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From the Police Blotter: House Mouse Roars
What is a “House Mouse”? It’s time for a review of police jargon. There are phrases that you will never see on an Incident or Custody Report.
Police jargon is dependent upon geographical location. For example, “perp” is used on the East Coast, “subject” is used on the West Coast.
Police Jargon 101:
1. Anti-Social Tendencies; Resists arrest.
2. Frequent Flyer; Runs from the police in a vehicle or on foot.
3. Slow learner; See #1 and #2
4. Dumb Ass; Self-explanatory, also see #1 and #2. Used often on the street.
5. House Mouse; used on the East Coast to describe a supervisor that spends time avoiding the street. Second guesses cops that do real police work.
6. Admin Cop; See #5. Used on the West Coast
There is some jargon that would violate the Code of Conduct on Ricochet. Some do not contain a vowel. One of those might be one that was unique to my former agency. JFB (Just [redacted] Beautiful), you can figure out that one. It was used to describe the latest demand from the mayor, admin cop, or any number of calls, and incidents that came your way.
Eric Adams, the Mayor of the City of New York, is demanding that NYPD officers no longer congregate or talk to each on the street. One would think he might worry about individuals who talk to each other and congregate to carry out muggings, shootings, or smash-and-grabs in the city.
Eric Adams was a high-ranking NYPD officer at one time. There are some NYPD officers that call him a House Mouse. I don’t know if that’s true, but he certainly speaks like one. He says he supports the NYPD, but talk is cheap.
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Published in Policing
In the DA’s office, a frequent flyer was someone who kept getting arrested.
If I was an NYPD cop, I wouldn’t feel safe alone.
In my consulting world I developed an acronym for clients who a little too petty or demanding: WAB. Pronounced like it looks. Stands for Whiny (alternate name for a donkey) (name for a female canine).
Hereabouts called a “desk jockey.” They exist in LE, fire, EMS, plus, I’m sure. Funny, I just wrote a response in another thread just this morning, that addresses just this: https://ricochet.com/1304531/omaha-man-arrested-after-active-shooter-drill/
There are more:
Gutter Bunny: Urban bicyclist that runs stop signs and red lights. Extends the impudent digit to motorists that almost hit them on their headlong rush to oblivion.
Road Warrior: Young urban transient. Pit Bull on a rope is optional.
A house mouse is a junior enlisted Marine who, often because he can’t be trusted out of sight, is assigned to clean the office spaces.
Doug, I just want to mention that you have some of the most interesting, entertaining and educational posts on Ricochet, and that’s saying something.
What is police jargon for pulling someone over for no good reason other than “Let’s stop someone in the hopes we can find something on our fishing expedition?”
Or, is there one for “A no knock warrant so we can can take a high risk assult in the hopes we can get more evidence than we currently have”
Or “Lie to the suspect”
Are there code names for those?
#7 U.S. Citizen: someone Who may not come to an absolute, complete, total 5 second stop at a stop sign and will be stopped, harassed, and ticketed by flatfoot because He just wants to make it Home safe and alive.
Ooo, now that’s useful. Several times I’ve come within inches of collecting a new hood ornament.
I would not continue to work for Mr. Adams after this edict. I hope for the sake of NYC’s citizens my response to this isn’t prevalent among NYC’s finest but I wouldn’t blame them if it is. We seem to have come to the point where the elites in our society no longer understand how the world works.
It’s either crazy or a systematic effort to accelerate totalitarianism from the top. What do we see when we look at what is happening in all other areas of local and state government?
Most parts of the country doesn’t have an East or West coast. What do they say in Oklahoma or Iowa?
I detect a touch of flyover snobbery.
Boy, Adams sure has a thin skin. I am amazed that he has risen to the level that he has. Sure, he is a democrat politician, which means that your vices are additive to your resume, but you still have to be elected from a broader demographic. Clearly, he has constantly played the race card, and affirmative action is strong within this one.
Silly, silly story. Waaaah.
NYC Mayor Adams Slams NY Times Report on his lavish, perhaps unethical, party lifestyle. [link]
I think that I would like to see his reaction if the FBI was sent to raid his personal residence to find receipts from Osteria La Baia and Zero Bond.
Talking about police jargon, I’ve been wondering what “real quick” means to police. They say it really often, but I never, ever see them doing much of anything “real quick”.
