Perhaps it's the popularity of shows like "Cops" and "CSI." Maybe we want to impress our sources that we can be one of them. Or maybe we just think it's cool.

Whatever the reason, cop-speak seems to infect the news columns these days. And here's the rub: What might sound very official and cool to us sounds phony and officious to our readers. It's not a good way to try to attract those young readers we say we want. So here are some examples recently spotted and a handy translation the next time you find yourself lapsing into cop-speak:

Altercation: Press for specifics. Was it a fight? An argument? A shoving match? A shouting match? Use altercation only if you can't find out and there is reason to believe "argument" or "argued" would be inaccurate.

Believe: Let's let our police and sheriff's deputies think, instead.

Broke out: People break out of prison, but it's generally best to say a shooting began or fire started. (And, please, can we stop writing that fires are sparked by - cop-speak interlaced with journalese?)

Declined to: Would not is more conversational.

Exit/exiting/exited: Leave, leaving, left, came out (the car left the parking lot is more natural than saying it exited; instead of saying a bullet exited the person's side, say it came out the side).

Extract: I read a story recently where a woman was "extracted" from her crushed car by rescue workers. Let's leave the extracting to getting out broken screws or the last gobs of toothpaste from the tube. Try using the less officious freed, removed or pulled from.

Fled/fleeing the scene: Use the simple fled or flee. Example: Witnesses saw the suspect fleeing the scene on a bicycle becomes Witnesses saw the suspect flee on a bicycle. (Assuming there really is a suspect - see "suspect.")

Fled at a high rate of speed: Fled at high speed, but even better, sped away or sped from. (The car fled from the robbery at high speed becomes the simpler: The car sped from the robbery.)

The companion is the accident story that says someone was driving at a high rate of speed. Speed is a rate, so just driving at high speed. But don't use speeding unless you know it was above the speed limit.

Fled on foot: walked (or ran) away (and often neither term needs away).

Handed up/down: A grand jury or trial jury hands up (or delivers) an indictment or verdict. The judge hands down (or issues or delivers) her decision. If we're going to use the jargon, we should get it right.

Identities: Names. (But be careful of using name as a verb; most suspects already were named - by their parents. Stick with identify in that case.)

Informed: People usually tell people things. Sometimes they warn them. Both sound much less officious.

Involved in a/had a verbal altercation: Try exchanged words. That's a tad short of an argument and captures the essence in plain English. See "altercation" above for some other options. It depends on doing the reporting and getting the specifics.

Locate: Find, as in Police are trying to find the suspect, instead of locate the suspect.

Person of interest: Resist the temptation to use this term. Instead of writing police say Smith is a person of interest, say police want to talk to Smith about xxx. Avoid the labels and the read-between-the-lines stuff if you - and the police - don't have the guts to say it directly.

Stationed: As in, The deputy was stationed at the market when the shots began. Generally not needed at all, unless he or she was specifically ordered to be there and it's important to know that. Just writing The deputy was at the market when the shots began makes the point.

Suspect: Unless the police know who that person is who was fleeing on that bicycle, he's not a suspect. Feel free to use killer, robber, etc., not with abandon (be careful of murderer), but when appropriate. Someone who robs a bank is a robber until police identify someone. Then the person becomes a suspect.

Sustained: People don't sustain injuries. They suffer them.

Tag: Avoid the slang. Call it a license plate.

Transported: Took or taken. She wasn't transported to the hospital; she was taken to the hospital. If it's a helicopter, try using the natural flown to the hospital (instead of the more officious airlifted). And avoid the useless He was transported to the hospital by ambulance. Aside from being passive (an ambulance took him to the hospital would be active), it's rarely news. That's how people get to hospitals, and seldom do readers need that breathless process information. On the other hand, if the ambulance took the patient to a bar. ...

Doug Fisher, a former AP news editor, teaches journalism at the University of South Carolina and can be reached at fisherdj@mailbox.sc.edu or 803-777-3315.