The Orana Mid-Western district's highway patrol unit has fare-welled one of it's longest serving officers with the retirement of Sergeant Peter Trow.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
During a farewell morning tea held at the Dubbo Police Station, friends, family and colleagues turned out to pay homage to the experienced Highway Patrol officer, who long-standing colleagues called an incredibly reliable figure.
Former Senior Sergeant Mal Unicomb, one of Trow's colleagues during their many postings across the Central West, including during their stewardship of the Newell highway, was invited to speak during proceedings.
"Apart from Peter's family, I've probably known Peter the longest and worked with him the longest," Unicomb said.
"Him and I have had some good blues over the years about various opinions we didn't share, but at the end of the day, Peter has always been someone you can rely on and has always been a good mate."
"One of the things you always rely on as a supervisor is just having good, strong people there to give you a hand."
Mr Trow joined the force in July of 1977, just three years after Mr Unicomb, meaning he'd served 42 years in the highway patrol by this year.
"We're sort of known as the 'Newell Highway Immortals' and I don't think there's many left that have done that sort of thing, or spent so much time on the Newell," Unicomb said.
NSW Police Traffic and Highway Patrol Commander, Chief Inspector Phillip Brooks noted that the force would be losing an incredible amount of experience and know-how with Trow's departure.
The man set to step into Trow's shoes, Highway Patrol's Michael Donnelly agreed, commending Peter for his years of service as 'a good sergeant and supervisor'.
"It is difficult, even as a police force in general, losing that amount of experience in one person," Donnelly said.
"The force is very young in experience, I don't know the exact figure, but I think the average terms of service is about eight years, which is not a lot and we're losing someone with 42 years of service and all the changes they've seen over that time and how they deal with situations."
"It's a big loss."
Sergeant Donnelly had known Sergeant Trow during his tenure in Coonabarabran and congratulated him for his many years of service and his professional rigour.
"He's put in some great effort for us," Sergeant Donnelly said.
"I'd known Peter prior to him coming to Dubbo, I knew him for a few years in Coonabarabran and now five years here in Dubbo."
"No matter the moment, you could always talk to him, but he never took anything personally, he never took offence to anything, you might have a very heated debate with him one moment, but as soon as that was finished, you'd go back to talking and there'd be no issues at all."