Meet the Rocky Mountains' Irish Police Chief: 'I would take holidays from my job in Ireland, fly over, do my firearms test and that night I was out driving a police car'

"Co Meath man Greg Daly, who once traded banking in Ireland for a US police badge, talks about his pride at being the police chief in a Colorado mountain town. There was something irresistible about the TV police drama CHiPs and its motorbike-cop heroes to the boyish youths of the 1970s and 80s, their eager faces crowding around family televisions as the exploits of California Highway Patrol Officer 'Ponch' Poncherello aired weekly on RTE."

"their eager faces crowding around family televisions as the exploits of California Highway Patrol Officer 'Ponch' Poncherello aired weekly on RTE. Dunshaughlin, Co Meath's Greg Daly, the oldest of three, was no exception; he says the sense of adventure, "larger-than-life characters" and "exciting side of policing" appealed to him. So, clearly, did the idea of physical strength, strategy and discipline; Daly began studying martial arts at 14 and continues to this day."

Greg Daly left a banking career in Ireland to become a police officer and now serves as police chief in a Colorado mountain town. He grew up in Dunshaughlin, Co Meath, as the oldest of three. Childhood fascination with the TV show CHiPs and its motorbike-cop heroes inspired a sense of adventure and admiration for larger-than-life characters. He was attracted to the exciting side of policing and to the ideas of physical strength, strategy and discipline. Daly began studying martial arts at 14 and continues to train, combining those skills with law-enforcement duties and pride in his role.

Read at Independent