``There were a few times I was surprised that I walked away alive,'' the Green Valley police superintendent said.

``I've worked mostly around the Bankstown area, mostly in Campsie, but in Sydney's CBD and other areas during my time. So I've seen a lot.

``One memorable night was when I was involved in a car chase in Toukley, where the guys had committed an armed robbery at a TAB and taken hostages. We were chasing after their car at high speeds, [became] airborne and had a huge crash.

``We all walked away without a scratch on us. I couldn't believe it.''

Superintendent Chidgey was formerly the operations manager for the south-west metro region for two years, but now will be acting in the top job at Green Valley indefinitely, while Superintendent David Stinson is on leave.

The Cronulla resident joined the police force aged 16, in 1968. He said he has seen big changes during his time.

``When I joined we didn't have mobile phones or computers it was a completely different world,'' he said. ``New technologies have made things a lot easier, but now we have to really push young officers to get out of the station. We don't really just `walk the beat' anymore.

``So far, Green Valley been a pretty quiet area to work in, but I think there's an underground drug culture that we're not aware of.

``Only a very small part of our command is urban but most of the crime that is reported occurs there.

``It's often hard to know what's going on in the rural areas.

``I'm sure that there are a lot of drug houses out there and we'd never know.

``I think that a lot of crime in this area is going unreported, so we would encourage people to come forward and let us know if they see anything suspicious or unexpected.''