PHOTOS & VIDEO: This afternoon, the Lakewood Police Department said goodbye to Sergeant Larry Patterson, who retired today after 30 years of service to the department. Larry, who began his service in 1981, was with the Traffic & Safety division of the LPD for close to 10 years before being  promoted to Sergeant in 2005.

“He’s a man I wish I could convince to stay”, Police Chief Rob Lawson said during the ceremony held at the police headquarters today. “He will be sorely missed”. 

Patterson is the latest of the high ranking officials who have retired after being faced with the threat of the Governor’s  pension reform.

Larry will be remembered as calm and professional officer, who was never seen losing his cool or abusing his uniform.

“He was admired by his fellow officers for his calm, cool demeanour and never became rattled with anything”, a high ranking official in the department says of Larry. He was also a “dedicated family man”, he says.

The ceremony was attended by family and friends as well as by many off duty officers and their families.