How to Speak “Dragnet”

You’ve heard of a French-English dictionary? A Spanish-English dictionary? Well, here – as a public service – is a Dragnet-English dictionary.

Every viewer of the popular NBC detective show will be interested in knowing what Jack Webb means when he mutters, “We thought he was an ordinary 4127A LAMC without a package, but the make showed the caper was a 211, a carry away. When R and I checked, the FBI kickback had him a muscle-happy big time”.

But the serious student of Dragnetese – a language spoken by some TV actors and the Los Angeles Police Department – will use this dictionary to help him become a well-rounded Dragneter.

The secret is all in the sound of the words and your facial expression. For practice, dip your face in paste (flour and water will do) and stand in front of a mirror while you utter the Dragnet words in perfect monotone.

• AID – Accident Investigation Division
• APB – All Points Bulletin
• BIA – Bureau of Internal Affairs
• Big Time – Has served time in any state penitentiary
• Booster – A shoplifter
• Bunco – A crime where money or other valuables are taken from the victim under misrepresentation
• Caper – A crime
• Carry Away – Carry a safe away before working on it
• Code 3 – Emergency call using a siren and red light
• Con Man – Confidence trickster
• Dip – Pickpocket
• DMV – Department of Motor Vehicles
• DR Number – Division record number
• FBI Kickback – In all arrests, fingerprints are sent to Washington, where they’re checked to see if they are on record from another state. Information is then sent back
• Fish – A new man in prison
• Grifter – Con man
• Hang on Citation – Parking citation issued without signature of the driver
• Heavy Squad – Robbery Squad
• Heel and Toe Job – Hitting a cash register
• High Power Tank – Where prisoners under heavy bond are kept
• Hot car – Stolen car
• I Sheet – Identification sheet which gives the suspect’s physical description
• ID Card – Identification of police officers
• Jail Prowler – Officer who makes jail rounds checking
• Joint – Prison
• KMA 367 – Radio Identification
• Latent Fingerprints – Classification of fingerprints
• Make – Identification of suspect or car
• MO – Method of Operation (from the Latin Modus Operandi)
• Mug Shots – Criminal photos taken at the time of arrest
• Muscle Happy – Guy who belongs to the gym team in prison
• MWA – Male, White, American
• Oddity File – A special file maintained of physical oddities
• Package – Criminal Record
• Paper Hanger – A forger
• P & F Ward – Police and Fire Ward
• Punch Job – Punch the dial out of a safe
• R and I – Records and Identification
• Rip Job – Rip safe or peel
• Run a Make – To determine if a suspect has ever been arrested before or is currently wanted
• SD – Scientific investigation
• Small Fry Pushers – Narcotic peddlers
• Soup Job – Use nitroglycerine on a safe
• Stakeout – Fixed post of surveillance in anticipation of a crime or anticipation of arrival of a suspect
• Statts Office – Statisticians’ office compiles crime reports on solved and unsolved crimes
• Steer – Steer victim to confidence man
• Run Down – Review of a crime
• Vag Charge – Vagrancy
• To Qualify – Police officers must qualify in shooting each month
• F car – Felony car
• K car – Night detective car
• T car – Traffic car
• R car – Radio car
• TT – Teletype
• Wheels – Automobile
• WIC – Welfare and Institution Code

• 32 S & W – .32 caliber Smith and Wesson revolver
• 211 – Robbery (penal code section 211)
• 311 – Lewd Conduct (penal code section 311)
• 390 – Drunk (penal code section 390)
• 390W – Drunk woman (penal code section 390)
• 415 – Disturbing the Peace (penal code section 415)
• 459 – Burglary (penal code section 459)
• 484 – Theft (penal code section 484)
• 484 PS – Theft of Purse (penal code section 484)
• 510 – Authorisation form filled in by investigating officers (also called Mama Sheet)
• 4172A LAMC – A drunk

This article originally appeared in TV Guide in July 1953.