ABSTRACT
Like any profession or highly skilled craft, policing abounds in jargon-terms understood by insiders, which function as shorthand so that members of the profession can communicate ideas to each other easily and quickly. In a practical sense, of course, there is the danger that jargon can cause confusion, both inside and outside a profession, when people do not understand a term's real meaning or its history. In a more abstract sense, words and phrases have embedded meanings, values, and connotations. Words and phrases do not simply carry with them a variety of meanings that cause the potential for misunderstanding;
they are representations of reality that provide bridges to other words, meanings, and history. Words change with the social context in which they are created and deployed. Words also inform and guide practice.
