A traffic police officer has hung up his radar gun after more than 20 years policing the roads of mid and north Essex.
Retiring - PC Michael McSweeney
PC Michael McSweeney, known to friends and colleagues as Strutty, grew up in Harlow and joined Essex Police 30 years ago, aged 19.
He alternated working between Basildon and Brentwood for about six years then, in 1980, joined the traffic police at Harlow. The following year he started policing the roads of Braintree and Uttlesford districts where he has remained ever since, based at Newport and then Bocking.
PC McSweeney said one of the most memorable incidents he dealt with was while he was trying to explain to a French motorcyclist that he should wear a crash helmet and an onlooker fell down an open manhole.
He said: "I was just curled up with laughing. However, it wasn't so funny when it took us about three hours with the fire brigade to get him out and he had a broken leg."
Mr McSweeney is not yet sure what sort of career to pursue but has already started an Open University degree in physics. He lives in north-west Essex with his wife Sarah and children Patrick, seven, and Maisy, six.
Published Friday, September 3, 2004
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