Today the Royal Gibraltar Police said goodbye to Tony Yome – for the second time.

The civilian officer has just retired after spending two and a half years working for the force’s Safeguarding Team.

Prior to that, Tony spent nearly 30 years working as a police officer in the RGP, in a career that spanned from 1985 to 2014.

The grandad of two, who is 64 years of age, retired last week but popped into New Mole House Police Station today to present his Safeguarding colleagues with a collection of lead police figurines, which he had made himself.

Tony, who enjoys making toy soldiers in his spare time, said: “It’s been really great working here. When I left in 2014 we didn’t have a Safeguarding or Domestic Abuse Team. It’s been a real eye opener for me. In my time, domestic abuse was treated as a normal assault or a matrimonial dispute – we didn’t have offences such as controlling or coercive behaviour for example. So it’s changed for the better, it’s given women and men a hope that something can be done.

“Obviously I’m sad to leave. I’ll miss the hustle and bustle of the office, the chit chat and the camaraderie. I don’t know what I’ll do with all my spare time now. I have a lot of things to do in the house and I’ll just be enjoying my time with my partner.”

During his almost 30 years as a police officer, Tony worked as a shift officer on the motorcycle and the patrol car, in the Crime Management Unit, Community Support Unit and in Stores.

He added: “Even after retiring over 10 years ago, people still call me officer. One stopped me in the street recently and I told him ‘I’m not an officer anymore’. He replied ‘To me, you’ll always be a police officer.’”

An RGP spokesman said: “We’d like to thank Tony for his years of hard work helping to keep Gibraltar safe and wish him the best in his well-earned retirement. He will be thoroughly missed by his colleagues in the Safeguarding Team and he’s always welcome to pop in and visit.”