# police is/are does/do [singular vs plural]



## Heliss

*Please tell me which sentence is more correct:*

	 	 The *police is *responsible for the capturing the criminals*.*



or

	 	 The *police **are *responsible for the capturing the criminals*.*


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## Prima Facie

Is.

However pls wait for a native confirmation.


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## Andygc

The police *are *responsible for catching criminals

The police force *is *responsible for catching criminals

By the way, it would only be _*the *criminals_ if you meant some specific criminals, not criminals in general.


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## Loob

See:
"Police ARE..."
Collective nouns - the police <is, are> ... ?
Police say or police says
The Police have/has

I'm sorry, Prima Facie, it should be *The police are responsible.*


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## Prima Facie

Hi Andygc,

when you talk about "the police", aren't you referring to the police body? I mean, you are not talking about policemen, are you?

In that case, would "is" alwasy apply?

thanks


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## Andygc

Prima Facie said:


> Hi Andygc,
> 
> when you talk about "the police", aren't you referring to the police body? I mean, you are not talking about policemen, are you?
> 
> In that case, would "is" alwasy apply?
> 
> thanks


No, I am not talking about policemen. Yes, I am referring to the police body, but the noun "police" is *always *treated as a plural noun.


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## Prima Facie

Thanks so much. Another mistake I will not make thanks to you


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## Karen123456

Gerard Samuel Vijayan: Even if it is PKR leader Anwar Ibrahim in the tape, since when *does* the police get involved in politics to the point of campaigning for the BN in a PAS-controlled state. Is the sex tape a threat to national security?

Shouldn't it be 'do' instead of the verb in bold?

Thanks.

<< Moderators note: 
I have merged this thread with an earlier thread.  Please read from the beginning. >>


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## owlman5

I would have written that sentence with "do", Karen.  Apparently, the writer is thinking of "the police" as one unit.  That sounds possible, but I generally hear people use plural verbs after the noun "police":  The police do many good things for the community.


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## Karen123456

Many thanks for your prompt reply, Owlman5.


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## pops91710

owlman5 said:


> I would have written that sentence with "do", Karen. Apparently, the writer is thinking of "the police" as one unit. That sounds possible, but I generally hear people use plural verbs after the noun "police": The police do many good things for the community.


 
I have a tendency to agree. If you add *department* after police, then it would be *does*. Maybe he was thinking that way.


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## sendintheclowns

"Police" is a collective noun that can be either singular or plural, depending on the context. If you say "the police do" you refer to the individual police officers, while "the police does" refers to the whole force as a unit. In this particular context, the writer probably refers to the police as an entity getting involved in politics rather than the individual members.


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## Karen123456

sendintheclowns said:


> "Police" is a collective noun that can be either singular or plural, depending on the context. If you say "the police do" you refer to the individual police officers, while "the police does" refers to the whole force as a unit. In this particular context, the writer probably refers to the police as an entity getting involved in politics rather than the individual members.


I was taught that it should be 'police are...'.  Is my teacher wrong?


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## ribran

I would never say, "The police is..."

I am not exaggerating when I say that is as discordant as, "My brothers is..."


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## sendintheclowns

Again, it depends on context. It is perfectly ok to say "The police is a positive influence in our community" in which case it refers to the police force. But you can also say that "the police are doing a great job" in which case you would be referring to the individuals in the force. 

"Brother" of course is not a collective noun  But "family" could be.


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## ribran

sendintheclowns said:


> Again, it depends on context. It is perfectly ok to say "The police is a positive influence in our community" in which case it refers to the police force. But you can also say that "the police are doing a great job" in which case you would be referring to the individuals in the force.
> 
> "Brother" of course is not a collective noun  But "family" could be.



Can you give me a sentence in which you think it is appropriate to use a singular verb with _police_?


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## sendintheclowns

Hm, now I'm not so sure anymore that "police is" is technically correct... (even if it should be  ) It is very commonly used, though -- perhaps more so in British English?


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## Parla

Karen123456 said:


> Gerard Samuel Vijayan: Even if it is PKR leader Anwar Ibrahim in the tape, since when *does* the police get involved in politics to the point of campaigning for the BN in a PAS-controlled state. Is the sex tape a threat to national security?
> 
> Shouldn't it be 'do' instead of the verb in bold?



Yes, it should be. It should also be *on* the tape.


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## JulianStuart

This is an interesting exception to the usual AmE rule that "a collective is a singular noun and therefore takes a singular verb*".  Or perhaps it* is not considered as a collective noun* but simply a "weird" plural without an -s at the end *?* 

*For example, teams in sports are often named after places so "San Francisco (singular grammatically) is doing a good job.  They are (not it is) finally batting well."


