Know how to talk the talk when police communicate

Continued from page 21 your debit card at the grocery. Brandishing is limited.

If a “suspect,” “perpetrator,” or even “subject” robs a bank, he or she gets an “undisclosed amount of cash.” We say that because we don’t want to make fun of bank robbers who end up with a pitiful amount of money that probably wouldn’t pay the rent.

What they do get is caught.

Bank robbers get a detective and even an FBI investigator with a blue windbreaker with “FBI” all over it. (They love windbreakers.)

“Suspects” and “perpetrators” use cars to make the getaway. If we give chase, they “attempt to elude,” as it is written in the report. We give them credit for the attempt, and if they escape, the report reads “managed to elude,” making it sound as if it’s difficult. We hate to lose.

When the “subject,” “suspect” or “perp” commits the crime, he or she will leave in a particular direction. This is called “Direction of Travel,” a more or less generic term because they probably didn’t go that way long.

In the report, the suspect’s vehicle may be referred to as “SV.” If the SV was an SUV, it may become confusing, so the rule is no joining acronyms. You will often hear the phrase “late-modelsedan.” That means we have no idea what kind of car it is.

Describing an arrest sounds close to describing interpretive dance. We like to facilitate an arrest, like we planned a party. We provide the circumstance and then we facilitate the arrest. We could say “we arrested the guy” but “facilitate” brings into play an upscale motif. “Apprehend” means the same as “caught” but more official. You catch fish. You do not apprehend them.

One of my favorite policereport go-to sentences concerns the arrest of someone smoking or in possession of marijuana.

In Memoriam

The report reads, “I smelled an odor that, through my experience and training, I recognized as marijuana.” It is a term on the edge of corny but sounds better than “I smelled an odor that I recognized as marijuana because I went to college.” we make house calls!

Judi Kanne, a regular contributor to Atlanta Senior Life who wrote the magazine’s Personal Health column, died July 28. She was 78 years old and had been diagnosed earlier this year with Lewy Body Dementia.

Kanne trained as a nurse and used her medical background to inform her columns. She wrote about health care issues ranging from ways to recover after a heart attack to understanding Medicare.

Her family asked that memorial gifts be sent in her name to the Lewy Body Dementia Association (www.lbda.org).