Does anyone know why Police officers are called COPS?

Question

I do...10 pts to the most accurate answer.

Answer 1

Over seas, the police had copper buttons on their uniforms, so people started referring to the police as coppers, which has since been shortened to cops.

Answer 2

There are a few different stories about cop, but most of them are rather dubious. One suggests that cop stood for "Constable On Patrol," but there isn't much evidence for this. Another story says that it comes from the copper badges that the first New York police sergeants carried, but almost as common is the story that cop originally referred to the copper buttons on the uniforms of the first police force in London. Students of Urban Legend stories may well recognize this pattern as indicative of a questionable origin.

The word copper could come from the French word "caper," meaning to seize or take. French Norman influences on the English language could account for this. Tracing the language back to it's Latin roots, we find capere meaning to seize or take, which is also the root for capture. The dictionary also suggests a few alternate meanings for cop which seems to reinforce this idea - to catch or capture; take away. Since several other languages use similar words derived from the Latin root word, this seems to be the most likely explanation. Therefor a cop, i.e. a copper, is one who catches a criminal.

The suggested origin for "bobby" is also in question, but the most commonly advance account is that the name comes from Sir Robert Peel, a British Tory politician of the early 1800s. While Home Secretary he reorganized the existing police force, the Bow Street Runners, into a more efficient service. Supposedly, they were originally labeled with the epithet "Peelers," but for unknown reasons "bobby" came to be the nickname of preference. Possibly because the name had been used for the Irish constabulary that he had founded earlier when he was Secretary for Ireland.

Another story with some historical weight says that bobby comes from 19th century London street slang. Victorian writer John Hotten wrote in the Dictionary of Modern Slang, Cant, and Vulgar Words: "The official square-keeper, who is always armed with a cane to drive away idle and disorderly urchins, has, time out of mind, been called by said urchins Bobby the Beadle. Bobby is also an old English word for striking, or hitting, a quality not unknown to policemen."

Just for reference, my Webster's Third New International Dictionary cites the first story.

Answer 3

Funny you should mention cops. I live in New York City, which gives me the opportunity to observe just about every variety of police behavior imaginable. I also own, and occasionally listen to, a police-band scanning radio. (Yes, Virginia, it's perfectly legal.) Most of what I hear is pretty routine for New York City (riots, explosions, flying saucer landings, etc.), and the language, while often colorful, is fairly mundane. So imagine my surprise recently upon hearing an officer in the field ask his dispatcher to explain the "etiology" (a very fancy word for "cause" or "circumstances") of a situation he was being sent to investigate. Now we know where Philosophy majors end up. The dispatcher, incidentally, was not amused.

Meanwhile, back at "cop," the most commonly-heard theories trace "cop" or"copper" meaning "police" to copper buttons worn on early police uniforms, or to copper police badges supposedly issued in some cities, but there is no convincing evidence for any of this. Still other theories explain "cop" as an acronym, standing for "Constable On Patrol," "Chief of Police" or other such phrases. But these "acronym" theories bear all the hallmarks of being spurious after-the-fact explanations invented to explain "cop." Among other sticky details is the fact that acronyms were virtually unknown in English before the 20th century, while "cop" itself was well-established by the mid-19th century.

To cut to the chase, the police sense of "copper" and "cop" probably comes originally from the Latin word "capere," meaning "to seize," which also gave us "capture." "Cop" as a slang term meaning "to catch, snatch or grab" appeared in English in the 18th century, ironically originally used among thieves -- a "copper" was a street thief. But by the middle of the 19th century, criminals apprehended by the police were said to have themselves been "copped" -- caught -- by the "coppers" or "cops." And there you have the etiology of "cop." Case, as the cops say, closed.

Answer 4

Cop the noun is almost certainly a shortening of copper, which in turn derives from cop the verb. The London police were called bobbies, after Sir Robert Peel who advocated the creation of the Metropolitan Police Force in 1828. Copper as slang for policeman is first found in print in 1846, according to the Oxford English Dictionary. The most likely explanation is that it comes from the verb "to cop" meaning to seize, capture, or snatch, dating from just over a century earlier (1704).

Answer 5

Because back in the day they use to wear the badge that was made out of copper so the word copper was started being used and then shortened to cop. Now the word cop stands for Citizen on Patrol.

Answer 6

Around the year 1700, the slang verb cop entered English usage, meaning "to get ahold of, catch, capture." By 1844, cop showed up in print, and soon thereafter the -er suffix was added, and a policeman became a copper, one who cops or catches and arrests criminals. Copper first appeared in print in 1846, the use of cop as a short form copper occured in 1859.

Answer 7

Around the year 1700, the slang verb cop entered English usage, meaning "to get ahold of, catch, capture." By 1844, cop showed up in print, and soon thereafter the -er suffix was added, and a policeman became a copper, one who cops or catches and arrests criminals. Copper first appeared in print in 1846, the use of cop as a short form copper occured in 1859.

Answer 8

Cops comes from "Copper" - or the copper buttons of the uniforms worn by British police officers during the 1800's

Answer 9

Community Oriented Policing Services

Answer 10

The myth is that it stands for Constabile on Patrol. It really comes from the first policemen to wear badges, the NYPD. The first NYPD badges, made with the seal of the city of New York, were made of copper. People called the new police force that strutted around with their fancy badges "Coppers"...which became shortened to "Cops".

Answer 11

In England police were called coppers due to the fact that their badge was made of copper. It was then shorten to "cops" and brought over with the immigrants