Scotland’s longest-serving police officer has hung up his hat for the last time to retire after a “tireless” 54 years of service to communities across the north-east.
For more than five decades, Hugh Duncan, 75, has juggled his full-time job as an Aberdeenshire farmer with his voluntary role as a special constable.
He told The Press and Journal: “I don’t believe it. It doesn’t seem that long.
“I’ve enjoyed every time I’ve been out with the police. I’ve never had a wrong night”.
SC Duncan joined Aberdeen City Police in 1968, before he transferred to Aberdeen County and was stationed in the Turriff area, where he has served ever since.
Hugh, who is turning 76 next month and has now retired from Police Scotland, says he signed up for police duties because he had “free nights”.
“We used to have to go out on duty on a Thursday night because that was pay day in Aberdeen for a lot of people.
“We paraded up and down Union Street to keep the peace.
“I don’t think public behaviour is any worse now than it was then,” he said, laughing.
The community stalwart was affectionately known throughout his former beat as ‘Grandad’.
He was awarded the Queen’s Police Medal for distinguished service in the 2012 New Year’s honours list.
Hugh says the demands on specials nowadays make the job “a lot busier”.
He added: “When I joined, I was more or less there as backup or as a witness, but now we’re participating in some of the things that are happening.
“Nowadays, the specials are left to do the job, quite often on their own.
“Armistice parades, bonfire nights – we can come across anything, like road accidents and we have to deal with them.”
Collisions, domestics, fires, suicides
The farmer has urged others to follow in his footsteps and sign up to become an unpaid, part-time police officer in their free time.
He told how, with the same training as regular police officers, “there are no barriers to what specials are used for”.
“I’ve seen quite a few fires, road accidents and suicides during my years of service,” he said.
“I was quite often called to domestics. Over the years, I’ve had to attend a few of them.”
Hugh said responding on “blues and twos” – with siren blaring and lights flashing – was “quite exciting”.
And speaking about handling heated situations, he added: “Some members of the public treat the police well enough, but others, you get the same abuse as you used to get from similar types. You just have to ignore it.”
To mark his retirement and all his achievements, retired SC Duncan and his daughter Gayle Reid were invited to an award presentation at Tulliallan Police College.
The event took place on Wednesday, March 30, with the chief constable Iain Livingstone and assistant chief constable John Hawkins in attendance.
‘Outstanding achievement’
Also present, were north-east divisional commander Chief Superintendent Kate Stephen and Aberdeenshire north area commander Chief Inspector James Harrison.
Following the event, Chief Constable Iain Livingstone said: “It was an absolute privilege to be able to present this award to SC Hugh Duncan today for what is an outstanding achievement.
“To have served our police force for more than half a century speaks volumes about Hugh’s character and dedication.
“I commend him for his tireless years of service and wish him the very best in his retirement.”
Assistant Chief Constable John Hawkins added: “I’d like to thank Hugh for his commitment and long-standing service to policing in Scotland.
“He has served his local community for over 50 years and in doing so has given up significant hours of his own time, year upon year.
“Hugh has been a great credit to the team and all his colleagues and I am sure he will be sorely missed by everyone he has worked with.
“Volunteers like Hugh are immeasurably valuable to the police force and I am sure that he will be an inspiration to many who are considering joining.”
A chance to sign up
Police Scotland are currently recruiting for new special constables.
You can work full time and be a special constable by volunteering 96 hours per year or a few hours a week.
Applicants could be doing anything from policing a football match to assisting at a road accident.
Special constables also police major sporting and public events.
