这里的 would 有什么含义？

有读者问这样一句话：

When the deals were about to be completed, people dressed as police would appear to confiscate all the money.

请问这里为什么用 would?

这里的 would 表过去习惯，说明类似的事不断发生，全句可译为：每逢这些交易即将完结，穿警服的人员就会出现并没收全部钱款。