ONE of Cleveland Police's longest-serving officers has announced his retirement.

Stockton district police commander Chief Superintendent Geoff Lee, who heads the area where he started as a young constable, retires next week.

Chief Supt Lee started on the beat in Stockton about 30 years ago.

The son of a Durham miner and a fanatical Sunderland FC fan, Chief Supt Lee turned his back on a career with the merchant navy to join Cleveland Police in March 1969.

He said yesterday: "There was a hefty recruiting campaign at the time and I was on home leave when I spotted the advert.

"I knew the work would be varied and exciting, so I went for it and I haven't been disappointed.

"After a couple of weeks I was working on my own. You had a torch, truncheon and a plastic radio. That was a great innovation at the time.

"Not many years before then, the police had nothing for communicating with base. Officers had to go to certain points to phone in. Technology was just making an impact. The changes since then have been unbelievable."

Chief Supt Lee, 50, remembers a significant incident when he had to see off a drunk in Stockton High Street who had been annoying to two women.

One of these women, Ann, later became his wife. The couple have two children, Martin, 21, and Jennifer, 15.

On his first day as a panda car driver, he dealt with a man going beserk with a knife. He had none of today's protection, such as CS spray or protective vest.

Chief Supt Lee said: "I'm particularly proud that I have retired as district commander in the town where I began as a PC." He is looking forward to a new career with a firm of loss adjusters.