policeman's rope; arresting rope
Dated term for the rope used by Edo-period police to bind criminals. Now mostly encountered in historical contexts or period dramas.
In period dramas, scenes where a criminal is bound with a rope often appear.
Dated metonymic use: the rope stands for the act of arresting. Common in the phrase お縄になる (to be arrested).
The villain was finally arrested.
The prefix お (honorific) + 縄 (なわ, rope). Originally referred to the rope used by Edo-period law enforcement to restrain criminals, later extended to the act of arrest itself.