THE country’s longest serving policeman has spent his last day on the beat.

Inspector Mike Rumble began as a 16-year-old cadet at Sussex Police in 1968, and worked as a bobby in Brighton on infamous cases such as the Babes In The Wood murders.

He has worked on foot patrol, in the police helicopter in Shoreham and also as head of the Victim Protection Unit, creating policies that are still used to help people today.

More recently, he has been working in London as head of the Parks Policing Service across the boroughs of Kensington and Chelsea, and Hammersmith and Fulham.

Now aged 67, he has retired from public service, and spoke to The Argus about his long career.

He said: “I became a PC in Brighton in 1971, and served for four years, then spent time at Gatwick before coming back again from 1979 to 1985.

“It was old fashioned policing in those days.

“You did about four years on foot patrol before you could get anywhere near police cars.

“I remember walking through The Lanes at the time when Anita Roddick and The Body Shop first appeared.

“It was next door to an undertaker, and got quite a few comments at the time.

“But the job has changed and demand has grown over the years.

“Young police officers go from call to call to call without the time to do the quality work that you could do in those days.

“You used to have a lot more time to get involved in the detail.

“ I remember for example having to walk along Western Road and check all the doors on the shops to make sure they were locked up.

“If an officer was able to patrol the Clock Tower and West Street, that was seen as the ultimate accolade.”

Mr Rumble later earned promotion to the rank of inspector at force HQ in Lewes, but also worked on the murder team during investigation into the murder of Nicola Fellows and Karen Hadaway in Wild Park in October 1986.

He was responsible for charting the movements of those involved to establish where they were at a particular time.

“I spent six weeks on the inquiry.

“Most of the time in the police I was not in CID but in uniform, I always enjoyed the cut and thrust of being out there,” he said.

In recent years he worked as a community safety officer at West Sussex County Council, and launched the community handy van service that visited thousands of homes in Worthing in Horsham.

In 2009 he switched to the Parks Policing service, covering 90 public spaces in the capital.

Now he is looking forward to retirement, where he spends a lot of time in Sompting with his wife, and will consider consulting work with the security industry.

“I have always enjoyed coming to work and making a positive difference in one way or another,” he said.