Village Bobby

At Brewood policeman Ken Chalmers is spending more of his time out of his panda car than in it.

It was all change for the police during the 1960s: first they were put in panda cars to enable them to cover greater distances on patrol and then, as this 1973 news item reveals, public opinion told them to stop driving and go back to walking the beat. Ken Chalmers of Brewood in Staffordshire typifies the village bobby: a few workmen asked to move a van is about as dramatic as it gets (it's not exactly The Sweeney!) but perhaps his presence is all that's required.