The leading theory is police in the eastern seaboard cities began wearing badges made from copper metal in about 1840. Eventually, big city folks began to refer to those officers as "coppers" because of the badges they wore.
Eventually, "copper" was shortened to "cop"
There you go.
Copper Philadelphia Municipal Police badge c.1840.
"Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever they can. Point out to them how the nominal winner is often a real loser; in fees, expenses and waste of time." -- Abraham Lincoln, (1809-1865) Lawyer and President who saved the United States.
"Without opportunities on the part of the poor to obtain expert legal advice, it is idle to talk of equality before the law"-- Justice Chas. Evans Hughes
C.onstable O.n P.atrol.......
Re: learn something everyday...why do we call them "cops?"
inferiority COmPlex
...i kid, i kid!
Cranky Old Pig!
PoPo
5-0
good info
"Coppers" goes back to England pre-USA, for the same reason you pointed too.
Know thy self,
know thy enemy.
A thousand battles,
a thousand victories. - Sun Tzu (500 B.C.)
I think the English version of the story refers to the copper buttons on their uniforms...Originally Posted by Big Red Ron
probably true, I can usually only remember half of trivial factoids.
Know thy self,
know thy enemy.
A thousand battles,
a thousand victories. - Sun Tzu (500 B.C.)
Actually, it comes from the latin cappere, to seize or detain.
Oh, hi.
"The choices we discern as having been made in the Constitutional Convention impose burdens on governmental proceses that often seem clumsy, inefficient, even unworkable, but those hard choices were consciously made by men who had lived under a form of government that permitted arbitrary governmental acts to go unchecked." INS v. Chadha, 462 U.S. 919 (1983) (Burger, C.J.)
Froze, you're back! We thought a bull moose in rut had broke you down like a shotgun and drove you to Skagway.
"Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever they can. Point out to them how the nominal winner is often a real loser; in fees, expenses and waste of time." -- Abraham Lincoln, (1809-1865) Lawyer and President who saved the United States.
"Without opportunities on the part of the poor to obtain expert legal advice, it is idle to talk of equality before the law"-- Justice Chas. Evans Hughes
You weren't watching Police Academy today were you Homey?
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