Watch the video above: Dave Woodward, a familiar face with the OPP, is set to retire this week. Peter Kim reports.
OPP media spokesperson Sgt. Dave Woodford is ready to hit the road. After 31 years of police service, Woodford will send his last media release on Thursday and kick off his retirement.
The 59-year-old is planning to travel for the next few years with his wife. The couple recently bought a motor coach vehicle, after downsizing from their home.
“I’m looking forward to sleeping in,” said Woodford with a laugh. “I’m on call 24/7, so they say ‘when do you sleep?’ Now I’m going to be sleeping instead of getting up at four or five in the morning.”
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Woodford says he stumbled into policing as a fluke when he was 28-years-old and living in Ottawa working in the moving business. He saw a job posting for a small police force in Cardinal, a township east of Cornwall.
“I never even dreamed of joining a police service,” said Woodford. “Back then, 28 was old for getting started; I remember I was the oldest in the class at the police college.”
Woodford later joined the OPP where his career spanned from general duties to working on high profile murder cases, traffic complaints and domestic assaults.
He has been the media spokesperson for the OPP Highway Safety Division for the past seven years.
“I’m glad I got into media,” he said. “I like talking, I’m a people person.”
Woodford said it’s important for a police media spokesperson to plan things in advance and know what’s going on at all times so they can properly assist the media.
“When there’s an incident, the media has one person to contact and that’s you,” he said. “You’re always on the go and I can get maybe 30 or 40 calls at one time.”
Now, Woodford is looking forward to not having to answer the phone all the time.
“I’m going to be travelling,” he said. “A lot of people thought I would be following in my previous colleague’s footsteps and maybe going to a TV or radio station but I made another choice and I won’t be in the media.”
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