Don’t use Americanisms. You ‘fill in’ a form, not ‘fill out’ a form.
Exceptions include where it’s part of a specific name – for example, ‘4th Mechanized Brigade’.
Organise – not organize.
Avoid using ampersands. Use ‘and’ rather than ‘&’, unless it is part of a brand name.
Always use an ampersand when referring to Police & Fire Headquarters. Use ‘and’ when referring to Avon and Somerset Police.
To the general public we will always be the police.
You will rarely need to write “Avon and Somerset Constabulary”, only in a formal context with stakeholders. Use “Avon and Somerset Police” in all other instances, particularly with the public.
If in doubt, use ‘Avon and Somerset Police’.
When referring to the force, use lower case. For example, the force plays an important role in keeping local communities safe.
Use “we” when talking to the public directly.
Bullet points are used in two ways:
List bullets use lower case letters and have no full stops at the end of the sentences.
Statement bullets each start with a capital letter and end with a full stop.
How to use bullet points to make text easier to read:
User testing has shown that some people are not familiar with abbreviations such as eg., etc. so avoid using them.
Make sure the link name is descriptive so users know what to expect when they click on it, and include a call to action where appropriate. This also makes the hypertext accessible.
For example, ‘Read our Equality Objectives and Action Plan 2013’ if referring to a standalone document.
Or, if you have a list of documents list each one out:
Do not use ‘click here’ – this offers no context for users and is not accessible for screen readers.
Images should be taken from the force’s stock library.
Do not use images from Google as these could be copyright protected and this could have legal implications.
Make sure images are of a high standard and are not blurry. Ensure you have consent to use photo of the general public. Speak to Corporate Comms regarding permission slips.
When creating images for use online, ensure you save the image ‘for web’. For example, a news article. This will reduce the file size; improving the page load time on our sites and saving storage on our web servers where applicable.
Please note: currently we do not use images on our public facing website except for news articles and the jobs and volunteerign section.
The first time you use an abbreviation or acronym, spell it out in full and put the initials in brackets. After this, refer to it by initials. For example, Chief Officer Group (COG).
Don’t use an acronym if you’re not going to use it again later in the text.
Don’t use full stops in abbreviations. For example, BBC not B.B.C.
Limit the use of abbreviations or acronyms. Often abbreviations are rendered completely unintelligible when read by speech or Braille output software.
Use (round brackets), not [square brackets].
Write email addresses in full, in lower case and as active links.
Do not include any other words as part of the link.
Introduce the email address where possible. For example, ‘Email our Special Constabulary Recruitment Team: specialconstabrecru@avonandsomerset.police.uk
Use team or service email addresses. Avoid publishing individual staff email addresses on public systems. Staff should sign off on their email address being available publically.
List out the full address and bold the name of the team. Do not use commas at the end of each line.
For example,
Recruitment Team
Police & Fire Headquarters
PO Box 37
Valley Road
Portishead
Bristol
BS20 8QJ
Use bold sparingly. For example, when writing the address of Headquarters use bold to highlight the first line of the address:
Police & Fire Headquarters
PO Box 37
Valley Road
Portishead
Bristol
BS20 8QJ
Do not use underline. Content in print material can be empathised using bold. Underlining content online may confuse the user who may mistake it for a hyperlink.
Do not use italics.
Use one space after a full stop, not two.
Hyphenate:
Do not hyphenate:
Do not use a hyphen unless it’s confusing without it. For example, working twenty four-hour shifts is not the same as working twenty-four hour shifts.
Hyphenate numbers when you are describing a compound number between 21 and 99. A compound number is any number that consists of two words. For example, seventy-seven, twenty-eight.
Use ‘to’ for time and date ranges, not hyphens.
Write out numbers in full between zero to nine. From 10 onwards, use digits.
In forms we always use digits. For example, ‘How many vehicles were involved in the incident?
If a number starts a sentence, write it out in full. For example, Twelve police cars are parked in the car park.
Use ‘to’ for time and date ranges, not hyphens. For example, 12:30 to 13:30.
Insert commas for clarity in long numbers. For example, 9,000 police officers lined the streets.
Use the word ‘percent’ in written communication, unless writing a headline.
Keep file names as accurate as possible, and up to two decimal places. For example, 5MB not 5,000KB and 5.03MB.
Use ‘phone’ when introducing a phone number, not ‘telephone’ or ‘tel’.
Use ‘mobile’ when introducing a mobile number, not ‘mob’.
Format phone numbers as follows: 12345 123 123
Use the pound (£) symbol.
Do not use decimals unless pence are included. For example, £75.50 but not £75.00.
Write out pence in full. For example, calls will cost 4 pence per minute from a landline.
Use lower case when writing about currencies. For example, check the current exchange rate for pounds to dollars.
In long passages of speech use open quotes for every new paragraph but close quotes only at the end of the final paragraph.
Use single quotes in headlines, links, unusual terms, and when referring to publications.
Use double quotes in body text for direct quotations.
Do not use contractions in printed or digital channels. Write both words out in full. For example, do not forget to attend today’s meeting.
It is acceptable to use contractions on social media channels. Refer to the ‘social media guidelines’ for details.
DO NOT USE BLOCK CAPITALS IN THE BODY OF TEXT. IT LOOKS LIKE YOU ARE SHOUTING AND IT IS HARD TO READ.
Use lower case when referring to the force.
Use upper case when writing a brand name, or referring to a person and their job title. For example, Job Bloggs, Director of Marketing at Marks and Spencer.
If you are referring to a job title in general then use lower case. For example, as a marketing director you will help raise the profile of the organisation.
For force ranks, apply the same logic. Upper case when referring specifically to a rank of a person: Sergeant Andrews spoke about the incident. Lower case when speaking about a role in general: sergeants across the force raised money for a local charity.
Use lower case for police, police staff and police officers.
Use upper case when describing official holidays. For example, Christmas Day, Eid, New Year.
Use lower case when talking about season and weekends. For example, bank holiday Monday.
Use numerical day month year. For example: 30 July 2019, not July 30 2019.
Use suffix (th, rd, st) when you use the day preceding the date. For example, Tuesday 26th February 2019.
Use 24 hour clock. For example, 23:30 not 11:30pm
It is acceptable to use ‘midnight’ and ‘midday’.