Green’s Dictionary of Slang

a policeman, a police officer; orig. the Irish constabulary.

1817		Gen. Mathew in Parliamentary Debates 1386: The Irishman [...] was liable to be carried off without a moment’s warning, by a set of fellows well known in Ireland [...] by the name of Peelers .
1824		Dublin Morn. Register 8 Nov. 2/2: Two Peelers [...] declared [...] that ‘since they put on green jackets (the costume of the Peelers) their nearest friends became their enemies!’.
c.1830		‘Universal Spelling Book’ in C. Hindley Curiosities of Street Lit. (1871) 70: Peelers. A body of great Force. Brave and noble conquerors of an un-armed and peaceable people.
1833		‘The Lively Kid’ in Rake’s Budget in Spedding & Watt (eds) Bawdy Songbooks (2011) III 87: A Peelman nibbled him on the go / Ere the office quick could warn him.
1842		S. Lover Handy Andy 171: Shouts of defiance against the ‘Peelers’ rose loud and long.
1843		Satirist & Sporting Chron. (Sydney) 4 Feb. 2/2: The roads were lined with Peelers and some few of the Mounted Police appeared.
1846		Punch x, 163: And forth three peelers rushing Attempt to storm the Pass; Truncheons are thick, but fists are quick, and down they go to grass!
1848		Bell’s Life in Sydney 22 Jan. 2/4: The affidavit of a Peeler, however, readily put a stop upon the youth’s [...] movements.
1855		W. Phillips Wild Tribes of London 86: I got a fit of the agy each time I cotched sight of a peeler, an’ wos always a fancying he’d got his ’and on my collar.
1857		Bell’s Life in Sydney 11 July 1/4: He is always game to take his own part with any fellow of his inches, has a slang answer ready for a ‘peeler’, and does not mind a cut behind when he wants a ride.
1858		A. Mayhew Paved with Gold 265: I made sure you was the Peelers, hang ’em.
1863		Story of a Lancashire Thief 4: Aw thowt yo wor sum peeler-chap, like!
1866		Night Side of N.Y. 76: I found myself surrounded by half a dozen ‘Peelers’.
1873		‘Cuthbert Bede’ Little Mr. Bouncer 54: And while the Peeler was hesitating what to do, they made a clear bolt.
1878		Bismarck (ND) Weekly Trib. 24 May 2/4: If the peelers found us boozing under the sidewalk, they’d nab us and have us vagged.
1882		Nat. Police Gaz. 21 Oct. 7/4: This [on-stage display of female leg] was more than even the peelers could stand.
1884		Ally Sloper’s Half Holiday 7 June 47/2: To others Samuel Hardstaff is a peeler, a reeler, a copper, a Bobby, a Robert, an unboiled lobster, or a slop, but to cook he is Mr Policeman.
1887		Bulletin (Sydney) 29 Oct. 8/3: In a township in Riverina, the other day, the local peeler [...] was found suffering from weakness in the gutter, with his helmet on his chest and his head waiting to be run over.
1888–94		‘Walter’ My Secret Life (1966) III 487: Think yourself lucky a peeler don’t drop on you for taking a young girl like that.
1890		Bird o’ Freedom 15 Jan. 1/4: A Peeler. / Who fixed me with his cold, hard gaze.
1895		‘Banjo’ Paterson ‘Man from Ironbark’ in Man from Snowy River (1902) 67: A peeler man who heard the din came in to see the show.
1904		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 7 Dec. 6/7: Loy went off for assistance, / Put a ‘Peeler’ on the ‘molls,’ / Who marched them ofl to prison.
1907		J.M. Synge Playboy of the Western World Act I: And if they find his corpse stretched out to the dews of dawn, what’ll you say then to the peelers or the Justice of the Peace?
1909		‘The Lang. of Crooks’ in Wash. Post 20 June 4/1: [paraphrasing J. Sullivan] A peeler is another name for the much-hated cop.
1910		Eve. Post (Wellington) 30 Apr. 7/3: The Parnell peelers were however smarter than the average ‘John Hops’.
1916		N. Douglas London Street Games 13: Only three weeks ago a couple of peelers were chucked into the water.
1928		L. Mackay My Oul’ Town 114: Och! divil a peeler I seen, bad luck go with them.
1943		G.A. Little Malachi Horan Remembers 103: A peeler cocked his eye at her and her bundle and crossed the street.
1955		J.P. Donleavy Ginger Man (1958) 135: O I hear the heavy heels of a peeler. Pray for me.
1958		J. Arden Live Like Pigs XIV: Those bastards’d chase you from Newcastle to Cornwall. They’re worse nor the bloody Peelers.
1965		(con. 1940s) B. Behan Confessions 192: Here’s the harp of old Ireland, and may it never want for a string as long as there’s a gut in the peeler.
1979		J. Morrow Confessions of Proinsias O’Toole 7: Four fat young Peelers to a car.
1986		P. O’Farrell Tell me, Sean O’Farrell 88: Dixon hopped off. Away with him like a thief from a peeler.
1993		(con. 1945) S. McAughtry Touch and Go 98: Peelers and B men do all night out on the beat.
1999		Guardian Weekend 2 Oct. 57: ‘There’ll not be any peelers about at this hour.’ At that very moment, a policeman stepped off the curb and waved us in.
2000		N. Griffiths Grits 128: Thur probly phonun the fuckin peelers right now, bunch uv fuckin tossers tha thee ar.
2009		L. McIlvanney All the Colours 123: [Ulster use] ‘The Peelers shot a Blackneck in a stolen car’.
2016		D. Whish-Wilson Old Scores [ebook] ‘The peelers aren’t giving me anything’.
2020		A. Parks Bobby March Will Live Forever 272: ‘Woke up with Sean battering at the door [...] I thought it was the bloody peelers!’.