Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (US) coffee [? f. jake n.³ (1) or elision of jamoke n.¹ ; note joe n.⁴ ].

1977

(con. 1949) J.G. Dunne True Confessions (1979) 27: You want some jake, you use Crotty’s coffee pot.

2. (US) a New York City police patrolman [? he drinks so much coffee].

1986		C. Stroud Close Pursuit (1988) 107: A blue-and-white with a pair of jakes pulled up to the curb.
1996		Nas ‘If I Ruled the World’ 🎵 You’d love to hear the story how the thugs live in worry / Duck down in car seats, heat’s mandatory / Runnin from Jake, gettin chased, hunger for papes.
2000		Ebonics Primer at www.dolemite.com 🌐 jakes Definition: cops; police. Example: The jakes busted up in my spot and harassed me!
2016		F. Stuart ‘Dispatches from the Rap Wars’ in chicagomag.com 🌐 twelve The police, sometimes referred to as ‘the jakes’.

3. (UK black) a London policeman.

2015		67 ‘Live Corn’ 🎵 ’Til these damn jakes put cuffs on my wrists / Had me locked down in Wandsworth feeling like shit.
2018		Unknown T ‘Homerton B’ 🎵 Jakes got helicopters with lights / And they all beaming down on my friends.
2020		G. Krauze What They Was 57: A bully van pulls up [...] six jakes jump out of the van with their batons in hand.