I joined the Metropolitan Police, London, in 1961, at a time, when compared to today, the Police 'Force' as it was known in those days was prehistoric. Just coming out of the financial constraints, as a result of the 2nd World War, the equipment available was unrecognizable compared to today. After the initial 3 months at training school, I was posted to various Police Stations in the south London area and was thrown in with mainly experienced men, who had gone through the rigors of war, and suffered with a great deal of impatience, the young ‘sprogs’ that were put in their care, supposedly for further practical training.

This lasted just two weeks, it was then a case of sink or swim, when, for the next two years you patrolled on foot on your own. This first two years of probationary service was spent patrolling on foot. That was obligatory, and during those two years, we were subject to having our services dispensed with at a moments notice if not meeting the required standards. There were no radios to call for assistance and our only companion was our whistle, that we were instructed to “blow three times in the direction, that you think there is another officer, if you want help”.

Dotted around we had Police boxes that were used as mini offices,where we could write reports or take a prisoner, whilst waiting transport to arrive and take us to the police station. A flashing light on the top indicated to passing policemen that the Station wished to contact a man on the beat.

When parading for duty each man was allocated to a beat and given a schedule letter. He was then able to look up in his pocket book at what time he had to go to the Police box to ring in to the police station to report that he was correct or to discover if there were any further duties that had materialized since leaving the police station. The telephonist at the police station recorded this ‘ring’, and if there was any delay, a search for the officer would be put into action. If no legitimate reason was given for missing a ‘ring’ the officer was dealt with severely. These schedules meant that he had to be in the vicinity of the police box twice before his meal break and three times after. In between times he was a free agent and able to go where he wished, except for those officers on ‘fixed patrols’ who were tied down to a short section of road where he could be found by the patrolling sergeant or inspector at all times. If he was found to be missing then the full wrath of the discipline code would fall on his shoulders with the possibility of being reported and appearing before a disciplinary hearing and being fined some day’s pay depending on the seriousness of the offence.

When joining the Police, all recruits were taken to a clothing store. At that time, it was located in Brixton a district in the south of London. Uniform fitting was a bit hit and miss, and relied on the store having a size that approximated what was required. If a uniform was too big, and that was frequently the case, then the chalk and scissors would appear and eventually the item of clothing would arrive at the police station with its alterations completed and hopefully not looking too bad.

When I was first issued my raincoat, it was made of a rubberized material and I was allocated a size that would have been ideal for a man two feet taller than I was. The answer to the problem was to cut eighteen inches off the bottom and six inches off each arm. When it eventually appeared at the police station, the length was about right but the “tailors” had overlooked the pockets, which of course remained in the same relative position to its original size and out of reach for me to put anything in
In the early 1960s we were still being issued with a ceremonial uniform and the jacket was fitted tight, in other words if the fitter could insert his fingers into the over lap of the front of the jacket it was too loose. This jacket was based on the Victorian style uniform and was buttoned up to the neck and came with a thick leather belt. It was made of Melton cloth and was completely lined with flannel. The trousers were so thick that they could be stood up alone. The final article that made up the complete uniform was a cape made of the same rubberized material as our raincoats, and this was carried rolled up into a regulation bundle and hung on the side of our belts with a hook. The complete uniform weighed in at about 44lbs (20kgs). In those early days whenever there was a ceremonial duty to perform we received an order that “No 1’s” were the dress of the day. Having paraded for duty, normally several hours in advance of the time of the event, we were then conveyed by open backed trucks into central London. During the trip, a cape was inevitably unrolled and spread across knees to form a makeshift table, and a game of cards was started. Often these duties extended beyond the normal eight hour day, and so we had to carry our food in small packets, normally sandwiches. These had to be packed flat in order that they weren’t too visible by bulging the pockets of our uniforms. Sandwiches frequently became soggy bundles because of the tight packing of the men in the back of the trucks. On rare occasion our duties covered less than the regulation eight hour day, and upon returning to our home police station we then had to resume patrolling. If we hadn’t anticipated this, and left a normal working uniform at the police station we would be expected to patrol in our “ceremonials”, this of course caused great mirth amongst the local villains and gave them an opportunity to bait the local policeman whom they knew couldn’t run in such a heavy and unbending uniform. A vast improvement on the open backed trucks came, when we were issued with travel permits and were able to catch the underground to the destination of our duties. During the winter months when the weather became very cold on the night shift a message would be received at the police station by teleprinter from Scotland Yard. An anonymous, but caring officer, would have decided that “indulgence” was allowed. That meant that we were allowed an extra meal break of 45 minutes and could also wear the very thick but warm ceremonial trousers, one of the rare occasions when men wanted to wear their ceremonial trousers.  
 

These boxes, were constructed of concrete, and because of their size, approximately 4 feet square, were obviously very sparse. The best piece of its equipment was the fire extinguisher, which was filled with carbon tetrachloride. This was used to great effect for cleaning stains from our uniforms and resulted in most of the fire extinguishers being empty and useless for the purpose that they were intended.