police

1. (law enforcement) A public agency charged with enforcing laws and maintaining public order, usually being granted special privileges to do so, particularlyExamples: "There are nine Principles of Police: ... 7 To maintain at all times a relationship with the public that gives reality to the historic tradition that the police are the public and that the public are the police; the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full-time attention to duties which are incumbent on every citizen, in the interests of community welfare and existence."; "‘Then the father has a great fight with his terrible conscience,’ said Munday with granite seriousness. ‘Should he make a row with the police […]? Or should he say nothing about it and condone brutality for fear of appearing in the newspapers?"; "In the criminal justice system, the People are represented by two separate yet equally important groups: the police, who investigate crime, and the district attorneys, who prosecute the offenders."pluralplural-normally

2. (law enforcement) A public agency charged with enforcing laws and maintaining public order, usually being granted special privileges to do so, particularlyExamples: "The Cook County Sheriff's Department has jurisdiction across most of Chicago but focuses on the unincorporated area and tasks like prisoner transport, leaving the rest to the Chicago Police Department."CanadaUShistoricalpluralplural-normally

3. (law enforcement) A public agency charged with enforcing laws and maintaining public order, usually being granted special privileges to do so, particularlyExamples: "Scotland Yard is, technically speaking, only the metropolitan police for Greater London but because of their importance they have special jurisdiction for some crimes across the United Kingdom."UKpluralplural-normally

4. (law enforcement) A public agency charged with enforcing laws and maintaining public order, usually being granted special privileges to do so, particularlyAustraliaNew-Zealandpluralplural-normally

5. (usually plural only) The staff of such a department or agency, particularly its officers; (regional, chiefly US, Caribbean, Jamaica, Scotland, countable) an individual police officer.Examples: "Pearlman: Very clever, Lester. You got it all figured, huh? Freamon: Me? I'm just a police."; "This time it is the worst kind of call a murder police can get."pluralplural-normallyplural-onlyusually

6. (figuratively, usually ironic and mildly derogatory) People who try to enforce norms or standards as if granted authority similar to the police.Examples: "Who called the fashion police?"; "Then there were the taste police, who thought that this bulky modern machine was an inappropriate intrusion […]"; "A major drama has broken out in France after the local language police decreed one of their cute little accents to be largely redundant"derogatoryfigurativelyironicmildlypluralplural-normallyusually