List of Police-related Slang Terms - C

C

Campo

Officers whose jurisdiction is a university or college. It is a combination of the title Campus Police. Campo can be used in admiration or as an insult depending on the context. Most commonly used in North America.

Cana

Argentinean slang for police officers and lunfardo and Chilean slang term for jail.

Care bears

British slang (Isle of Wight) for Community Support Officers, denoting their inability to do anything more than the average citizen when a crime is committed. The name is derived from a cartoon of the same name.

Cinder Dick

An old term for railroad police detective, derived from the detective having to walk on the railroad ballast rock, also known as "cinders".

Cinzentinhos

Mozambique, in reference to the officers' gray uniform. One literal translation of the word would be "Little Grays".

City Kitty

local police, such as a city or township.

City Pigs

Used by the Zodiac Killer in regard to the police in San Francisco.

Cherry Toppers, Cherry Tops, or Cherries

Often used in reference to police cars which in some nations bear red lights on the top of the car. See Cherry top (slang).

Chickens

Name used for police agents in the Netherlands.

Chimps

UK slang term for Community Support Officers, Acronym for Completely Hopeless In Most Policing Situations

Chipper

California Highway Patrol Motorcycle Cop. From the show "Chips"

Cocos

Scottish, rhyming slang for coco pops (the cops).

Collar

American and British slang for when an officer catches or apprehends a suspect (collared/having your collar felt). Also used in bravado between officers 'good collar' meaning good arrest or stop.

Cop or Copper

The term Copper was the original, unshortened word, believed to represent the copper badges officers used to wear at the time of origin, but in fact probably used in Britain to mean "someone who cops" long before this.

This term is often the topic of folk etymology. One incorrect theory to its origin is that it is an acronym for Constable On Patrol. Another incorrect theory goes back to the French Revolution when a group of people would call out traitors to be beheaded. This group was called the Committee of Public Safety. The Committee of Public Safety would carry out justice for the best interest of the common people or so they believed. The acronym for the Committee of Public Safety is COPS, which is why some believe the term cop to come from this term from the late 1700s.

The use of copper in badges upon entering the then private police force, and the concomitant use of the word "copper" to describe a policeman, dates back to roughly the 1840's in New York, and the founding of the NYPD. The use of copper in badges was not new, as London had been using it for years. They were originally paid a penny a day (or a copper penny if you will). However, only after working on the force for several years was a policeman able to earn enough to afford to make their own badge from the precious metal; often times being made of melted down portions of their wages. Policemen were hired by the rich from among local gangs by the wealthy establishment to protect only themselves. They began calling themselves the "night watch" because they mostly guarded the rich from burglaries at night as well as fires. They were eventually called the Municipals; which is where the generic term "municipal police" comes from. There were two rival organizations: the Metropolitan Police and the Municipals, which fought out their own gang wars for "turf" over who had rights to protect whom - just as the fire departments did at the time. The Metropolitans were formed by order of the Governor of New York at the time. Only in the 1840s would these private gangs be made a public institution, though the founding of the "Municipals" is often cited as the creation of "NYPD" since the Municipals ultimately won the police-gang turf war. The Metropolitans, some say derisively, referred to their rival Municipals as "coppers" based on their shiny, easily identifiable badges.

Copcycles

A slang term for police officers on bicycles.

Copicide aka suicide-by-cop

Slang term for a person who threatens police officers in order to get killed. A combination of cop and suicide.

Cossa

Sinhala. pronounced "Cos-sa", Derived from "Constable" or its localized version "Costha-pal".

County Brownie

A slang term for a county officer because of their brown uniforms and cars.

County Mountie

Term for the county sheriff and deputies.

Cozzers

UK, police officers.

Crackers

A slang term for the police in Florida especially in south Florida

Crimefighter

Term for a policeman on a particular crime fighting spree.

Crusher

Of unknown origin but may have come from the nickname used for the Royal Navy Regulating Branch.

Cuntstubble

Over emphasising of the Police rank "Constable".

Cheese

The Baltimore police force to criminals (2011)

Cheese Van

Out dated South African slang for Police Vehicles, based on the vehicles being bright yellow.

Chota

Mexican slang term for crooked cop.

Chillar

Called in Punjabi/Pakistan (Just Slang and literally means fruit-covers)