INTO THE BLUE
A Podcast About the Making of a New Police Officer
Into the Blue
Glossary of Commonly Used Police Terms
Like many industries, policing has a long list of acronyms and terms that can be heard in everyday conversation around the police service. This list provides some of the terms you might hear in the podcast.
10-4 (ten-four) – Means “OK,” “received,” or “Yes.” Traditionally, it is a term used on police radios, but it occasionally comes up in everyday conversations between members of a police service.
CMH – Canadian Mental Health
CPIC – Canadian Police Information Centre. This is a national computer database that stores police information about people and property.
NICHE – A local computer database that stores all the information about people and property that the police interact with.
NICHE or CPIC Check – A term used when a service member checks one of the databases for information about a person or property.
OPC – Ontario Police College located in Aylmer, Ontario.
Post-OPC – The weeks spent in training at the Waterloo Regional Police Service headquarters after attending the Ontario Police College.
Pre-OPC – The weeks spent at Waterloo Regional Police Service headquarters before the Ontario Police College.
Released on an Undertaking—This generally means that a person is released from police custody with an agreement to show up for court later. Someone charged with a minor offence may be arrested by an officer and released immediately instead of being held in a jail cell.