July 15, 2012

Police, Journalist Abuse of Language

It is curious that police say they took a person "into custody" but did not "arrest" them. The word "arrest" means to stop. If a police officer tells a person to stop that is an arrest. But these days police put handcuffs on suspects or persons of interest, place them into their patrol vehicles and say they have not been arrested. What they try to distinguish is that they did not file a formal charge against the person, who was not incarcerated That does not mean that they were not arrested. It is one more example of deterioration of the language where words have little meaning.

[From article]
Police did not say whether the two taken into custody have been arrested.

http://bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/20220715bullets_fly_near_scene_of_drug_raid_in_carver/

Bullets fly near scene of drug raid in Carver
Boston Herald
By John Zaremba
Sunday, July 15, 2012

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