Definition of "cops"

"Maybe he'll git the cops after you, Jack." "I'll watch out fer dat, Nick, an' you must watch out too," answered Jack Sagger.

1906, Horatio Alger, Joe the Hotel Boy

I saw them leaving,” he says, and he stops / “One of us had better call up the cops” / And so Patty calls the cops / And they arrive on the scene

1976, Jacques Levy, Bob Dylan (lyrics and music), “Hurricane”, in Desire, performed by Bob Dylan

It is almost needless to say, that the true point of draught should be exactly in the centre notch of the cops […]

1807, The complete farmer: or, a general dictionary of husbandry