History
At some point in the early history of emergency service mobile radio systems, the LAPD developed its own phonetic alphabet for relaying precise information on individual letters. For example, the license plate "8QXG518" might be read by a civilian as "eight cue ex jee five eighteen" but with accuracy being paramount, the police dispatcher would say "eight queen x-ray george five one eight." Despite the development in 1941 of the Joint Army/Navy Phonetic Alphabet and its replacement, circa 1956, by the NATO phonetic alphabet (currently used by U.S. military, civil aviation, telecommunications, and some law enforcement agencies), the LAPD and other law enforcement and emergency service agencies throughout the United States continue to use it.
The LAPD phonetic alphabet is also known as the APCO phonetic alphabet, named after the Association of Public Safety Communications Officials International (APCO), which was responsible for making the LAPD alphabet known and adopted by other law enforcement agencies in the US.
Read more about this topic: LAPD Phonetic Alphabet
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