We are supposed to believe that everything is just casual and routine when it’s actually all a plan to control and arrest the perp or subject for something.
I also wonder what “for me” means as used by cops, as in “can you exit the vehicle for me real quick?” For who?
For you, Officer Krumkee as a personal favor because you’re such a nice guy? How about you write me a warning for my broken tail light instead of trying to fish for evidence or see if I’m holding enough cash for you to confiscate, and let be get back to being a productive citizen?
For me?
Great catch.
Also, I hate that They are called “first responders.” BS.
No. The “victims” should be the first responders. Witnesses are the second responders.
Flatfoots are the third responders, at best.
I have never worked in the center of the country. I’ve met officers from NY and Britain. I’ve talked with Pinal County deputies. Phrases come and go in policing. When Second City Cop was blogging, there was some Chicago Cop jargon in some of his posts. Alas he no longer posts. He was warned by a Google employee that he was about to be outed so he stopped posting. Once in a while he posts on the Chicago Contrarian blog.
I never knew so many white men had bad encounters with the police. File under “the things you learn on Ricochet”. . .
I was walking my friend through New Orleans. I was the designated driver, and he needed a guiding arm, you might say. We weren’t doing anything otherwise. Out of nowhere, a cop came running up behind us, did a flying tackle and slammed my friend against a taxi’s door that was driving by. Broken neck, they charged him with “Obstructing a side walk.” That’s because they can just make stuff up, no one ever thinks a cop is lying.
I had several people give me business cards from addresses in far distant states, offering to testify for him.
They decided not to hold him because they didn’t want to deal with the hospital, but a summons was issued for the obstructed sidewalk charge.
Tell me, how is a sidewalk obstructed on Bourbon Street?
In the end, my friend was loathe to testify about drinking too much and on his appearance he agreed not to sue the city if they dropped the charges.
Many cops are good people that follow the law. But you never know if the cop in front of you is one of them.
The only safe this is to assume he us not going to follow the law. Comply to not get shot.
In GTA5 the cops motto is “Obey and Survive “
I got pulled over because I swerved partially onto the full lane sized shoulder because it looked like a semi was going to merge as it roared past. I then drove fine. Pulled over because I swerved.
Came up once behind a cop car, sitting at a stop sign at night not moving. Just sitting. For 2 minutes I was behind him. I would not go around him. He finally turned slept and I pulled up and after a very full stop, turned right. He flipped around and followed me. I drove as perfect as I could. Pure intemidation.
I have had an employee pulled over for DWB.
How about “rolling” through a residential stop sign on a 10 mile an hour road? Money collection. Speed traps. Red light cameras. Scams that have nothing to do with safety.
Should we mention the police letting the gunman in Texas murder people?
The police have done this to themselves.
Or the one running up behind you…
Remember the guy murdered by the police in the hotel hallway. One cop was screaming “Don’t move!” And the other was telling him to crawl forward.
The police have far too much power. They have become too militarized.
When constabulary duty’s to be done
A policeman’s lot is not a happy one.
If you live in a state that allows speed traps, or sobriety check points then you need to put some pressure on your state legislature to abolish them. Oregon as woke as it might be does not allow those things.
As far as anecdotal stories about encounters with police officers go, I don’t comment on them. I have no idea if I’m getting the full story. I didn’t arrest people based upon hearsay, or an anecdotal story.
Training whether for police work or any other profession does not instill virtue. Prisons, military stockades, or brigs are populated by individuals that have diplomas, whether it is college, high school, or completing basic training.
Don’t like red light cameras, radar vans, neither do I. Don’t like police officers having access to AR-15’s then give up your AR-15. The only reason they have them is because you do.
Police officers don’t write laws, they are legislated by elected officials. I’ll add my own generalizations. The vast majority of legislators are lawyers, and they write laws that benefit other lawyers. Judges that appear on the ballot are lawyers whose practice is failing. The Bar Association gets them on the ballot to give them a helping hand.
It is for the officer’s safety. Step out of the car so he can verify you are not armed. There is a court precedent that says an officer can order you to leave your vehicle. So yes, it is for him & his safety.
You know what I see a lot of? Videos of people getting out of their cars, and cops telling them to stay in it.
Yeah, that’s a big “forget you” buddy. That’s not how it works.
Our safety is not important.
If car stops are the most dangerous things they do, why do they do so much if it.