Issue date: June 03, 1998
By JENNIFER DESAI
After 28 years on the Menlo Park Police Department, Sergeant Rich Hutton seems remarkably calm about leaving. "This is the right time for me to go," he says, "while I'm still young and can enjoy my benefits."
Young as he is -- Sergeant Hutton is retiring at age 55 -- present-day Menlo Park is very different from the town he began patrolling in 1960. "The area around the El Camino is all changed. I remember the old quarry was still here when I came to Menlo Park, with the tower where they used to put the Christmas tree every year. So many new buildings have gone up since then."
Not that he's nostalgic. "I think the town's changed for the better. It looks better, and there's more activity now. I say: out with the old; in with the new! Kind of like me, I guess," he says with a laugh.
Sergeant Hutton already has plans. Lots of them. "The day after my last day, I'm going to sleep really late, and then there's a four-day weekend trip planned, and a party at the Elks Club," he says, thinking ahead to it all. But he's looking forward to more active pastimes, as well: he'll keep running and cross-training as usual, he says, and he's looking forward to taking up a musical instrument, though he hasn't decided which one yet. "I just think it's important to learn something new, to keep the mind sharp," he says.
And then there's the Harley-Davidson motorcycle he's planning to ride more often, and the second one he's planning to build. "There's so much to do; you just don't have time for these things when you're working."
He won't miss the job so much, he says. "But I will miss the camaraderie. I plan to keep in touch, but I'll miss a lot of these people."
And they'll miss him. On the day of the interview, officers in the hallways joked with him about his upcoming freedom, and spoke among themselves in more hushed tones about the next day's briefing session, Mr. Hutton's last. "When I've been here that long," one says, "I'd be nervous about the last briefing. I'd be afraid I'd get all emotional."
"Well, it is emotional," another adds.
For the sergeant, though, it's all smooth road ahead. "Menlo Park has been a great place to work," he says. "I've never thought of working anyplace else."
But now that he's thinking about not working -- planning it, in fact -- he can think about spending more time at his Sunnyvale home with his wife, or seeing more of his 8-year-old grandson.
His wife isn't planning to retire for another three years, and by then he just might have that second Harley ready for her. "I can get her to ride on the back of one sometimes," he says.
Then they might just leave Sunnyvale, and go riding off into the sunset together. For now, Serg. Hutton is content. He's got plenty of work to do.
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