Decorated traffic cop Sen Con Craig Pearce retires after 33 years
TUGGERAH Lakes Police and the Traffic and Highway Patrol Command farewelled one of their longest serving and most loved officers when Leading Senior Constable Craig Pearce was “piped out” of Wyong police station yesterday.
Central Coast
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TUGGERAH Lakes Police and the Traffic and Highway Patrol Command farewelled one of their longest serving and most loved officers when Leading Senior Constable Craig Pearce was “piped out” of Wyong police station yesterday.
The 55-year-old finished his decorated career having served 33 years and eight months as a NSW Police officer — 31 years of which in the Traffic and Highway Patrol Command.
Sen Con Pearce joined the academy at Goulburn on February 4, 1985 and after two years in general duties at Parramatta, Liverpool and Campbelltown he successfully applied for the traffic command.
And while the highway patrol cars have changed a bit since then, along with the introduction of automatic numberplate recognition, body cameras, random drug testing and on board computer consoles — turning cars into veritable mobile police stations — his approach to policing has never wavered.
Sen Con Pearce said his greatest satisfaction came from seeing matters through and ensuring people were supported well after the flashing lights and emergency services had left the scene.
“Following up victims of accidents or incidents where there’s been an injury or family trauma and to make sure I’m seeing how they’re going,” he said.
“A recent one was a guy who was totally innocent and he got taken off his motorcycle.
“We managed to track down the offending driver. The victim was left with spinal injuries he would have for a significant part of his life.”
The victim’s family were so appreciative of Sen Con Pearce’s support and dogged determination to find the driver who ran him off the road they wrote a letter of praise to the NSW Police Force.
It was just one of several similar letters he received over the course of his career.
He earned a Premier’s Emergency Award for his efforts during and in the wake of the devastating 2007 Queens Birthday storm which flooded large parts of the Coast and saw a section of the Pacific Highway collapse, killing five members of the same family.
Sen Con Pearce was presented with his Police medal in 2004, a Unit Citation for professionalism and teamwork in 2010 and his National Police Medal in 2014.
Sen Con Pearce said advances in technology and lessons learned from the past had improved policing over the years.
“The biggest change, it’s the way we work, it’s working safer and smarter,” he said.
“There’s more support for police.”
He said, however, after more than three decades he always struggled with shift work.
“My body clock never let me sleep during the day,” he said.
Colleagues formed a guard of honour as he was led out of the station by a police bagpiper after his final shift — a tradition usually reserved for the most senior of officers.