TRURO, N.S. — After 38 years with the Truro Police Service, Jim Flemming has decided it’s time to hang up his uniform. His last day on the job was Thursday, Oct. 3.
“I wasn’t one of those people who wanted to be a police officer from the time I was a kid,” he said. “I got into it because I wanted a good, steady job, but I loved it as soon as I started. It’s the best job ever. It’s been very fulfilling and rewarding.”
He started work with the service on June 1, 1981 and has worked in the drug and identification sections and has been a platoon sergeant. For the past 12 years, he’s served as deputy chief.
“Things have changed a lot,” he said. “When I started we were working with manual typewriters and had to write in a book when we went out for calls. We had no photocopier. If we needed to photocopy something we had to wait for the town office to open. We didn’t have radios or air conditioning in the cars.”
He’s enjoyed the variety the job provided, as well as the opportunities to help people. He’s seen the number of property and violent crimes decrease over the years.
“The hardest part in seeing people when they’re down and out,” he said. “We deal with a lot of mental health issues and homelessness.”
Flemming will be 60 in June, and had some time owed, so he decided to retire while he’s still able to do a lot of things. He volunteers with his church, the Saint Vincent De Paul Society, and VON. He also enjoys curling, golf, exercising at the gym, spending time with his grandchildren, and reading suspense books, and he and his wife, Christine, hope to do some travelling.
“Truro has been an awesome place to work and this has been a great career,” he said. “I’d encourage anybody who wants a fulfilling career to consider police work.”
