | Queen | Queen | QUEBEC | Quebec |
R | Robert | Robert | Robert | Robert | Robert | ROMEO | Romeo |
S | Sam | Sam | Sam | Sam | Sam | SIERRA | Sierra |
T | Tom | Tom | Tom | Tom | Tom | TANGO | Tango |
U | Union | Union | Union | Union | Union | UNIFORM | Uniform |
V | Victor | Victor | Victor | Victor | Victor | VICTOR | Victor |
W | William | William | William | William | William | WHISKEY | Whiskey |
X | Xray | X-ray | X-ray | X-ray | X-ray | XRAY | X-ray |
Y | Young | Young | Young [18] | Yellow | Yellow | YANKEE | Yankee |
Z | Zebra | Zebra | Zebra | Zebra | Zebra | ZULU | Zulu |
0 | ZERO (with a strong Z and a short RO) | Zero | Zero | ||||
1 | WUN (with a strong W and N) | One | Wun | ||||
2 | TOO (with a strong and long OO) | Two | Too | ||||
3 | TH-R-EE (with a slightly rolling R and long EE) | Three | Tree | ||||
4 | FO-WER (with a long O and strong W and final R | Four | Fower | ||||
5 | VIE-YIV (with a long I changing to short and strong Y and V) | Five | Fife | ||||
6 | SIKS (with a strong S and KS) | Six | Six | ||||
7 | SEV-VEN (with a strong S and V and well-sounded VEN) | Seven | Seven | ||||
8 | ATE (with a long A and strong T) | Eight | Eight | ||||
9 | NI-YEN (with a strong N at the beginning, a long I and a well sounded YEN) | Niner | Niner | ||||
. | Decimal | ||||||
00 | Hundred | ||||||
000 | Thousand |
There are several local variations of this system in use. The Metropolitan Police Department (Washington DC), uses the APCO alphabet, [19] however the California Highway Patrol, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department,[ citation needed ] San Jose Police Department,[ citation needed ] San Francisco Police Department,[ citation needed ] and other agencies across the West Coast and Southwestern United States,[ citation needed ] use versions that allocate Yellow to "Y" and other agencies' versions allocate Baker or Bravo to "B", or use variations that include Nancy instead of Nora for "N", Easy instead of Edward for "E", or Yesterday for "Y".
With the ultimate goal of clarity, especially in circumstances where signals can be garbled, the use of the word Ocean seems to be advantageous in the radio communication of the letter "O" because it begins with the long, clear vowel "O". The phonetic words Ida and Union feature this same advantage. However, spelling alphabets seem to rarely use initial long vowels. With the exception of Uniform, none of the initial vowels in the NATO alphabet is like this. In an earlier U.S. military alphabet, "A" was indicated by Able, which does start with a long "A", but has since been changed to Alpha (also spelled Alfa, particularly outside the English-speaking countries). In like manner, for clarity, the use of "niner" instead of "nine" for the numeral 9 prevents confusion with the numeral 5, which can sound similar, especially when communications are garbled.[ citation needed ]
The origin of the name Adam-12 from the television series of the same title comes from this alphabet. The LAPD still calls its basic two-man patrol car an "A" unit, and the letter "A" is spoken as "Adam" in the spelling alphabet. The entire callsign "1-Adam-12" translates to [Division] One (LAPD Central Division) Two Man Patrol Car (Adam unit) in patrol car 12. The 12 refers to what is called "The Basic Car Plan". That is, the patrol area within the precinct. Specialized units use the last numbers as designating the officers. An example would be 6U2, Hollywood Division report writing unit. The patrol car, in LAPD jargon, is called a "black-and-white", owing to the colors. The number that is on the car is called the shop number and is only used for identifying the vehicle.
In the American television series CHiPs from 1977 to 1983, motorcycle units are identified with the letter "M", such as 7M4 (Seven Mary Four) for Officer Frank Poncherello (portrayed by Erik Estrada). His partner, Officer Jon Baker (portrayed by actor Larry Wilcox), is identified as 7M3 (Seven Mary Three). In these callsigns, "7" designates the patrol beat, "M" designates a motorcycle unit, and "3" is the unit number.
Hunter from 1984 to 1991 had actor Fred Dryer as Rick Hunter identify as "1 William 1 Paul 156" as his call sign where W is "William" and P is "Paul" when he was with the LAPD.
Also, since many police, fire department, and rescue squad TV programs and movies are set in Los Angeles, the words of the LAPD phonetic alphabet have become familiar in the United States, Canada and English-speaking countries around the world[ citation needed ] due to the wide reach of American entertainment media. When used by workers such as telephone operators speaking to "civilians" who may be unfamiliar with the use of a phonetic alphabet, both the everyday letter and its phonetic alphabet equivalent are spoken, such as "B as in boy", "V as in Victor", etc.
On early seasons of Wheel of Fortune , a close variant of the LAPD phonetic alphabet was used. Players would be encouraged to say things like "I'll have B as in boy" when choosing letters.
The International Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet or simply Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet, commonly known as the NATO phonetic alphabet, is the most widely used set of clear-code words for communicating the letters of the Roman alphabet. Technically a radiotelephonic spelling alphabet, it goes by various names, including NATO spelling alphabet, ICAO phonetic alphabet, and ICAO spelling alphabet. The ITU phonetic alphabet and figure code is a rarely used variant that differs in the code words for digits.
