Don’t you just hate the word “plod”!
I think it is an old person's term to be perfectly honest and dates back to the days when they were just "plodding" on foot and hence the "flatfoot" term also.
In the village I grew up in the village "bobby" had a bicycle. They didn't always have cars and in cities patrolled a beat on foot and plodding made sense then but not for the last 50 years at least
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