TKG English Learner's Dictionary

police

policenoun

American /pəˈlis/ British /pəˈliːs/
plural only
very commondefining vocabulary

  1. the official group of people whose job is to make sure that people obey the law, to prevent crime, and to catch criminals

    plural only [pl] often before another noun [before noun]

    Collocations

    noun + verb the police arrive, the police arrest someone, the police investigate, the police question someone
    verb + noun call the police, report something to the police, contact the police, help the police, join the police
    noun + noun police officer, police station, police car, police force, police department, police investigation
    adjective + noun the local police, armed police, the secret police, the military police

    Compare cop (cop is the informal word for one police officer); officer (a police officer is one member of the police)

Word family

  • police (to keep order in a place)
  • police officer
  • policeman
  • policewoman
  • policing

Usage

Police is a singular form used with a plural verb: the police are here, the police have arrived. It has no plural of its own and no singular for one person: say a police officer (or, less often now, a policeman or a policewoman), never a police. In news reports the word often appears without the: Police were called to the scene.

Common mistakes

A police stopped me on the road. A police officer stopped me on the road.
Police is the whole group; for one person say a police officer.
The police is coming. The police are coming.
Police takes a plural verb.

See also crime

For translators

Meaning across languages English uses one word, police, for the organization and for its officers together; for one officer it needs police officer. Many languages have a single countable word for an officer and a different word for the force; keep the two apart.
Grammar trap Police is plural in grammar though singular in form: the police are, not the police is. No article a: a police officer, not a police. It has no plural. Learners of many backgrounds make both mistakes.
Cultural background In many English-speaking countries the police are organized locally, by city or region, so a police department or a police force is a local body. The emergency telephone number differs from country to country. Cop is the common informal word for an officer.
False friends In some languages a look-alike word means an insurance document. English police is only the law-keeping organization; an insurance document is a policy.
Pronunciation trap Stress is on the second syllable: puh-LEES, with a long ee sound. The first syllable is weak, like the a of about. Learners often stress the first syllable instead; keep the stress on the second. The final sound is an s, not a z.