ROYAL CITY — The bright yellow school buses lined up along Camelia Street Friday afternoon, horns honking, and each bus stopped long enough to drop off a package of posters and drawings with the same message for former Royal City Police Chief Darin Smith.

“Congratulations, Chief, and good luck.”

Smith announced his retirement in late 2020, after 30 years in law enforcement. An actual retirement party wouldn’t work, so his family and friends came up with an alternative. Officers and Royal City residents drove through Lions Park to say congratulations and thank you.

All of Smith’s law enforcement career was in Royal City.

“All right here,” said his wife, Angie Smith.

He went from patrol deputy to chief — no, actually he started a step below that.

“From reserve to chief,” Angie Smith said.

Reserve officers are volunteers who receive police training.

Smith said his most current job took a toll on his health, his mental health in particular, and that was why he decided to retire. But it was still difficult to step down and step away.

“I really think that’s what I was put here to do,” he said.

Smith said he worked as a reserve for a month before he was hired as the RCPD’s patrol deputy.

“It was just a two-man department, the chief and myself,” Smith remembered.

Law enforcement, especially law enforcement equipment, was a lot different back then, he said. When he needed to contact dispatch and couldn’t take time to go back to the office, he would stop at a pay phone and call 911, he said.

“Law enforcement, I think, has improved in overall professionalism. Certainly our department did over the years,” he said.

Smith became the department sergeant when the RCPD expanded to three officers. He was a sergeant for seven years before becoming chief in 1999.

There are rituals that come with retirement from law enforcement, and 7-Roger-1 (Smith) signed out for the last time just before the parade honoring him Friday. It was, Angie Smith said as she wiped away a few tears, an emotional moment.

There was a lot of emotion as the buses rolled by, with kids reaching out the windows to give the chief a high-five. The buses were followed by a long line of police cars, lights flashing, from departments throughout the county and beyond.

Interspersed with the police cars were Royal City residents.

“Hit the siren,” ordered a driver, and the kids in the back whooped-whooped in response.

Officers came from Moses Lake and Ephrata and Quincy. And deputies drove from the Grant County Sheriff’s Office. A new officer from Mattawa asked for some advice from a seasoned professional.

Royal City officer Yered Farias stopped to thank the chief for what he taught him and give Smith a bear hug. The Washington State Patrol troopers dropped off a gift from the WSP office. A deputy from the Benton County Sheriff’s Office joined the parade.

Smith had one word of advice for the officers as they drove by.

“Be careful out there,” he said.