Avon Police Captain Retires from the Police Force

Capt. Robert Whitty had his last day at the Avon Police Department on Wednesday and is now preparing for his new career as a math teacher at Avon Old Farms School.

The police department held a retirement party in his honor on Wednesday afternoon.

“I love police work. I love the people I work with,” Whitty told Patch in a previous interview. “That was the biggest thing, leaving the people I’ve grown up with to some extent. We’ve all had kids while we’ve worked here. We’ve shared losses. We’ve been intimately involved in serious investigations, a couple homicide investigations. And with things like that you become very close with people.”

While Whitty is sad to leave the police force, he is excited to be returning to Old Farms, where he went to high school, working alongside some of his former teachers and mentors.

“The opportunity came around and this is something I’ve always wanted to do,” Whitty, a 1987 Old Farms graduate, previously told Patch. “I hold Old Farms very high in my heart…. I didn’t go out looking for the job. That’s the place I’d want to be. I know it intimately.”

His wife, Kimberly Whitty spoke to the crowd of his friends and coworkers about how success is in friendship and community, something she said her husband has had being a police officer in Avon. Robert Whitty values his family, and will be working alongside Kimberly, who has worked in admissions at Avon Old Farms for over a year. Their son, Jake starts as a freshmen there in the fall.

She noted the sacrifice that police officers and their families make.

"All of you who are lucky enough to have someone at home, recognize that we live your life, the life of police officer’s spouse, losing you to holidays, overtime and middle of the night call outs," she said to the people at the retirment party. "The silent voices never are heard in public and are never asked 'how are things going?' Well, when the silent voice says it’s time, you know it’s time."

She is happy that her husband is fulfilling his dream of being a teacher.

"I knew he’d be great at it 'when he retires'…well, I never really wrapped my arms around the thought of 'when he retires'…and here we are standing in it today," she said in her speech.

He has a month off until his first official day at Avon Old Farms on July 1.