A stalwart of the WA Police force Senior Constable Jo Ivey will stroll through the front doors of the Armadale Police Station for the last time today in her incredible 40-year career.
Joining the police force as a cadet at the tender age of 17 Mrs Ivey has served throughout the state in a number of different departments including with her husband Neal at Carnarvon Police Station as the first female police officer in the town and working with eight PCYC youth clubs from Gosnells to Albany.
Reflecting on her career Mrs Ivey told The Examiner she was sad to be leaving her family in blue but at the same time excited to start the next chapter in her life.
“In the past 40 years I have been involved in so many things from domestic violence, sudden deaths, missing people to the normal run-of-the-mill of general policing, stealings and burglaries,” she said.
“One of my best memories was when I was in the mounted section, I had the honour of escorting Princess Ann around the stables to meet the horses we were using for our police work.
“I also escorted the Pope when he came to Perth for a visit, which was a surreal experience.”
Although there had been plenty of happy memories in the job such as reuniting families with missing loved ones Mrs Ivey said there were even more terrible incidents that she would remember forever.
“There is nothing worse than attending someone’s house to inform them of the death of a loved one,” she said.
“It doesn’t matter how many times you do this through your career it is never easy and I think you always keep a little of their sadness with you for the rest of your life.”
Officially handing in her badge this morning, Mrs Ivey said she was looking forward to spending time at home riding her horses, playing with her grandson and travelling the world.
“I can’t wait to be a normal person, have long weekends and Christmas off,” she said.
“Having long weekends is not really that big a deal to some people but it is to a police officer that rarely has them off.”
