Until the mid to late 1960s cops had to be big men with height requirements, and they would fight and use their Billy Club rather than just shoot you from 20 feet away.
“big men “
Yes .. everyone was safer then.
Little ladies with no options scare the bjeebies out of me.
I wish we would bring back the “oak shampoo” .... a little bonk goes along way in changing a bad attitude.
The modern taser fills that gap ... sort of .. but there is nothing like the classics.
As for ...
“less lethal than a firearm”
it all depends on the application...
lethal ...is lethal ....... I think
You are right, I remember walking with my Father in downtown Hartford Ct back in the 60’s and seeing cops walking a beat all of them were huge comparing them to my dad who was a big guy himself. They were pretty good swinging those billys around. No more beat cops today , it’s all out of shape females driving around with the windows rolled up.
Well, there were tough little bastards too.
I had a buddy, a little New York Irish guy, an orphan, boxer and a Korean War paratrooper that was about 5’5” and 150 ringing wet, raised by “the brothers” in parochial school, that was NYPD from about ‘53 to ‘78.
He had an extensive collection of saps, jacks, brass knuckles, come alongs and weighted leather gloves that he had carried and used as well as stuff he took off toughs on the streets.
Anything would do in a pinch, one story involved clocking a resistant suspect by using a walkie-talkie, their first radios, replacing the corner c all boxes.