Chris has hung up his handcuffs

Next time there's a maritime emergency off the Aupouri Peninsula Chris Yarnton will read about it in the Age like everyone else. And next time there's a burglary or a punch-up he'll leave it for someone else to deal with.

Chris has now formally ended his career as a policeman, and while he'll be flitting hither and yon from time to time he will be enjoying the bulk of his retirement at his home on Houhora Heads Road, just a few minutes' drive from the police station at Pukenui where he spent the last nine years of his career.

He was a sergeant at Takapuna before he moved north, dropping to the rank of senior constable, to take over from Shane Godinet in 2003, and notched up 20 years in the force shortly before he called it a day.

An Aucklander by birth, he enjoyed his time in the Far North, hence his plan to stay put.

"There are some really good people on the peninsula," he said.

"Ninety-eight per cent of them are friendly, law-abiding folk who have always made me feel welcome. There are a few ratbags, and a few enthusiastic amateurs who try to be ratbags but don't really have it in their nature, and I've made a lot of good friends. The only problem has been that I never really had as much time as I would have liked to go fishing."

The community justice groups that were formed at Te Kao and Te Hapua under his watch would rate as two of his bigger achievements.

"They worked really well," he said.

"Local people tended to see them as keeping young people out of jail, but I preferred to see it as keeping them out of the system.

"Most of them were never going to go to jail but they got involved in stuff that wasn't good for them or their communities, and it's important that young fullahs turn that around as quickly as they can.

"Negative things can become normal, and the community has a big role to play in seeing that that doesn't happen."

Joining the police was one of the best things he'd ever done, he added, and he would miss it, and the camaraderie that went with it, but things were constantly changing, as they had to, and it would have become harder to keep up with those changes if he had stayed.

He had been farewelled at a gathering at the fishing club at Pukenui, many of those attending travelling down from Te Kao, and some very nice things had been said, not only about him and his time there but the police in the Far North in general, and that was gratifying.

And had he ever given himself a fright in the four-wheel-drive?

"No. Not really. Well, a few times. None that I'm going to tell you about."

He did tell, eventually, but those stories have retired with him.