A woman who has been the public face of the island’s police force is about to retire after nearly 30 years in the job.

When Alma Thompson first joined staff on the front desk at Douglas’s main police station chief constable Gary Roberts was a mere detective constable, and some of the younger recruits were not even born.

’Obviously the staff have changed but a lot of things haven’t,’ said Alma who turns 60 later this month and officially finishes on May 22.

’Some things are done in a different way now, for instance everything is done by computer whereas when I started we weren’t using computers. That’s the big change,’ she said.

To mark her retirement, a get-together of colleagues past and present is planned.

’I think there may be a few of them but they are keeping me in the dark at the moment,’ she said.

During her time in the job there have been a number of royal visits, new Lieutenant Governors and chief constables.

’Gary Roberts will be my fourth chief constable. It’s been a privilege to work there really. I’ve met a lot of nice people and there are a lot of valued colleagues who I will miss.

’The front desk is most people’s first point of contact with the police station,’ she said.

’I’ve recorded details from quite a few producers in my time and we take lost property too. Some quite odd things get handed in - even a set of false teeth on one occasion.

’One of the good things about the island is that people are surprisingly honest still. It’s amazing that things are returned. People lose wallets at TT with large amounts of cash in and are delighted to find someone has handed it in.

’We’ve also had a few interesting characters over the years who would call in at the station. There was one lady who was convinced she worked for MI5 - that was about 20 years ago,’ she said.

A police spokesman said: ’Alma’s contribution is impossible to quantify. She has always possessed an incredible intuition, and when something hasn’t been quite right she has made sure the right staff were briefed. I’ve no doubt that lives have been saved because of her diligence.

’Alma is also a friend, as well as a valued colleague. Every one of us wish her a long and healthy retirement, which has been well-earned.’

With retirement just around the corner, she has a few home improvement projects in the pipeline and she and her husband Colin plan to do some travelling.

’It’ll be nice to have TT off this time too, normally all leave is cancelled during TT,’ she said.