Retired officers experienced exactly what that meant at a morning tea in their honour at Orange Police Station on Thursday.

They were given the chance to catch up with old colleagues, thanked for their years of service and shown the latest body-worn camera technology, which officers are now using to collect evidence.

For Greg Pringle, a former chief inspector who left to work as a sheriff and then at the Department of Industry, it was his first visit back.

"It's a chance to catch up with with some old friends," he said.

Former senior constables Ross Smith and Ian Hatswell have been regular attendees at the annual morning tea since they retired in the '90s and said they enjoyed hearing about the technological advances.

They said the changes in policing in recent decades could be summarised in one word: technology.

"Now the cars are all equipped with computers and they can do automatic criminal checks," Mr Smith said.

"They can tell straight away whether a car is registered."

But Mr Hatswell said some rules were also more relaxed in the past.

"We used to be able to chase people at 160, 170km/h," he said.

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