Death Comes Knocking: Policing Roy Grace's Brighton

Glossary

ANPR — Automatic Number Plate Recognition. Roadside or mobile cameras which automatically capture the registration number of all cars that pass. It can be used to historically track which cars went past a certain camera and can also trigger alerts for cars which are stolen, have no insurance or have an alert attached to them.

ARV — Armed Response Vehicle.

CCTV — Closed Circuit Television. Can be either publicly owned and monitored (e.g. by the police), or privately installed in people’s houses or businesses.

Chief Officer — A police officer of or above the rank of Assistant Chief Constable (in most forces) or Commander (in the Metropolitan or City of London Police).

CID — Criminal Investigation Department. Usually refers to the divisional detectives rather than the specialist squads.

Commanders

Gold (or strategic) Commander — The Gold commander sets the strategy and assumes and retains overall strategic command for the operation or incident.

Silver (or tactical) Commander — The Silver commander commands and coordinates the overall tactical response in compliance with Gold’s strategy, and is the tactical commander of the incident.

Bronze (or operational) Commander — The Bronze commander is responsible for the command of a group of resources, and carries out functional or geographical responsibilities to deliver the requirements set by Silver in their tactical plan.

CPS — Crown Prosecution Service. The public agency that conducts criminal prosecutions in England and Wales.

CSI — was SOCO — Crime Scene Investigators (Scenes of Crime Officers). They are the people who attend crime scenes to search for fingerprints, DNA samples etc.

DNA — Deoxyribonucleic Acid. A molecule that encodes the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms and many viruses. Used in policing to identify the source of bodily samples left at crime scenes. Generally provides a 1:1 billion certainty of the source/person.

DVLA — Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority. The Government agency that registers motor vehicles and issues driving licences. An important source of intelligence in many enquiries.

Golf 99 — The call sign for the divisional duty inspector who is expected to take ground command of critical incidents, working usually alongside Ops-1 or to the CIM.

HOLMES — Home Office Large Major Enquiry System. The national computer database used on all murders. It provides a repository of all messages, actions, decisions and statements, allowing the analysis of intelligence and the tracking and auditing of the whole enquiry. Can enable enquiries to be linked across force areas where necessary.

Intel Cell — Intelligence cell. A dedicated team of officers and staff who provide the intelligence research and analysis to a major crime or incident.

IPCC — Independent Police Complaints Commission. Body that oversees the police complaints system in England and Wales and sets the standards by which the police should handle complaints. Will determine, in certain cases, whether the investigation should be handled locally, managed/supervised by themselves or independently investigated.

LST — Local Support Team. The standing unit of officers who provide public order, search and low-level surveillance tactics on a division. Can be drawn together to form a PSU (see below).

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.

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.

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. Can be used as the Bronze commander (see above) for the search elements of an enquiry or incident.

PSU — Police Support Unit. A unit of police officers trained and equipped to deal with public order or crowded events. Usually comprises one inspector, three sergeants, eighteen constables together with two medics and three drivers.

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).

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.

TPAC — Tactical Pursuit And Containment. Describes a range of methods for managing and terminating police pursuits, including boxing the target vehicle in using police cars and, where necessary, causing it to stop by use of controlled collision.