Etymology

Keystone Cop

Today it means: A bungling, incompetent policeman. Full definition →

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The story

From the Keystone Cops, a group of fictional, humorously incompetent policemen featured in silent slapstick comedies produced by the Keystone Film Company (itself named for the "Keystone State": Pennsylvania) between 1912 and 1917.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.