This is this emotional moment a police officer sobbed as he signed off on his radio for the last time after 30 years on the beat.
Emotional Adge Secker, 55, was unable to hold back the tears when he finished his last ever shift as a police constable at Bath Police Station in Somerset.
Surrounded by his admiring colleagues, a video shows him making his final call to headquarters on his walkie talkie, asking them to mark him as off-shift for the last time.
He handed over his badge to retire as a PC on February 12, concluding a career that started in 1989.
The dad-of-two from Bath, who also has two stepdaughters, said it was his childhood dream to be a beat bobby, and signing off was the “most difficult thing” he’d ever done.
He said: “It was an incredibly difficult thing for me to do.
“It was by far the most difficult thing I’ve ever had to do. Being a police officer has meant everything to me.
“Policing is not a job, it is a way of life. It is a part of me forever.
“The police family has meant everything to me and I will miss that.
“On the moment I signed off I realised it would be the last time I go into a police station as a police officer.
“The realisation that 30 years of policing is at an end is hard to take.
“It has been so special to me.”
Adge was first stationed in Bishopsworth and Broadbury Road, in Bristol, before transferring to Bath in 1992 as beat manager.
In 1999 he moved on to Keynsham before finishing off his career as a police constable in Bath, between 2005 and 2019.
In 2013 he was named Avon and Somerset beat manager of the year for his community policing work.
For his commitment, Adge was awarded the British Empire Medal for Services to Police and Community in Bath, on this year’s New Year Honour’s list.
He will visit Buckingham Palace for a garden party in May, with his wife, Tara, where he will be awarded his medal.
Adge, who also ran the Bath Police Cadets for many years, has worked with hundreds of colleagues since 1989 and admits he will dearly miss “the boys and girls in blue”.
He said: “The police family is fantastic. I will miss that more than anything.
“The day meant everything to me because I love the police force.
“I will miss the boys and girls in blue, but I wanted to try something different before I’m too old.”
Adge has recently started a new job as a chauffeur, and has his first driving job since on Thursday.
A retirement party for Adge was held at Bath Racecourse, on Saturday night (March 5).