police?

[Catherine C.]

The police was called?
OR
The police were called?
And why?
Tia...
Catherine C.

[RobbieCook]

The police were called.

"Police" is a collective noun, meaning that "police" includes a number of people, rather than being a single entity. "Were" is used when there is more than one person/thing involved, where as "was" is used for a single person/thing.

[Coffa]

The police was called?
OR
The police were called?
And why?
Tia...
Catherine C.

It is 'The police were called."

As a noun, 'the police' are plural, because they are the officers of the 'polis' - the Ancient Greek word for a city state, from which 'police' derives.

In many European Romance languages, the derivation (and the plural) is more obvious - for example, 'policia' in Spanish.

[mykwyner]

In American English we usually treat our collective nouns as singular, the team was victorious, the company is bankrupt, the army is advancing however, police is always a plural in AE, also.