Popular Culture
The origin of the name Adam-12 from the television series with that same title is believed to have come from this alphabet. To the present, the LAPD calls its basic two-man patrol car an "A" unit - and the letter "A" is spoken as "Adam" in the phonetic alphabet. So 1-Adam-12 translates to One (LAPD Central Division)-Two Man Patrol Car (Adam unit) in patrol car 12. The patrol car uses the last two numbers of the car number for radio use and the last three numbers of the six digit car number on the roof of the patrol car. For exacmple, Adam 12 on the radio and 012 on the patrol car roof.
In the television show CHiPs, motorcycle units were identified with the letter M, such as 7M4 (Seven Mary Four) for officer Frank Poncherello.
Also, since many police, fire department, and rescue squad TV programs and movies are set in Los Angeles, the words of the LAPD phonetic alphabet have become familiar in the United States, Canada and English-speaking countries around the world due to the wide reach of American entertainment media.
On early seasons of Wheel of Fortune, a close variant of the LAPD phonetic alphabet was used.
Read more about this topic: LAPD Phonetic Alphabet
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