Police Phonetic Alphabet (Adam, Boy, Charles)
Spell a license plate, name or call sign in the police phonetic alphabet the LAPD and many US departments use, or turn police code words back into letters.
Code words
Letter by letter
- 8, Eight
- Q, Queen
- X, X-ray
- G, George
- 5, Five
- 1, One
- 8, Eight
Police phonetic alphabet chart
The LAPD and APCO word for each letter, the NATO word beside it, and the Morse code.
| Letter | Police word | NATO word | Morse | Hear it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | AdamNATO: Alfa | Alfa | dot dash | |
| B | BoyNATO: Bravo | Bravo | dash dot dot dot | |
| C | CharlesNATO: Charlie | Charlie | dash dot dash dot | |
| D | DavidNATO: Delta | Delta | dash dot dot | |
| E | EdwardNATO: Echo | Echo | dot | |
| F | FrankNATO: Foxtrot | Foxtrot | dot dot dash dot | |
| G | GeorgeNATO: Golf | Golf | dash dash dot | |
| H | HenryNATO: Hotel | Hotel | dot dot dot dot | |
| I | IdaNATO: India | India | dot dot | |
| J | JohnNATO: Juliett | Juliett | dot dash dash dash | |
| K | KingNATO: Kilo | Kilo | dash dot dash | |
| L | LincolnNATO: Lima | Lima | dot dash dot dot | |
| M | MaryNATO: Mike | Mike | dash dash | |
| N | NoraNATO: November | November | dash dot | |
| O | OceanNATO: Oscar | Oscar | dash dash dash | |
| P | PaulNATO: Papa | Papa | dot dash dash dot | |
| Q | QueenNATO: Quebec | Quebec | dash dash dot dash | |
| R | RobertNATO: Romeo | Romeo | dot dash dot | |
| S | SamNATO: Sierra | Sierra | dot dot dot | |
| T | TomNATO: Tango | Tango | dash | |
| U | UnionNATO: Uniform | Uniform | dot dot dash | |
| V | VictorNATO: Victor | Victor | dot dot dot dash | |
| W | WilliamNATO: Whiskey | Whiskey | dot dash dash | |
| X | X-rayNATO: X-ray | X-ray | dash dot dot dash | |
| Y | YoungNATO: Yankee | Yankee | dash dot dash dash | |
| Z | ZebraNATO: Zulu | Zulu | dash dash dot dot |
| Number | Word | Say it | Morse | Hear it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Zerosay ZE-RO | ZE-RO | dash dash dash dash dash | |
| 1 | Onesay WUN | WUN | dot dash dash dash dash | |
| 2 | Twosay TOO | TOO | dot dot dash dash dash | |
| 3 | Threeradio: Treesay TREE | TREE | dot dot dot dash dash | |
| 4 | Fourradio: Fowersay FOW-er | FOW-er | dot dot dot dot dash | |
| 5 | Fiveradio: Fifesay FIFE | FIFE | dot dot dot dot dot | |
| 6 | Sixsay SIX | SIX | dash dot dot dot dot | |
| 7 | Sevensay SEV-en | SEV-en | dash dash dot dot dot | |
| 8 | Eightsay AIT | AIT | dash dash dash dot dot | |
| 9 | Nineradio: Ninersay NIN-er | NIN-er | dash dash dash dash dot |
A decimal point is Decimal on the radio (say DAY-SEE-MAL).
Print or download the chart
One page with every letter and number, the NATO word and its Morse code.
Source: APCO Bulletin, August 1941; LAPD Manual, Volume 4, §120.30.
Police phonetic alphabet quiz
Ten questions on the police words, Adam to Zebra. Your best score stays on this device.
How to use
The tool opens on the plate 8QXG518, already spelled. Pick another example under the box, or clear the box with the × and type a plate, name, case number or call sign.
Read the police words. Letter by letter pairs every character with its word, and Options sets how numbers and punctuation are said.
To turn police words back into letters, choose Code words → text, or paste three or more of them and the tool switches for you.
Read the result aloud, copy it, share a link or print it.
What it does
This is the law enforcement spelling list that runs Adam, Boy, Charles to Zebra. Some call it the cop phonetic alphabet, others the LAPD phonetic alphabet or the APCO alphabet; the words are the same.
Plates, names and case numbers.
Digits come out as plain words (Eight, Five) and a dash as Dash. For radio numbers (Tree, Fower, Fife, Niner), pick Radio under Options.
Forgiving decoding.
Young or Yellow give Y; Boy, Baker or Bravo give B; NATO words work too, so Adam Baker Charlie still reads ABC.
Police beside NATO.
