Why do some people call the police "cops"?
by 
Macy Havok
ANSWERS: 6
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I once heard that COPS stand for Civil Obedience and Protection Services. Not sure, what I heard.
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I thought it was short for "coppers", since police badges used to be copper. Right?
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It is a reference to the badge. Though most badges are made of brass, in the early years, many were of stamped copper, hence the term "coppers" later shortened to "cops". Edit: And would the coward handing out the -4 ratings like to say why? The answer citing wikipedia may offer something that disputes my answer, but wiki is user editable and not a fully reliable source.
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From the fabulous list of slang terms for police on WIkipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_slang_terms_for_police_officers Cop: While commonly believed to be an acronym for Constable On Patrol, the term refers to "one who captures or snatches". This word first appeared in the early 18th century, and can be matched with the word "cap", which has the same meaning and whose etymology can be traced to the Latin word 'capere'. (The word retains this meaning in other contexts: teenagers "cop a feel" on a date, and they have also been known to "cop an attitude".) Variation: Copper. It is also believed that the term Copper was the original, unshortened word, popularly believed to represent the copper badges American officers used to wear at the time of origin, but in fact probably used in Britain to mean "someone who cops" long before this.
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Actually it was not the badge or star that was copper but the innovation of Sir Peele (he is the reason police were called Peelers in Ireland) to have individual numbers to identify the officer on the badge. These numbers were made from copper since it is malleable. Constable On Patrol is another accepted explanation as is to cop/cap (hold or arrest). The term cop was not seen in literature or news articles until after the badge numbers came about so it is the likeliest explanation.
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All I know if you see one at the back door, go out the front.
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