Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (US black) the police, also attrib.

1985		T.R. Houser Central Sl. 36: Mister Bobo The police.
1990		posting at soc.college 29 Apr. 🌐 Mr. Po-po decided that they were not going to be stationary targets for these idiots and decided to mobilize. Right towards the bottle-throwing dickheads. At a run. You’ve probably seen film clips of cops beating the shit out of people.
1998		Jayo Felony ‘Ghetto Horror Show’ 🎵 Tell po po they can’t fade me I’ll kill him and his snitch.
2003		A.N. LeBlanc Random Family 107: The cop-call – Po-Po – was a neighborhood warning sounded by whoever spotted the police.
2006		Burns & Mills ‘Soft Eyes’ Wire ser. 4 ep. 2 [TV script] Po-po. Step the fuck off.
2007		Skepta ‘Not Your Average Joe’ 🎵 I just come off my two-year ban, I’m still bussing off illegal U-ies in front of the popo.
2008		Simon & Burns ‘More with Less’ Wire ser. 5 ep. 1 [TV script] ‘Po-po still up on you?’ ‘We hot all the time’.
2010		A. Steinberg Running the Books 43: I was now on the side of the angels. The Po-Po. The Fuzz. The Heat. the Big Blue Machine.
2011		J. Cornish Attack the Block [film script] 35: Seen from the gang’s POV, the lonely police van, the bodies of the two OFFICERS strewn horribly beside it. BIGGZ (O.S.) Po-po got savaged!
2012		T. Robinson ‘Delivery’ in Dirty Words [ebook] But in the event of a po-po shake, he didn’t need weapons possession.
2013		K. Koke ‘Bring Me Down (Intro)’ 🎵 Shout po if you clock the feds.
2017		S.M. Jones August Snow [ebook] ‘Wha’s the po-po jack yo ass fo?’.
2021		T. Pluck Boy from County Hell 153: ‘The po-pos spotted her headed that way’.
2021		Central Cee ‘Pinging’ 🎵 That boy got caught out slippin’ by the popo and he started singin’ (Oh no).

2. (US prison) a prison officer.

2000

Other Side of the Wall: Prisoner’s Dict. July 🌐 Po Po: Any officer. From ‘police.’ (MO).