A saluting policeman put hand to hat for the last time yesterday.

PC Andy Rolmanis, well known for his courteous gestures to the public in Brighton, is retiring from Sussex Police after serving 27 years, 14 of them in the city.

So why did he salute?

"I don't know really but I'm a great believer in the old traditions and being courteous and polite.

"Whether I was talking to an elderly lady on the seafront or a couple of lads in a brawl, I always saluted them.

"I did it as a mark of respect and I believe it often helped defuse potentially violent situations.

"When two people were confronting each other in the street and I came up and saluted and said Sir or Madam, they knew instantly I was there to help them both and to sort out the problem.

"I think it showed them I wasn't going to be antagonistic to either of them. I firmly believe in the softer, gentler, non-confrontational approach.

"I'm not saying I think all police officers should salute. It was just something I always did. It was a personal thing."

PC Rolmanis, who is 50 and married with two children, saluted Tory conference delegates as they arrived at the Brighton Centre a few hours after the IRA bombing of the Grand Hotel in 1984.

He said: "I shall never forget the shocked and startled expressions on their faces when they saw the devastation. They all looked frightened."

Three years later, PC Rolmanis battled through hurricane-force winds to rescue a WPC stranded in a shop doorway in London Road, Brighton, during the Great Gale of 1987.

He witnessed trees being uprooted in the Old Steine, Brighton, and had to dodge showers of glass and debris flying along London Road.

The former RAF aircraft technician was awarded three commendations during his service.

He helped pull a drowning man out of the River Ouse at Newhaven in 1979, helped rescue a man hanging on to cliffs at Peacehaven in 1985 and pulled a suicidal man to safety from cliffs at Brighton Marina in 1990.

PC Rolmanis said he had enjoyed his time in the police.

He said: "It is a worthwhile career but it is a job that needs the support of the public. In the main, I think they give it."

He said he will miss the work and his colleagues.

"And, yes, I'll even miss the saluting."