Salt Lake County Sheriff's office logs its last-ever retiree

SOUTH SALT LAKE — His wife told him, "You are the last samurai."

On Dec. 31, the last day of existence for the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office before becoming the Unified Police Department, Sheriff's Capt. Carl "Pink" Evans retired, making him the last person to retire from the department.

For the man known by his co-workers simply as "Pink," it only seemed appropriate that he would forever be linked with the sheriff's office.

Evans retired after 49 years of law enforcement service. He started in 1960 as a dispatcher.

Thursday, a retirement party was held at UPD headquarters.

"It's something I didn't expect. I'm totally overwhelmed. I just wanted to walk away," Evans said with a smile.

For nearly a half-century, anyone who worked with the sheriff's office knew Evans. Thursday, sheriff's employees from the past 50 years, many of whom had long ago retired themselves or moved on to other departments, stopped by to give their congratulations.

"I can tell you a story about every one of them," Evans said looking out over the crowd.

Sheriff Jim Winder presented Evans with a shadow box of his badges, department IDs and patches from the past 50 years. A representative from the LDS Church also gave Evans a congratulatory letter and a framed picture of him working security during LDS General Conference. Evans has volunteered to work security for every General Conference since 1976.

Evans got his nickname from his father as a child. His father played professional baseball and told him that every player had a nickname. Because of his fair skin and red hair, he soon earned the nickname Pink, which has stuck with him ever since. For many, it was the only name he was known by.

Evans recalled one time his wife called the department and asked for Carl Evans.

"We don't have a Carl Evans," the receptionist told her.

Since Evans started working a half-century ago, 20-pound walkie-talkies gave way to fax machines, which in turn were replaced with laptop computers and Twitter accounts.

"We came out of the 18th century into the 21st century," he said.

Technological advances in police work have been the biggest differences he's seen from the time he started until now, Evans said.