Jenny marched out on her son Billy’s arm from her beloved police station as the bagpipes played and her colleagues saluted her as they formed a guard of honour.

As part of the re-engineering process across the NSW Police Force, the Lachlan and Canobolas Local Area Commands merged on March 11 to become the Central West Police District.

Jenny said the restructure meant only one Local Area Manager position was available and it was located in Orange.

“I wasn’t prepared to relocate or to do the travelling,” she said.

“Both my kids, Billy (17) and Claire (15), are at Red Bend.

“I decided not to contest the position and took a voluntary redundancy instead.”

Jenny said she has witnessed - and survived - a few restructures over the years.

“It would have been different if the position was in Parkes,” she said.

“I absolutely loved it, it was the best job.

“NSW Police are a great organisation to work for and I’ll miss the camaraderie and the friends that I’ve made, that’s the sad part.

“Sometimes things have to come to an end.”

Jenny joined the NSW Police in January 1981 as an administration officer and can remember her interview as if it was yesterday.

“I remember what I wore, even what car I was driving,” she said.

“Geoff Bryant was the person I had to talk to.

“He didn’t even sit me down, we stood and he asked a couple of questions and I left.

“That afternoon he rang and asked if I could start on Monday.”

Jenny started in the old police building in Court Street.

“I was the little typist girl, I did the mail and that sort of thing, it was a great job,” she said.

Being so young and naive she was the perfect target of an office prank.

“Sergeant Neville Ticehurst asked me to go down to the post office and buy a packet of verbal letterheads,” she said.

“So I said “of course” and off I went down to the Post Office and asked for a packet of verbal letterheads.

“Steve Torrens and John Cable just looked at me and laughed.

“They said “have a think about that” and I said “oh no!”.

“I walked out and around the corner and looked up the road and there was Neville Ticehurst and Colin Miller killing themselves laughing waiting for me on the footpath!”

During her career, Jenny has also worked in Forbes, Queanbeyan and Parramatta.

She moved back to Parkes in 1991 and has been in the Local Area Managers role since 1997.

Jenny said the highlight of her career was her involvement with the construction of the new $14 million Parkes police station, for which she was the local project manager.

“That’s probably my biggest achievement,” she said.

“I was the conduit with our police property group in Sydney.

“If they needed something or wanted to know something I would put on my work boots and hard hat and pop over to the site and talk to the contractors.

“To see it from go to whoa was just fantastic, it’s a beautiful building.”

Jenny said she would like to make special mention of her administrative staff.

“People don’t realise there are admin staff who assist the police, and that’s what we are there for,” she said.

“I’ve been very fortunate to work with a fantastic team of ladies, they are just great.

“Also the support from Superintendent Taylor and the senior management team has been wonderful, they are a great bunch, nothing is ever a problem."

Superintendent Chris Taylor said Jenny will be sorely missed.

“Jenny has been a stalwart of this command for many years,” he said.

“Her knowledge of the managers role is second to none.

“She has always advocated for the LAC right across the spectrum of the police force whether it be HR issues or WHS issues, she is a person who got things done.

“One of her greatest traits is loyalty and she is a fierce protector of this command and everyone in it.”

Jenny plans on taking a break before rejoining the workforce.

“I’ll take a few months off first and see what comes along,” she said.

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