Hears about policeman arresting Republican tenant farmer (12)

I believe the answer is:

sharecropper

'tenant farmer' is the definition.

'hears about policeman arresting republican' is the wordplay.
'about' indicates an anagram.
'policeman' becomes 'copper' (copper is a kind of policeman**).
'arresting' is an insertion indicator.
'republican' becomes 'r' (abbreviation).
'copper' going around 'r' is 'cropper'.
'hears' anagrammed gives 'share'.
'share'+'cropper'='SHARECROPPER'

(Another definition for sharecropper that I've seen is " Tenant farmer".)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.

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