Muncie police officer gets surprise radio call on last day
MUNCIE, Ind. (WISH) — For as long as Olivia and Tiffany Clark have been alive, their dad, Darrin, has been a police officer.
“It gave me a good role model,” Olivia said.
He was there at Christmas in his uniform when the girls were little, and there in his uniform as the girls grew up.
“He’s not only a father to me, but also a father figure to all of my best friends,” Tiffany said.
But last week, after more than 20 years on the force, Officer Clark put on his Muncie Police Department uniform for the last time. What he didn’t know is that dispatchers worked with his daughters to have them on the other end of his final radio call before he retired.
“Hey, dad, it’s Tiffany, and Olivia’s here with me, too,” Tiffany said over the radio. “And we just wanted to thank you and tell you that we love you. We want to thank you for your 20-plus years of service to the community that we call home. Words can’t express the amount of love and gratitude that we have for you and really just how proud we are of you today. We can’t wait to spend time with you more now that you’re retired. And we love you so much, for the last time, 10-42.”
10-42 signifies it’s the “end of duty” radio call.
“Thank you very much, that means a lot. I love you, too,” Officer Clark said back.
“I might have shed a tear or two, but I’m not the only one,” the now-retired cop said. “I had one of my sergeants on his way to a special detail and he called me as soon as he was done and he said, ‘I just wanted to let you know that I was driving down the highway bawling like a baby when I heard your daughter on the radio.’”
“It meant a lot that he was able to call 10-42 for the last time and it wasn’t a recording of him calling 10-42,” Olivia said. “So it meant a lot that we could be there and hearing him calling it for the last time.”
“The fact that I was reached out to do something like this for, in my opinion, the best dad in the world, in that moment, it meant everything and I know it’s something I’ll remember for the rest of my life,” Tiffany said.
“It’s something that I’ll never forget,” Officer Clark said.