Old police force, given its situation, about to suffer (5)
I believe the answer is:
incur
'suffer' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
I can't explain the remainder of the clue.
(Other definitions for incur that I've seen before include "Become liable or subject to" , "Enter into" , "Lay oneself open to" , "Run up" , "Become liable to (costs)" .)