Beth Stirton, who had most recently worked as the Albury superintendent before going on long-term leave, handed back her police badge on Thursday.

She said it was difficult to leave NSW Police after so many years, having signed up in 1982.

“The whole morning was quite emotional for me,” Mrs Stirton said of her last day. 

“Handing the badge in was quite difficult but it had to be done.

“It’s the closing of one door and the opening of another.”

Mrs Stirton was first posted to the central station in Sydney in 1983 and joined the anti-theft squad two years later.

She worked at various stations in a range of roles, including at Ashfield, Hornsby, Eastwood and Parramatta, before being promoted to Albury superintendent in 2011.

Despite her first posting as a “naive country girl from Orange” being an eye-opener, and the challenges of attending traumatic incidents including murders, she says she wouldn’t change anything.

“I loved my job the whole time – I’d be a cop over again,” she said. 

“There were lots of very, very challenging times and periods of high stress, but you learn to manage those things.”

The greatest challenge came in December 2012 when her husband of 26 years, Sergeant Glenn Stirton, died at the station.

“There was a whole range of people, particularly at work, and my friends in the community, that supported me during that tragic time after he passed away,” Mrs Stirton said.

“It really was the support from those people that helped me get back to work in the first place and for me to move on with my life.

“It was very tough, particularly in the early stages.

“But I look at it from the perspective that I was like any other person and I had to resume my life and go through the grieving process, get back to work and get back on track.

“I was married to Glenn for 26 years and together for about 27 years.

“It’s not something you forget easily – I will never forget it.

“With the support around me, I have moved on.”

Mrs Stirton is now engaged to councillor and retired army major Graham Docksey, and recently became a grandmother. 

She is looking forward to the next stage of her life with Mr Docksey and plans to stay in Albury. 

Mrs Stirton will be marching off at the police academy at the end of next month. 

“I always say police are normal people operating in an abnormal world … I guess I am no different,” she said.