Jan 15, 2022 08:47
2 yrs ago
23 viewers *
English term

an a-buy

English to German Other Slang drugs, police
"He was picked up off an a-buy they had onto him."

Does A refer to hard drugs here? Thanks a lot!
Proposed translations (German)
2 APB=Fahndungsaufruf
Change log

Jan 15, 2022 14:11: Nadine Kahn changed "Field (write-in)" from "drugs " to "drugs, police"

Jan 19, 2022 19:35: Alison MacG changed "Level" from "Non-PRO" to "PRO"

Votes to reclassify question as PRO/non-PRO:

PRO (3): B&B FinTrans, Dr. Matthias Schauen, Alison MacG

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Proposed translations

1 day 9 hrs

APB=Fahndungsaufruf

Declined
Possibly an audio misunderstanding: An all-points bulletin (APB) would be a common term in the context...

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Note added at 2 days 8 hrs (2022-01-17 17:35:58 GMT)
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Is the quote from an audio transcript? (Unfortunately, transcripts are often flawed--a common source of faulty subtitles...)
Example sentence:

"...an important message about a suspect or item of interest, which officers may be in search for. They are primarily used for individuals who are classified as dangerous and for crimes of high priority."

Note from asker:
Thanks, Lonnie, but I don't think there's a mistake in the audio.
Peer comment(s):

neutral Thomas Pfann : Sounds very plausible.
1 day 16 hrs
Thanks, Thomas.
Something went wrong...

Reference comments

4 days
Reference:

NYPD Blue

The only other instances I can find also come from the NYPD Blue TV series.

YEAH, WE HAD NARCOTICS PICK HIM UP OFF AN A-BUY THEY HAD INTO HIM.

HEY, ONE OF YOUR RECENT TRANSACTIONS TWO DAYS AGO IN TOMPKINS SQUARE PARK - THAT WAS AN A-BUY TO AN UNDERCOVER NARCOTICS COP.
https://subslikescript.com/series/NYPD_Blue-106079/season-8/...

Clark, narcotics.
That's Maria feliciano, right?
Yeah, why?
What are you bringing her in for?
Why do you want to know?
We got an "a" buy into her boyfriend tino, this scumbag club promoter who's been moving into sales, and I'm just making sure, that, you know, we're not getting our wires crossed.
https://tvshowtranscripts.ourboard.org/viewtopic.php?f=995&t...

The term may be specific to this TV show. It could perhaps be a reference to an arranged buy (other expressions used are informant buy, controlled buy, undercover buy, agent buy, etc.)

Branning said undercover detectives had purchased drugs several times from each suspect during "arranged buys" in the eastern part of Howard
https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1998-06-06-19981570...

The fact that the substance was not sold to an undercover police officer or confidential informant in an arranged buy transaction, and thus not available for testing prior to trial …
https://casetext.com/case/state-v-siler-17

... it was a controlled buy to an undercover agent of cocaine ...
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Sf2QKnbMtocC&pg=PA1&dq="...

It might be an idea to post this question again in the English-English monolingual KudoZ section. You might then get a response from someone more familiar with US police slang or with the NYPD Blue series.
Peer comments on this reference comment:

agree Thomas Pfann : Und zu sehen gibt es die Episode hier: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5vjcgs (Wobei ich es da auch nicht besser verstehe.)
1 hr
Danke, Thomas
Something went wrong...
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