Many people hand down a recipe, clothes or jewellery to their children but a retiring policeman has taken it a step further – passing his beat onto his son.
Sergeant Ally Bruce has patrolled Moray for 30 years, and has seen the area grow and grow over that time.
He has now decided to retire – with son Harry, a constable, now assigned to his beat.
Sgt Bruce originally joined the force in August 1990 and has enjoyed a successful career working in Banff, Buckie, Forres, Fochabers and Lossiemouth and the local CID team.
“When I started there was no computers in the office we used and the only one that was used was by control room staff,” he said.
“Everything was done on paper whereas now very little is, and we have even just seen the release of the new mobile devices.
“It is definitely something the younger generation will pick up quicker than retiring dinosaurs.”
Part of that younger generation is son Harry, who has just finished his probationary period working in Buckie and has been offered some words of wisdom from his dad.
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Sgt Bruce said: “The best advice I can offer is to deal with people the way you would expect to be dealt with – you never know when you might need help from that person you are dealing with.
“I know that we cannot be popular all the time with decisions we make, but the decisions made are always done so with the best of intentions.
“It will be strange to suddenly wake up no longer a police officer having done it for such a long time.
“The camaraderie in the office is second to none and we do look out for each other at all times.
“I would to take this opportunity to say a massive thanks to family, friends and the public I have served for all the support over the years and wish my colleagues a safe, continued career.”
