On this day in 1829, the Home Secretary of the British Government established a uniformed police force for the city of London. As a model, he used the constabulary of Ireland.
Anyway, the sight of uniformed officers reassured Londoners, and the Home Secretary became quite popular. His name was Sir Robert Peel and at first folks referred to these new police as Peel's men. Then, given the leaning to cockney slang they called them Bobby's Boys and finally "Bobbies."
New York, that wannabee metropolis of the 1800's, set up their own police force in 1845. And to raise their authority beyond mere uniforms, NYC gave their policemen very large, very visible copper badges (in the form of a star). So, in a zenophobic fit, the New Yorkers did not call their police "Bobbies", but rather "coppers" (after the badge... eventually "cops"). (Nice try to C.O.P. for "Constable on Patrol".)
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