Hope coppers finally arrest criminal (8)
I believe the answer is:
prospect
'hope' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'coppers finally arrest criminal' is the wordplay.
'finally' says to take the final letters.
'criminal' indicates anagramming the letters.
The last letter of 'arrest' is 't'.
'coppers'+'t'='copperst'
'copperst' anagrammed gives 'PROSPECT'.
(Other definitions for prospect that I've seen before include "Extensive view; search for minerals" , "Outlook, aspect" , "Outlook or panorama" , "Expectation" , "Gray's view of Eton College" .)