Eh no, that is NOT the most common explanation.
I don’t want to continue this ‘debate’. THe image is from a century ago.
We are not going to win any culture wars any time soon with this idiocy
Sure it is the most common explanation, police were widely known as Irish.
One that makes sense if one agrees that the term is older, is that it was short for “patrol wagon”, that also ties in with old slave terms.
“Slave patrols (called patrollers, pattyrollers or paddy rollers by the slaves) were organized groups of white men who monitored and enforced discipline upon black slaves in the antebellum U.S. southern states. Slave patrols’ function was to police slaves, especially runaways and defiant slaves. They also formed river patrols to prevent escape by boat. Slave patrols were first established in South Carolina in 1704, and the idea spread throughout the colonies.”