As the bounder is, the police just can't catch up with? (3,4,5)

'as the bounder is' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I cannot tell whether it can be defined by this definition.

'police just can't catch up with?' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'police' could be 'mp' (abbreviation for Military Police) and 'mp' is found in the answer.
'up' could be 'ahead' (similar in meaning) and 'ahead' is found in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

'the' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?