Crossword Genius

"Police," you say. "Brake!" (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

copse

'brake' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'police you say' is the wordplay.
'police' becomes 'cops' (cop can informally mean a police officer).
'you say' shows a homophone (sound like).
'cops' sounds like 'COPSE'.

(Other definitions for copse that I've seen before include "Piece of managed woodland" , "Stand of trees" , "Clump of small trees for regular cropping" , "Scope for a small wood" , "Dense growth of shrubs or trees" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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