Riverhead police lieutenant signs off:
Lt. Robert Peeker retires (Video)

Riverhead Police bid farewell yesterday to one of its top brass, Lt. Robert Peeker, who has retired after more than 33 years of service in the town police force.

Officers lined up outside police headquarters on Howell Avenue to shake hands with the retiring lieutenant. Officer Dennis Cavanaugh called them to attention and presented Peeker “for the last time as a Riverhead police officer.” The lieutenant returned the salute and the officers applauded as he began to make his way down the line, saying goodbye to each man and woman in turn with a handshake and a hug.

Peeker’s wife Melissa looked on tearfully as her husband said goodbye to the last two people in line, fellow lieutenants David Lessard and Rick Boden, who handed him a police radio for his last transmission, to headquarters: “15 is 28.” The number 28 is the police radio code for “out of service.

Peeker, 57, joined the department in 1981, at the same time as Police Chief David Hegermiller. The two men rose through the ranks together and yesterday reminisced about attending the police academy and sergeant’s school together.

“I’d like to thank Lt. Peeker for taking such good care of us and all the residents of the Town of Riverhead and for all the positive changes he brought to the Riverhead Police Department for the past 34 years,” Hegermiller said in an interview afterward. “On a personal note and as a coworker, I want to thank him for all his loyalty and all his support over the years and most of all for being a friend.”

Peeker said he hasn’t made any long-term plans for civilian life. Retirement, he said, has always been “an abstract concept” until now.

“I’ve got a lot of catching up to do,” he said. “There are a lot of projects I’ve been putting off for a while.”

But, he added, first things first: a long-awaited vacation in St. Lucia with his wife.