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## Fabulist

While it is possible to construct a theory in which "police" is a singular noun in American English, as a practical matter "police is" or "police does" just sounds _wrong _to me. The American Heritage Dictionary is no help because it gives "*police,*_n., pl. _*police.*" I just would never use a singular verb with the noun "police" alone. If "police" is being used as an attributive, as in "police force" or "police department," then the verb is governed by the noun which is modified by "police." It doesn't have anything to do with "police" when it functions as a noun.

Police departments all over the country _are_ on the alert for al-Quaeda counterattacks.
The New York police force _has_ a special counter-terrorism squad.
The New York police department _have_ an art theft squad.
The New York police _is_ looking for the suspect.


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## JulianStuart

Fabulist said:


> While it is possible to construct a theory in which "police" is a singular noun in American English, as a practical matter "police is" or "police does" just sounds _wrong _to me.



So you would simply call it a plural and not think of it as a "collective"?  I'm not sure how I used to think (long ago before I moved to the US), but "government" can go either way while "police" is not the same.


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## Cagey

In actual practice, I believe I treat _police_ as a plural of which _policeman_ or _policewoman_ is the singular.  (When I don't want to specify the gender, I say _police officer_.)  

I don't claim this is universally true in AE, but I suspect it is the general usage.  

(_Policemen_, _policewomen_, and _police officers_ are also possible plurals, but _police_ seems to draw attention to their function than to their status as individuals.)


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## Loob

sendintheclowns said:


> Hm, now I'm not so sure anymore that "police is" is technically correct... (even if it should be  ) It is very commonly used, though -- perhaps more so in British English?


I don't think "the police is" _is_ commonly used, either in BrE or in AmE. "The police" is always plural, to my mind: see also the definition in the WR English dictionary:
*police*/pəˈliːs/﻿ 
▶noun [treated as _pl._] ​The only time I might expect a singular verb is when "police" is part of a name and shorthand for a particular police force - as in the sentence I quoted in one of the previous threads on this subject: "The Metropolitan police is London's biggest employer".


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## kanu

Which is right to speak ?

*Where is the police.

Where are the Police.
*
my opinion is "Are".


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## PaulQ

For your answer, treat "the police" as the subject.


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## kanu

You mean "is" ?


PaulQ said:


> For your answer, treat "the police" as the subject.


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## PaulQ

Please read Loob's post #23...


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## Loob

kanu said:


> You mean "is" ?


No, it's "are".

Your question has been merged with a previous thread: see the earlier posts.


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## kanu

When we pointing something & say "This tv set..... " or "these people are......."

In case of police will we say " These Police don't work "


Loob said:


> No, it's "are".
> 
> Your question has been merged with a previous thread: see the earlier posts.


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## Broil

In normal speech, you'll hear both "is" and "are" to refer to a collective(like police). I would personally use "is", however, I am unaware of which is grammatically correct.


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## PaulQ

Broil said:


> In normal speech, you'll hear both "is" and "are" to refer to a collective(like police). I would personally use "is", however, I am unaware of which is grammatically correct.


So, you would say, "The police is coming."?


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## Scholiast

Both in American and British usage, "Police" is a collective noun, and the plural verb is regarded as correct.


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## GreenWhiteBlue

Broil, you are wrong.  "Police" is always treated as a plural:

_The police were called when the demonstrators refused to leave.
The police have released a sketch of the suspect.
The police are evacuating the area as the flood waters rise.

_Consider this: while you have heard people say "a police officer", or "a police department", have you ever heard anyone say simply "a police"?  The singular simply does not exist.


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## Broil

GreenWhiteBlue said:


> Broil, you are wrong.  "Police" is always treated as a plural:
> 
> _The police were called when the demonstrators refused to leave.
> The police have released a sketch of the suspect.
> The police are evacuating the area as the flood waters rise.
> 
> _Consider this: while you have heard people say "a police officer", or "a police department", have you ever heard anyone say simply "a police"?  The singular simply does not exist.



I never said being grammatically correct, I am simply stating that I have heard more than a few speakers use "is" but never say "a" police, but may say "the"
Example: "The police is going to find us!" "The police is evil!" But, it may be strictly people from Southern America who'll use is. Again, I am speaking of usage, not of correctness and saying that I've heard both from native-born Americans, however, only one is correct.


