Mishap as Bill and the police break the net (8)
I believe the answer is:
accident
'mishap' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'bill and the police break the net' is the wordplay.
'bill' becomes 'ac' (abbreviation for account).
'and' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'the police' becomes 'CID' (abbreviation for Criminal Investigation Department).
'break' indicates an anagram.
'net' is an anagram of 'ent'.
'ac'+'cid'+'ent'='ACCIDENT'
'as' is the link.
(Other definitions for accident that I've seen before include "Chance event with no apparent cause" , "Unfortunate unintentional incident" , "Collision" , "Unexpected incident" , "Unforseen misfortune" .)