THE tears were flowing in Llandrindod Wells Police Station recently as Dyfed-Powys police community support officer Caroline Powell called it a day, leaving her daughter Marie to carry on the family tradition of working at the station as a constable.

Caroline, also known as Caz, is planning to put her feet up after a career lasting more than 40 years, having started with the force at the age of 19.

Caz, a mother of two, worked with the police in Newtown until 1982 when she left to have her children. After a six-year-break, Caroline returned to work with the police in Brecon in 1988.

She moved to Llandrindod Wells as a Station Duty Officer (SDO) in October 1989, a role she kept until January 2007 when she started training to become one of the first PCSOs in Wales.

Caroline, 60, has shared the last 14 years of her career at Llandrindod Wells station with Marie, 34, who is the eldest of her two daughters.

Marie said her mum’s last day at work had been extremely poignant.

“It was really quite an emotional day – for my whole career she’s always been there. It’ll be strange not seeing her around when I go to work.

“She’s had a long career with the police and was one of the first people to become a PCSO. I actually did my first arrest in front of my mum while she was an SDO.”

Caroline was presented with a big bunch of flowers on her last day and an intricately decorated cake, designed to look like the hat she wears on her patrols as a PCSO.

Caroline said her last day was “interesting” as she got to spend it on patrol with Marie.

She said she has enjoyed her time with the police which has been her “way of life” for more than four decades and working for Dyfed-Powys police has felt like being part of family unit

Of her last day, she said: “When I came back to the station there were some refreshments and a lot of the off-duty staff had come in just to see me off.

“It was very emotional to say the least, especially for me.”

While Caroline and Marie have occasionally worked shifts together they did not get to work together as often as people might think, despite being in the same station. In the beginning, Caroline worked in Llandrindod Wells while Marie was working in Newtown.

The occasion of Marie’s first arrest came about because Marie had travelled to Llandrindod Wells to meet her tutor. She was in the police station when the person she arrested had come into the station to speak to Caroline, who was the SDO. Marie said: “The defendant was handing themselves in after breaching their bail, and mum let me know, so I arrested them in the station.”

Caroleine said that although she and her daughter Marie loved working together, she owed just as much to the other members of her family. She said: “Thankfully, I’ve got a very understanding husband who has been very supportive. He’s a self-employed farmer who’s done most of the babysitting over the years. He’s been brilliant.”

Caroline’s other daughter, Carlene, 31, is a physiotherapy technician in Bristol.