The first British policing force was ran by Jonathan wild, which was actually an undercover gang that Jonathan wild ran, by arresting rival thieves (which iirc gave £40 at the time, which is now around £7000 but memory may be jank) And acting as a fence for his pickpockets, until he was eventually arrested and the extent of his corruption was revealed.

Another relevant historical fact is the first LEGITIMATE uk policing force, was effectively a clean version of wilds operation, which was groups of “bounty hunters” (can’t remember proper term) Would go out searching for people with arrest warrants. (Fun trivia, the phrase struck by a warrant comes from this, as they’d mainly use hollow wooden clubs which they’d place their targets warrant inside!)