Bobbies

"Bobbies on the beat  ( patrullando a pie por las calles ) "

The name "Bobby" comes from the person who founded the London Police in1825, Robert (Bobby) Peel. It has been used as a friendly description of the English policeman since that time. (Another word, less polite, for policeman is "cop" or "copper" which comes from the word "to cop" = to catch someone).

There is only one kind of police force in England and it is organized on a regional basis under the control of local and regional authorities.There is no paramilitary police force ( as the U.S National Guard , for example) in Great Britain.

The Bobby can easily be recognized by his strange looking hat which reminds one of the hats worn in India a hundred years  ago. The policemen  and policewomen in England are not armed and only carry guns on exceptional occasions. The fact that they do not have a gun increases the policeman's image  as a friendly, unthreatening public servant.