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Keith Hoey, Colorado State Trooper With Record Number Of DUI Arrests In 1 Night, Retires

MONTROSE, Colo. (CBS4) - Technician Keith Hoey has a firm grasp on how much time is enough time. He spent 45 years of his life as a Colorado State Patrol Trooper in his home town of Montrose.

"We've had our ups and our downs," he said.

When you do something that difficult for that long, you don't do it because it's easy. Hoey will tell you that time and time again when the going got tough, serving his community is what kept him going.

"It takes a lot to do what we do," he says. "You look at it and what you do you hope makes a difference."

His boss sergeant Dave Everage says he and the rest of the men and women who had the pleasure of working with the technician learned a lot from him about how to be a gentleman while still being a trooper.

"He was phenomenal. The way he could talk to people and relate to them. We just don't see that kind of character anymore," says Everage.

Make no mistake though, he was good at his job. He set the record for the number of drunk driver pulled off the road in one night.

"I had an occasion to one night to arrest five DUIs, and that record still stands today."

So you'd best believe when Hoey says it's time for him to go, it's time. With the job getting more tech oriented and him getting older he says right now is the time to hang it up.

"The older you get the grumpier you get I guess," he jokes.

He's retiring as the longest serving trooper in CSP history so he can spend more time with the people who mean the most to him -- his family.

Capture
(credit: Pryce Hoey)

In his last radio callout, he said, "To my family, thank you for staying with me through this. I love you. God speed and take care."

Hoey says he is going to take some long overdue trips once COVID-19 is under control because he says it's hard to plan a vacation when you are keeping your community safe.

He says he will miss his fellow troopers the most, but he's a Montrose guy who still lives there so he's bound to see them around even if he's not working alongside them anymore.

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