Whats it called when the police talk over the scanner or whatever and they use words to spell out plates?

David G

It is referred to as the phonetic alphabet. It is used so that alike sounding letters aren't confused. Below are the most common used words by law enforcement.

Letter phonetic letter
A Alpha
B Bravo
C Charlie
D Delta
E Echo
F Foxtrot
G Golf
H Hotel
I India
J Juliet
K Kilo
L Lima
M Mike
N November
O Oscar
P Papa
Q Quebec
R Romeo
S Sierra
T Tango
U Uniform
V Victor
W Whiskey
X X-ray
Y Yankee
Z Zulu

nfn3vet

Its called the phonetic alphabet

Herman M

It's called a phonetic alphabet.

Adam, Baker, Charlie, Edward, Frank, George, etc.

The military uses another set of codes.

Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Echo, Foxtrot, Golf, etc.

nedorb8

it's called the phonetic alphabet, used to take away confusion and errors.
every letter is assigned a word that doesn't sound like any other word, so to spell things out it's clearer.
HI would become Hotel India.

Edgar R

Its just a way of sasying things clearly over the radio, like if its 5nc6at it would be
5, nancy, charlie, 6, alpha tango.

psycho.lycious

alpha,beta,charlie,delta,echo, blah,blah- it's their alphabet, you know like the military

Dr_Bam

phonetics

Michael G

It is called the phonetic alphabet. The military uses simliar practices. Here is a website with all of the proper words for letters.

http://www.geocities.com/WestHollywood/Village/1367/military_alphabet_code.html

DarkAssassin

From what I know, they use the Pilot's alphabet. It helps to stop misundertandings when talking to someone on the phone or through a radio.

For example, if you say 'b', it might sound like you say 'p', so to avoid that, they say, "bravo" for B, or "Charlie" for C and other words for other letters. Just for better understanding and no "Well, I thought you said this," kind of thing.

Hope that helped. :)

sarahjla84

Police, pilots and many other professionals use words to spell out license plates (and other things) because sounds can get distorted over radio waves/the phone and a 'g' can sound like a 'd' etc., but if they say "dog" or "golfer" then it becomes clear whether or not they are talking about the letter 'd' or 'g'.

I don't know if the practice has an actual name or not.

ashley â™¥

So that they don't accidentally hear the wrong letter...

Imagine your liscence plate is GHJP, while the guy they're chasing is GHJE... now imagine they HEARD GHJP.. and a cop sees your plates and starts hauling a** chasing you down!

They try to avoid that.

vividmystique

If you'd like to find this "alphabet," search for NATO Phonetic Alphabet.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO_phonetic_alphabet

or

http://www.osric.com/chris/phonetic.html for a printable chart.

David C

The term is called "phonetic alphabet". It is used to distiguish letters that sound alike from each other. Like "A" and "J". They use the letter that they wish to communicate in the form of a word that begins with that letter. If a police officer is reading a license plate labeled...JDR KTB...he will use some words like these...Juliet, David, Robert, Kilo, Tango, Bravo to transmit that plate number. The words they use will vary from location to location , so the only letter in those words to pay attention to is the first

chocolate4eden

walkie talkies

Diva

It's military phonetics. Alpha = A, Bravo = B, Charlie = C; etc.

Butchy Karen

foxtrot uniform charlie kilo if i know. they may have a special name for it. if not they are just using the same set of phonetics as the U.S. army.

Anagramming

Mud Killer

Phonetic Alphabet.

A ADAM
B BOY
C CHARLES
D DAVID
E EDWARD
F FRANK
G GEORGE
H HENRY
I IDA
J JOHN
K KING
L LINCOLN
M MARY
N NORA
O OCEAN
P PAUL
Q QUEEN
R ROBERT
S SAM
T TOM
U UNION
V VICTOR
W WILLIAM
X X-RAY
Y YOUNG
Z ZEBRA

Dart Swinger

Foxtrot, Ocean, Alpha.

ian7500

a phinetic alphabet.........a as in apple, c as in charlie

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