A MOUNTED police officer who has served with South Yorkshire Police for more than 40 years has hung up the reins.
PC Paul Brown is the force's longest serving officer and is retiring after 42 years - 32 of those in the mounted section which is based at Cudworth.
He retired on Monday having joined the force in 1973 as a cadet and was sworn in as a constable on his 19th birthday.
He has said goodbye to his trusty steed Whirlow but has become a volunteer special constable and will help out in the mounted section when needed.
PC Brown said: "Looking back I could never have imagined where policing would take me. Taking the riding course and joining the mounted section, was like a duck taking to water. I really found my place in the force.
"Nobody else has achieved that length of service in the same department and I have been lucky enough to be paid for a job I loved doing."
** The full story appears in the Barnsley Chronicle, dated January 23. **
