Green’s Dictionary of Slang

suspicious; thus the sus laws, controversial powers that permitted the police to stop and search persons allegedly suspected of a crime and that were considered as racist by the black and Asian communities.

1955		B. Hill Boss of Britain’s Underworld 63: I was now dead suss of this Sammy Grant.
1958		F. Norman in Sun. Graphic 20 July in Norman’s London (1969) 17: Soho [...] is a very sus place for them to be seen.
1962		F. Norman Guntz 142: I am double sus of geezers who come up to me in the street and say they have met me.
1977		D. Powis Signs of Crime 203: Sus Suspected generally, or specifically a person arrested for ‘being a suspected person loitering’.
1979		F. Norman Too Many Crooks Spoil the Caper 213: But it won’t half look sus when I show up at the Yard, looking like a bounty hunter with a cart load of fugitives.
1986		R.G. Barrett Godson 305: ‘[I]f anything looks a bit suss [...] give me or Price a yell’.
1998		R.G. Barrett Goodoo Goodoo 225: I don’t know what it was made me a bit suss about her.
2000		Bug (Aus.) 24 Apr. 🌐 I had always suspected that Rajeed’s immigration status might have been a bit suss.
2002		Observer 10 Mar. 13: The last thing we need is the sus laws again.
2007		S. Low Boys From Baghdad 22: Dave signaled that an oncoming vehicle was suss .
2007		D. McDonald Luck in the Greater West (2008) 122: The principal had been a bit sus when Sonja had been sent to her for not wearing a uniform.
2011		Observer Music 30 Jan. 🌐 A key element of that story was police use of the hated ‘sus’ laws, which allowed people to be picked up on ‘suspicion’ of committing a crime.
2016		C. Eble (ed.) UNC-CH Campus Sl. Spring 2016 9: SUS — suspicious: ‘Your story is sus, Jim’.
2016		N. Cummins Adventures of the Honey Badger [ebook] The old bloke was trying to console her and get his kit on at the same time and it looked sus!
2019		C. Hammer Silver [ebook] ‘I still think there’s something suss about him’.
2020		G. Disher Consolation 186: ‘Plus there’s a burnt-out LandCruiser—which in itself is a bit sus’.
2024		J. Meades Empty Wigs (t/s) 113: You got a considerable through-put of more legit... goes without saying. Not everyone’s suss.