English edit

Etymology edit

A police officer uses a pencil to write tickets, which would get warm if used a lot due to friction.

Noun edit

hot pencil (plural hot pencils)

  1. (law enforcement slang) A police officer who writes many tickets.
    • 2004, San Diego Magazine, page 60:
      He was a hot pencil who kept CHP brass happy by writing more tickets than anybody. Secretly, he was using his highly polished Badge 861 1 to stalk young women for weird, sexually tinged power games.
    • 2011, Joseph "Champagne Joe" Militello, Canister Of Evil, AuthorHouse, →ISBN, page 34:
      From what he could ascertain, he was at least as good or even better as a police detective and as a partner than Charga ever was or could ever be. “he was more than a hot pencil when he was in uniform.” Dunne continued, “Did you know ...
    • 2020, Tom Barker, Aggressors in Blue: Exposing Police Sexual Misconduct, Springer Nature, →ISBN, page 104:
      Exposing Police Sexual Misconduct Tom Barker. about the same time as the police. ... As is common in police agencies, his fellow officers were aware of his bizarre antics. ... Known as “hot pencil,” he averaged 250 tickets a month.