Crossword Genius

Be punished by the police? (3,2)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

cop it

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'be punished' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'the police?' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is located in the answer.
'police?' could be 'cop' (cop can mean informally mean a police officer) and 'cop' is found in the answer.
A single letter 'i' remains which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

'by' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for cop it that I've seen before include "Get into trouble; be killed" , ""get in loads of trouble!"" , "Be punished" , "Get it in the neck" , "Suffer the consequences!" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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