Why are police officers called pigs? Where did that come from?

Answer 1

It was the largest word college students knew back in the 70s. Belt buckles were made, and the word PIG turned into Pride, Integrity, Guts.

Answer 2

In the 1960's the hippies refered to all government personnel as "pigs". The Manson family wrote it on the walls in blood after their murders. Police are always the most visible members of the government and are usually the first catch the brunt of peoples wrath when they are angry at the government or "establishment". Therefore the police were called pigs.

Answer 3

Well, not exactly in the '60's, like people think. From StraightDope:

"If you thought the term pig arose in the 1960s, you're in for a surprise. The OED cites an 1811 reference to a "pig" as a Bow Street Runner--the early police force, named after the location of their headquarters, before Sir Robert Peel and the Metropolitan Police Force. The usage was probably confined to the criminal classes until the 1960s, when it was taken up by protestors. False explanations for the term involve the gas masks worn by the riot police in that era, or the pigs in charge of George Orwell's Animal Farm."

From Groink, we have another explanation, nearly as old, and also referring to Sir Robert Peel and his men, with a bit clearer of an explanation as to why they were pigs:

"Police - pigs
Back in 1809, Sir Robert Peel entered the House of Commons in London - he developed a passion for Sandy Back pigs found in Ireland and began to breed them in Tamworth. Soon, these pigs were known as Tamworth pigs. Pig slang was commonplace in Tamworth because of this, it was in 1829 that the relation to police came into it.
Politicians were concerned about the way London was policed and Sir Robert Peel changed things - his changes resulted in the formation of the Metropolitan Police. This is why police are referred to as 'Bobbies' or 'Peelers'; they were Bobby's boys...
Due to the pig nature that Tamworth had become, the police suffered the same fate as other Tamworth products did: They became related to pigs. "

So, it's thanks to the Brits, for this bit of slang, it seems.

Answer 4

During tha 60's with Hippies & Black Radicalism at its Height in San Francisco, they called tha Police PIG's because written above tha San Francisco City Police Force Seal on Car Door it read "Pride, Integrity & Guts" that is why they are called PIGs

Answer 5

The first police station in 1880 in London England was right next to a pig stye. Also, the reason they use the word COP, unknowingly to just about every internet search I've done, is because it's an acronym for 'Constable On Patrol' or 'Constable Off Patrol'. Once a COP, always a COP. Get it?

Answer 6

Where Do Pigs Come From

Answer 7

From what i understand, back in the 70's there was a lot of rallies and demonstrations by hippies and other anti-war groups. When the riot police would be sent in to take care of the crowd, they would disperce them with tear gas, and therefore had to wear smoke masks that made them resemble a pig.

Answer 8

idk. some stupid not-appreciative asswhole probably.
actually here's your real reason:
Starting in August 1968 and for a number of years afterwards, police officers were called pigs by young people, the disenchanted and even the media. This came about when a group who called themselves the Yippies, protested near the 1968 National Democratic Convention in Chicago. They had a small pig as their presidential candidate, and when police disrupted their demonstration, they started to call the police pigs. The expression caught on. Years later, the radical leaders of the Yippies became mainstream and calling police "pigs" drifted into the past.

Answer 9

Yeah, it was the "hippies" and the protesters of the 60's and 70's...my generation....what can I say. You had to be there.

It is interesting that law enforcement across the nation immediately embraced the term and proudly displayed it in their departments like this:

P - Pride
I - Integrity
G- Guts.

I have been in a few towns where police cars have a picture of a pig wearing a police cap and the P-I-G thingie on the doors or on the rear.

Answer 10

The term comes from George Orwell's book Animal Farm, where pigs are depicted as a head of a secret police force. It is also a commentary on a soviet regime.

From Wiki:
"Pigs
Napoleon, a Berkshire boar, is the main villain in Animal Farm. After Napoleon begins to gradually build up his power, using puppies he raised to be vicious dogs as his de facto secret police. After driving Snowball off the farm, Napoleon usurps full power, using false propaganda from Squealer and threats and intimidation from the dogs to keep the other animals in line. Among other things he gradually changes the Commandments to allow himself privileges and justify his dictatorial rule. By the end of the book Napoleon and his fellow pigs have learned to walk upright and started to behave similar to humans. Orwell modeled him after Joseph Stalin, while giving him the name of the French military leader Napoleon, both of whom set up dictatorships whose repression and despotism was similar to or worse than that of the governments they supplanted."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_Farm

Hope this helps.

Answer 11

having grown up in the 60s, I seriously doubt that the hippies, who popularized "pigs" had any influence from the brits. All the "british invasion" did was popularize silly music. My guess is that it came from George Orwell s "Animal Farm" (a popular read in public schools) where the pigs were the aloof animals that were more equal than the other animals and represented authority. No source, just a guess.