Police in the 50s and 60s

In the 50s and 60s mothers and fathers routinely used to tell their children that, if they had any problems, they should ask a policeman; this included directions, the time and anything else that one might need to know. Back in those days, policemen (not many policewomen) used to be easy to find as they used to spend a lot of time 'walking the beat'. Policemen had to be a minimum height (I think it was 6' [6 feet] which is about 1.83 metres, and that meant that, with their helmets, they were quite easy to spot. One was always polite to a policeman and automatically obeyed their instruction; unthinkable to be rude to a 'copper' as they might well decide to give a quick cuff as punishment; we all thought that was fine and normal and it bred good respect for the law. In those days, it was also normal for an adult to tell any children who were misbehaving that they should stop doing whatever it was that they should not have been doing - and the children took note without giving a mouthful of abuse.