Green’s Dictionary of Slang

copped adj.

arrested.

1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 13/1: I know that when any one is ‘copped’ in there the ‘office is slung’ to the detectives, who make a thorough search of the building. [Ibid.] 44/2: The ‘wire’ was ‘copped-to-rights’ and ‘collared a stretch’.
1869		J. Greenwood Seven Curses of London 120: Jerry, who had been recently ‘copped’ (taken) and was expected to pass ‘a tail piece in the steel’ (three months in prison).
1880		W. Hooe Sharping London 34: Copped, caught, or apprehended for some offence.
1881		Trumble ‘On the Trail’ in Sl. Dict. (1890) 45: I was copped to rights.
1890		Kipling ‘The God from the Machine’ in Soldiers Three (1907) 15: You was blazin’ copped when you tried to wash in the Fort Ditch.
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 19: Copped, hanged, arrested.
1901		Marvel XV:377 Jan. 7: I mustn’t go to London [...] I should be copped at once.
1912		E. Pugh City Of The World 273: And say you’re copped wi’ the wrong bag. Well, all you got to do is to look silly and stare at the bag and apologise.
1923		Wodehouse Leave it to Psmith (1993) 368: If you were copped, nobody could say a word, because husband pinching from wife isn’t stealing.
1930		J. Lait Put on the Spot 30: If he’s copped for it we ain’t strong enough to go through.
1951		Cusack & James Come in Spinner (1960) 406: Guinea slapped Ursula on the shoulder. ‘Copped!’.
1963		A. Baron Lowlife (2001) 170: I’ve known two or three get copped for it. Six months is about what you’d get.
1971		T. Thackrey Thief 379: I was copped like I never been copped before.
1985		G. Norman in Norman (1921) 132: Then if I was copped I could say I was in the toilet when everybody went.