HAVING spent most of his working life in the police force, Arthur Govier has more than a few useful interrogation skills up his sleeve.

So he's also pretty good at evading the probing questions of a journalist, namely me, who finally managed to persuade the retired Mid Devon chief inspector to talk about his career and life after the police force.

It is testimony to how fond Arthur became of Tiverton — one of the towns he policed — that he chooses to still live there. And although he might not now patrol its streets on foot, as he did in his younger days, his face is still a familiar one thanks to his volume of voluntary work.

This year Arthur celebrates his 70th birthday, but after 15 years of retirement, he is far from forgotten.

The memories he is happy to share provide a fascinating insight into how policing has changed over the decades and how the town itself has developed.

"Policing was vastly different then," reflected the father-of-two.

"We did an eight-hour tour of duty around Tiverton — and that was eight hours on foot. It really brought you into contact with the public all the time because you were out there meeting and speaking to people.

"The respect you got was vastly different from today. I think it's because you had time to devote to what I call the social side of the job. You spoke to people and helped them. Later on, as things developed, you only had time to deal with things as they happened.

"When I became a policeman in 1963, based in Tiverton, it was before the town had any flood relief scheme. During periods of high water one of the responsibilities of the night policeman was to record the level of the water every hour by reading the board on the bridge in Bridge Street.

"If it rose to a certain level, there was a system in place to notifying people in high- risk areas.

"I remember seeing Lowman Green being flooded and people couldn't get from one side of the river to the other."

Another of Arthur's early memories of Tiverton was in the days when the town had no link road, M5 or business park at Lowman Way.

He said: "Crime had always been quite local, but those things opened it up to the travelling criminal, which made policing a bit more difficult."

During his lengthy police career, no two days were the same for Arthur, so he never knew what he would be dealing with next.

He recalled: "During my first police days in Tiverton, I detained a person in Bampton Street who had just done a smash and grab at a jeweller's shop. I had just finished work so I was off duty — I ran out just in time.

"I also went on the miners striker in Derbyshire for 13 weeks. I was in charge of the police support unit. It was horrendous at times.

"I was also a specialist search supervisor when the Irish activities were still quite prevalent. When we had royal visits in the area, I would get a search team there in advance to check the property.

"What I enjoyed most was helping people — although the enforcement side is, of course, what you're paid to do. I did 31 years' service and enjoyed every minute."

Arthur was 23 years old when he joined the Devon and Cornwall Constabulary in 1963.

"It all came about by mistake," said Arthur. "I had no intention of joining the police force: I just wanted a career and a secure job. After working in the Chulmleigh area for six years I decided to join the police and got posted to Tiverton, where I spent the first five years of my service.

"I spent two years in Tiverton during my probation and the next three years covering the nearby villages of Burlescombe and Westleigh.

"It helped that all the time I was in Tiverton the first time I was playing football for either Tiverton or Elmore. I was a centre forward."

After five initial years in Tiverton, Arthur's career took him to several other places but by 1980 he jumped at the chance to return to Tiverton as an inspector.

And for the last five years of his career, he was chief inspector, responsible for the policing of the whole of Mid Devon.

"I started at the bottom in the area and then finished at the top in the same place," reflected Arthur. "It was a long time to spend at one station.

"I was born in Chulmleigh, but in view of my long-standing connection with Tiverton, I almost feel I'm a Tivertonian."

It was during his second return to Tiverton in the eighties that Arthur started his community work and he has been a governor at Tiverton High School, Wilcombe Primary School, also in Tiverton, and The Gables Hostel at Willand. He was also trustee of the Tiverton adventure playground, a police-approved scheme to provide school-aged children with recreational activities.

But when he retired from the force, his community work really took off.

"I'm just not very good at saying no!" said Arthur.

"People think, and sometimes you do yourself, that you've got all the time in the world when you retire, but it turns out vastly different.

"I agreed to become the chairman of the local St John Ambulance, who were trying to restart after an absence of more than 30 years. I thought I would just help them get it off the ground again —and remained the chairman for seven years."

Then, in 1996, Arthur joined the management committee of the Tiverton Hospital League of Friends. And by 2001 he was chairman of its fundraising committee, which was formed with the ambitious target of raising £500,00 to buy new equipment for the proposed new Tiverton hospital.

When that goal was achieved, it seemed inevitable that he would become overall chairman of the Tiverton Hospital League of Friends in 2005 when his predecessor had to step down — and he is still in the post today.

Somehow, Arthur also finds the time to be chairman of the Exe Valley Market and Community Bus, a vital voluntary transport service, that enables the elderly to shop in Tiverton twice a week.

And, in any spare time he has left, Arthur enjoys nothing more than playing with his four grandchildren — and he is still partial to a few sports, including golf and cricket.

Although many might have suggested that Arthur should share more of his professional and private secrets by writing his memoirs, this seems about as likely as that jewellery thief escaping his clutches in Bampton Street all those years ago.