Why are police in the UK called 'Old Bill' & 'Coppers'??

Answer 1

I've heard of "cop" as deriving from Constable on Patrol. I've also heard of your officers being called "Peelers" and "Bobbies" from Sir Robert Peel, who was involved in creating the London police force. "Old Bill" is a new one on me.

Answer 2

NYC Police never wore copper badges. The first badges were worn from 1845 to 1857; they were made of brass. 1857 to 1870 badges were a white metal. The Municipal Police, 1870-1875 wore a white metal badge with copper numbers affixed. 1875-1889 badges were white metal, no numbers; 1889-1898, no copper; 1898-1902 brought about the first badge of the NYPD, after Brooklyn City joined NYC, still no copper. From 1902 to the present, the badge (shield) has been made of nickle-silver. The numbers are soldered on and the shield is then nickle plated and polished.

Answer 3

The origins of a Police Force are attributed to England's Sir William Peel a few hundred years ago. I have never heard the expression "Old Bill" to refer to a policeman, but that probably goes back to the time when Sir William recruited his first officers, who were also referred to as "Peelers". The term "Coppers" comes from another old English expression to "cop" somebody; meaning to catch the person who has committed the wrongdoing, especially if they were "copped" in the very act. This is what the Police are supposed to do - cop the bad guys... so policemen are official "coppers".

Answer 4

The police force as we know it today came into being when the politician Robert Peel introduced the Metropolitan Police Bill in 1829. This legislation set up a formal, uniformed police force who started their first organised patrols on the 29th September, 1829. Their nickname stems from The Bill that created them.

As well as the above, The Peelers and Bobbies, you also had the Bow Street Runners, Flatfoots, The Rozza's/The Roz, The Fuzz, The Sweeney and The Nick (as in you're nicked me ol' china).

As to when the term 'bobby' or 'bobbies on the beat' phased out, as mentioned above the term still remains in some parts of the country and media.

There seem to be two credible possibilities on the origin of the word "cop". Either a corruption of the 16th Century English word 'cap'/Middle French 'caper' (as kempie suggests/Latin 'capere' - all meaning to seize or capture; or, as a possible American origin, a reference to the metallic copper badges worn by New York policemen many years ago.

Answer 5

There are lots of other names for the fuzz too, such as : -
pigs, rozzers, plods, the filth etc.

In the 1930s 40s anyone who told the police about something or other was usually referred to as a 'coppers nark'. A nark is a grass or a witness to an event which he/she has not seen and knows nuffink abaht!

Other names for the fuzz are - Peelers [after Robt. Peel] and Bow Street Runners [their official original title].

Answer 6

Many police officers wore authoritarian-looking "Old Bill" moustaches like that adorning a famous W.W.1 cartoon character 'the wily old soldier in the trenches' by Bruce Bairnsfather.

And coppers came from the copper buttons on the old police uniform

Answer 7

The constables of WilliamIV who was nick named Old Bill brought that name into the language.Copper is believed to come from 'to cop' or to catch has in the term 'cop hold of this'.Bobby is from ROBERT Peel no such person as William Peel.

Answer 8

Not sure about Coppers, but Old Bill comes from the name of the person who set up the original police force - William Peel. So Bill is the shortened form of William. His name is where we also get the expression "keep your eyes peeled".

Answer 9

Copper- Constable on Patrol?? Shortened?
Old Bill I think has a London only use in years gone by!

Answer 10

'Coppers' comes from the copper badges that police people used to wear/still wear.