Esperanto is written in a Latin-script alphabet of twenty-eight letters, with upper and lower case. This is supplemented by punctuation marks and by various logograms, such as the digits 0–9, currency signs such as $ € ¥ £ ₷, and mathematical symbols. The creator of Esperanto, L. L. Zamenhof, declared a principle of "one letter, one sound", though this is a general rather than strict guideline.
The Allied military phonetic spelling alphabets prescribed the words that are used to represent each letter of the alphabet, when spelling other words out loud, letter-by-letter, and how the spelling words should be pronounced for use by the Allies of World War II. They are not a "phonetic alphabet" in the sense in which that term is used in phonetics, i.e. they are not a system for transcribing speech sounds.
Ten-codes, officially known as ten signals, are brevity codes used to represent common phrases in voice communication, particularly by US public safety officials and in citizens band (CB) radio transmissions. The police version of ten-codes is officially known as the APCO Project 14 Aural Brevity Code.
A phonemic orthography is an orthography in which the graphemes correspond consistently to the language's phonemes, or more generally to the language's diaphonemes. Natural languages rarely have perfectly phonemic orthographies; a high degree of grapheme–phoneme correspondence can be expected in orthographies based on alphabetic writing systems, but they differ in how complete this correspondence is. English orthography, for example, is alphabetic but highly nonphonemic.
The radiotelephony message PAN-PAN is the international standard urgency signal that someone aboard a boat, ship, aircraft, or other vehicle uses to declare that they need help and that the situation is urgent, but for the time being, does not pose an immediate danger to anyone's life or to the vessel itself. This is referred to as a state of "urgency". This is distinct from a mayday call, which means that there is imminent danger to life or to the continued viability of the vessel itself. Radioing "pan-pan" informs potential rescuers that an urgent problem exists, whereas "mayday" calls on them to drop all other activities and immediately begin a rescue.
Radiotelephony procedure includes various techniques used to clarify, simplify and standardize spoken communications over two-way radios, in use by the armed forces, in civil aviation, police and fire dispatching systems, citizens' band radio (CB), and amateur radio.
Acrophony is the naming of letters of an alphabetic writing system so that a letter's name begins with the letter itself. For example, Greek letter names are acrophonic: the names of the letters α, β, γ, δ, are spelled with the respective letters: άλφα, βήτα, γάμμα, δέλτα.
The International Code of Signals (INTERCO) is an international system of signals and codes for use by vessels to communicate important messages regarding safety of navigation and related matters. Signals can be sent by flaghoist, signal lamp ("blinker"), flag semaphore, radiotelegraphy, and radiotelephony. The International Code is the most recent evolution of a wide variety of maritime flag signalling systems.
The Japanese radiotelephony alphabet is a radiotelephony spelling alphabet, similar in purpose to the NATO/ICAO radiotelephony alphabet, but designed to communicate the Japanese kana syllables rather than Latin letters. The alphabet was sponsored by the now-defunct Ministry for Posts and Telecommunications.
A Radio code is any code that is commonly used over a telecommunication system such as Morse code, brevity codes and procedure words.
The Greek spelling alphabet is a spelling alphabet for Greek, i.e. an accepted set of easily differentiated names given to the letters of the alphabet for the purpose of spelling out words. It is used mostly on radio voice channels by the Greek army, the navy and the police. The names for some Greek letters are easily confused in noisy conditions.
A police code is a brevity code, usually numerical or alphanumerical, used to transmit information between law enforcement over police radio systems in the United States. Examples of police codes include "10 codes", signals, incident codes, response codes, or other status codes. These code types may be used in the same sentence to describe specific aspects of a situation.
A spelling alphabet is a set of words used to represent the letters of an alphabet in oral communication, especially over a two-way radio or telephone. The words chosen to represent the letters sound sufficiently different from each other to clearly differentiate them. This avoids any confusion that could easily otherwise result from the names of letters that sound similar, except for some small difference easily missed or easily degraded by the imperfect sound quality of the apparatus. For example, in the Latin alphabet, the letters B, P, and D sound similar and could easily be confused, but the words "bravo", "papa" and "delta" sound completely different, making confusion unlikely.
Procedure words are words or phrases limited to radiotelephony procedure used to facilitate communication by conveying information in a condensed standard verbal format. Prowords are voice versions of the much older procedural signs for Morse code which were first developed in the 1860s for Morse telegraphy, and their meaning is identical.
The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), the primary law enforcement agency of Los Angeles, California, United States, maintains and uses a variety of resources that allow its officers to effectively perform their duties. The LAPD's organization is complex with the department divided into bureaus and offices that oversee functions and manage specialized units. The LAPD's resources include the department's divisions, transportation, communications, and technology.
APCO may refer to:
The ISO basic Latin alphabet is an international standard for a Latin-script alphabet that consists of two sets of 26 letters, codified in various national and international standards and used widely in international communication. They are the same letters that comprise the current English alphabet. Since medieval times, they are also the same letters of the modern Latin alphabet. The order is also important for sorting words into alphabetical order.
Allied Communication Procedures is the set of manuals and supplements published by the Combined Communications Electronics Board that prescribe the methods and standards to be used while conducting visual, audible, radiotelegraph, and radiotelephone communications within NATO member nations. These procedures relate to procedure words, radiotelephony procedure, Allied Military phonetic spelling alphabets, plain language radio checks, the 16-line message format (radiogram), and others.