The chart sets each police word next to its NATO word and Morse code, settling the military vs police phonetic alphabet question letter by letter. Print it, or download a one-page PDF in A4 or US Letter.
Read aloud, copy, share and print,
plus a ten-question quiz on the police words.
How it works
The words come from “New Word List for CW and Phone”, printed by the APCO Procedure Committee in the APCO Bulletin of August 1941 (page 10). The committee drew it from two questionnaires to police radio stations; the first included the Bell Telephone and Western Union word lists. The final list differs from Bell’s by five words and from Western Union’s by eight.
The LAPD Manual prints the same 26 words in Volume 4, Line Procedures, §120.30, as the APCO Code Word List, and the tool follows it. Neither source gives words for digits, so numbers stay plain.
APCO itself moved on in 1974: Exhibit No. 8 of its Project 14 report lists the international words, ALPHA to ZULU. The LAPD Manual still printed Adam, Boy, Charles in 2015, and Wikipedia says most US departments never switched.
Local versions differ in a few letters. Wikipedia lists Yellow for Y at the California Highway Patrol and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police, and at other agencies Baker or Bravo for B, Nancy for N, Easy for E or Yesterday for Y. One trap: Wikipedia’s table of the 1941 list shows Babe and Poppy, but the Bulletin it cites prints Boy and Paul. The tool follows the Bulletin.
Examples
Both columns are the tool’s own output:
| You type | Police words | NATO words |
|---|---|---|
| 8QXG518 (a license plate) | Eight Queen X-ray George Five One Eight | Eight Quebec X-ray Golf Five One Eight |
| Garcia | George Adam Robert Charles Ida Adam | Golf Alfa Romeo Charlie India Alfa |
| Smith | Sam Mary Ida Tom Henry | Sierra Mike India Tango Hotel |
| 24-0193 (a case number) | Two Four Dash Zero One Nine Three | Two Four Dash Zero One Nine Three |
Said the everyday way, the plate becomes “eight cue ex gee five eighteen”, easy to mishear on a radio. Decoding runs the other way: Adam Boy Charles gives ABC.
Trust and limits
The spelling, the chart and the quiz work inside your browser, so a plate or name you type is not uploaded. Read aloud uses your device’s own voice, and a share link keeps your text after the #, which our server never receives. The words follow the LAPD Manual (§120.30); your agency’s list may differ in a letter or two, and its list wins. This page covers the spelling alphabet only, not 10-codes or police response codes. Up to 5,000 characters; Letter by letter shows the first 400. Options and quiz scores stay in this browser. Maintained by Translate Morse Code; last updated October 2026.
Sources
- APCO Procedure Committee, “New Word List for CW and Phone”, The APCO Bulletin, August 1941, p. 10
- LAPD Manual, Volume 4, Line Procedures, §120.30, APCO Code Word List (2015 capture)
- APCO Project 14 report (1974), Exhibit No. 8, International Phonetic Alphabet
- NATO, The NATO Phonetic Alphabet and ICAO Annex 10, Volume II, Figure 5-1 (the NATO column)
- ITU-R Recommendation M.1677-1, International Morse code (the Morse column)
- Saint Paul Police Department Manual, §441.04, Radio Procedures
- Wikipedia, APCO radiotelephony spelling alphabet (secondary: local variants, Adam-12, the 8QXG518 example, most departments keeping the 1941 words)
Frequently asked questions
About the police phonetic alphabet
Because US police had their own word list first. APCO printed Adam, Boy, Charles in its Bulletin in August 1941, and NATO adopted Alfa, Bravo, Charlie in 1956. APCO switched to the international words in 1974, but the LAPD and, by Wikipedia’s account, most other US departments kept the old list.
They spell the same letters with different words. The military list runs Alfa, Bravo, Charlie to Zulu; the police list runs Adam, Boy, Charles to Zebra. Only Victor and X-ray are the same in both. The chart on this page sets them side by side, and the NATO phonetic alphabet tool spells with the military words.
Young, in the 1941 APCO list and in the LAPD Manual. Wikipedia lists Yellow for the California Highway Patrol and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police, and some agencies say Yesterday. The tool spells Y as Young and reads all three back as Y.
Because of this alphabet. According to Wikipedia, the LAPD calls a two-officer patrol car an A unit, and A is Adam, so the call sign 1-Adam-12 means a two-officer car from Division 1 (Central) on patrol area 12. Pick the Decode: 1-Adam-12 example under the box and it reads 1A12.
No. The 1941 words are the most common on US police radio, Wikipedia says, but some departments use the international words APCO adopted in 1974: the Saint Paul, Minnesota police manual lists Alpha, Bravo, Charlie. Others use a local version with Yellow, Baker or Nancy. Check your own agency’s list; the decoder here reads all of these.