patrol vs police

patrol

noun
  • The largest division of officers within a police department or sheriff's office, whose assignment is to patrol and respond to calls for service. 

  • A movement, by a small body of troops beyond the line of outposts, to explore the country and gain intelligence of the enemy's whereabouts. 

  • Any perambulation of a particular line or district to guard it; also, the people thus guarding. 

  • A unit of a troop, usually defined by certain ranks or age groups within the troop, and ideally comprised of six to eight members. 

  • A going of the rounds along the chain of sentinels and between the posts, by a guard, usually consisting of three or four men, to insure greater security from attacks on the outposts. 

  • The guards who go the rounds for observation; a detachment whose duty it is to patrol. 

verb
  • To go the rounds of, as a sentry, guard, or policeman 

  • To go the rounds along a chain of sentinels; to traverse a police district or beat. 

police

noun
  • A department of local (usually municipal) government responsible for general law enforcement. 

  • The staff of such a department or agency, particularly its officers; (regional, chiefly US, Caribbean, Jamaica, Scotland, countable) an individual police officer. 

  • Any of the formally enacted law enforcement agencies at various levels of government. 

  • A branch of the Home Office responsible for general law enforcement within a specific territory. 

  • A public agency charged with enforcing laws and maintaining public order, usually being granted special privileges to do so, particularly 

  • People who try to enforce norms or standards as if granted authority similar to the police. 

  • Cleanup of a military facility, as a formal duty. 

verb
  • To clean up an area. 

  • To enforce norms or standards upon. 

  • To enforce the law and keep order among (a group). 

How often have the words patrol and police occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )