A POLICEMAN who has worked on the beat or with the community for most of his 30 years service has retired.

Pc David Robinson spent seven years on the beat in Lockwood and in a special community involvement unit before the last few years as a specialist investigator into house burglaries.

David, 51, was also a scout leader for 21 years with the 15th Huddersfield North group in Cowcliffe until last year.

His final working day was yesterday.

After doing a degree in medieval history at York University, David joined the police in Huddersfield on October 3, 1977, but after his initial training his first shift was on Christmas Eve that year.

David said: “I was certainly in at the deep end. I remember going from one job to another that evening with all the office parties turning out.’’

After a couple of years on patrol in the town centre, he spent a year behind the Castlegate police station public counter.

He became a tutor constable, helping new recruits in the town centre until 1985 when he moved to Lockwood police station as a community constable.

He said the next seven years there were the most enjoyable of his career.

“It was all about local knowledge,’’ he said. “There was a team of 15 of us and we got to know the community so well in the Crosland Moor, Walpole and Thornton Lodge areas.

“If anything happened I’d know some- one living on just about every street who would let me know what it was about or pointed me in the right direction.’’

In the early 1990s, David joined the community involvement unit at Huddersfield police station and became the Neighbourhood Watch liaison officer for the area.

He became a crime prevention officer in 1995, a role he did for six years until he became a crime scene investigator attached to Huddersfield CID.

The role was to start the investigation, preserve the scene and evidence and call in specialist scenes of crime officers to try to get footprints, fingerprints and DNA evidence. He took witness statements and made house to house inquiries.

“Burglary can leave people totally devastated,’’ said David. “Some find it difficult to stay living in the same house. It is a very serious crime and can have a major impact on the victims.’’

David and wife, Christine, have been married for 28 years and live in the Holme Valley. They have two daughters, 27-year-old Sarah and Vicki, 25.

David is secretary of police walking club The Woodfield Walkers and will continue in the role.