An Irish one dated 1796 in favour of the police:

It's all you good people, come listen to me,
A caution I'll give you, for your good you will see:
I pray, keep good hours, don't meet with disgrace
To be taken at night by a guard of the police.

You know the Commissioners ordered the same;
To take up all vagrants and girls of the game:
We have taken all conspicuous seen,
We're the stout-hearted horsemen rides round Stephen's Green.

We pray to all powers and that frequently
To meet with the robbers wherever they be,
We search for the covey in every place,
We're the stout-hearted horsemen they call the Police.

We disturb the robbers by day and by night
And to take them prisoners is all our delight:
We will do our duty to such a degree
Not a whore nor a robber in town you shall see.

We pray for our captain to prosper and thrive,
Likewise the Commissioners while they are alive;
They are true to their country and to his Majesty
Success to the Police wherever they may be.

And one not so complimentary on the Castlepollard massacre of 1831

Come all you friends of Ireland, wherever you do be.
Come listen to a tale I tell, 'tis of a doleful tragedy -
Come listen, while through choking- sighs, and many a bitter tear,
I tell the murderous deeds of death at Castlepollard fair.

In peace and quietness went on the business of the fair,
Until the Peelers were brought out to raise a riot there;
Oh! then the work of death began, a woeful bitter fray,
The fatherless and widows too lament that dreadful day.

They drew up round the market-house, their chief he bade them fire,
While the astonished flying crowd on all sides did retire,
'Twas human blood they wanted - their deadly aim they took,
And Castlepollard streets with gore were running like a brook.

'Twould make a heart of stone to bleed and shake in fear and dread,
To see the walls besmeared with brains - the channels running red,
While men and women, old and young, lay dead or dying there,
And shrieks and groans and muskets' clang rung on the startled ear.

An inquest there was ordered, and witnesses came there
Who proved to all what the Peelers done at Castlepollard Fair.
These murderers then were sent to gaol - a happy sight to see-
And a sham trial was brought on, which quickly set them free.

May fiery red and burning hell its torments now prepare,
And vengeance black as night and death o'ertake them while they're there.
And may the very chief of devils take their chieftain in his care,
And every imp his man possess, that fired a musket there

Lovely one written by MacColl in the 60s, when policemen were ordered to dress up like hippies and infiltrate the anti-Vietnam marches (this is getting too big - there are literally hundreds, so 1 verse and chorus only.

The chief commissioners at the Yard has been in consultation,
And they've decided that the Force needs re-orientation,
New orders have been handed down to start our whiskers growing,
For a beard indeed is a friend in need when the winds of change are blowing.

Blue serge suits and collar-and-ties and helmets all must cease man,
Oh won't I have a swinging time when I am a new policeman.


Jim Carroll