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## koniecswiata

It depends on context:

Police could be considered either plural or singular--though using plural verbs with police is probably much more common.  As an American, I like the idea that it is just a "weird plural" like children, or geese, or teeth.  Generally, American English will treat collective nouns which are functionally/moprhosyntactically singular as singular (i.e. the family, government, company is) as opposed to the more British habit of looking at it semantically and considering it to be plural.


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## GreenWhiteBlue

koniecswiata said:


> It depends on context:


No, it certainly does not depend on context.

The noun "police" is _always_ properly treated as a plural.  It is _never_ properly treated as a singular.  To say "a police was outside the house", or "the police is coming" is simply not acceptable, grammatical English as spoken and written by educated native speakers.


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## lucas-sp

I disagree with GWB, but in such a specific way that it doesn't matter for everyday use.

In political theory, "the police" can be defined as an entity (not a force of policemen, but a generalized social form of "policing" and all its attendant institutions - criminal law, public trials, detective novels) that at a specific time entered the cultural life of the West: "At the time Wilkie Collins wrote _The Moonstone_, the police was becoming a more and more dominant presence in Victorian culture."

I would agree with Broil that sentences like "The police is a capitalo-fascist institution" (a more Marxy rewrite of "The police is evil!") should take the singular.


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## GreenWhiteBlue

Lucas, I will agree with you in that usage.  My absolute statements were about the use of the word with its usual narrower meaning: the people with the uniforms and the badges who have the responsibility and authority to enforce the law.


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## lucas-sp

Yay! Thanks for your agreement. But as I said at first, this is a very rare and particular usage (it's actually much narrower than the sense you're discussing, I think); when the police are tracking criminals or wiretapping judges, they're plural.

We can now discuss whether "the police" is singular or plural in slogans like "Fuck the police."


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## Vaald

JulianStuart said:


> This is an interesting exception to the usual AmE rule that "a collective is a singular noun and therefore takes a singular verb*".  Or perhaps it* is not considered as a collective noun* but simply a "weird" plural without an -s at the end *?*
> 
> *For example, teams in sports are often named after places so "San Francisco (singular grammatically) is doing a good job.  They are (not it is) finally batting well."



I have just read the following "Tayside Police *has* not received a copy of the anonymous letter, directly or indirectly" (The Scotsman, 17 Aug 2012). Does this mean that the same rule is getting popular with the British?


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## Andygc

Vaald said:


> I have just read the following "Tayside Police *has* not received a copy of the anonymous letter, directly or indirectly" (The Scotsman, 17 Aug 2012). Does this mean that the same rule is getting popular with the British?


No. There is a difference between _the police_ and _Tayside Police. _It would be very unusual for a BE speaker to say _the police is_ (see previous posts), but Tayside Police is a proper noun - the name of an organisation - not a collective noun, so in BE you will see both forms - _Tayside Police has/have not received a letter _- depending on the preferences of the writer. This point was covered in Post #23 - it's a good idea to read the whole thread before adding a new question.


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## Pedro y La Torre

I would personally always use ''have'' in that particular example. If you keep police in the plural as a rule, you won't go far wrong.


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## Vaald

Thank you!


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## Packard

Unlike military which has a word for the force and another word for the members of that force (army/soldiers; navy/sailors), the "police" does not have these choices.

In general "the police" are the equivalent of "soldiers/sailors/etc."  We say "police department" or "police force" when we are talking the equivalent of "army/navy".

So the _police are_ (plural) and the _police department_ _is_ (singular).


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## Pedro y La Torre

One should equally note that ''police department'' will only be heard in AE*.  ''Police force'' or ''Police service'', as in the PSNI - Police Service of Northern Ireland, are the preferred BE terms.

*Police departments do not seem to be popular in Eastern English Canada, however it appears that the term is used in British Columbia.
**The (southern) Irish call the police ''the Gardai'' or ''the Guards'', from the Irish, An Garda Síochána.


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## Packard

Pedro y La Torre said:


> One should equally note that ''police department'' will only be heard in AE*. ''Police force'' or ''Police service'', as in the PSNI - Police Service of Northern Ireland, are the preferred BE terms.
> 
> *Police departments do not seem to be popular in Eastern Canada, however it appears that the term is used in British Columbia.



I should also say that "the police" when used in the sense of a police force or a police department or police service, would be singular.

*Police officer:* _I'm a LEO_.  [Law Enforcement Officer]

*Civilian:* _You work for the police?_ [Singular.  The question is really asking if he works for the police department.]

*Police officer:* _No.  Actually I am an agent in the DEA._ [Drug Enforcement Agency, a law enforcement agency].


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