Former Rusk resident retires from Waco PD

In a ceremony held Monday, Aug. 6, after more than 39 years of service to the Waco Police Department, Detective Trish McDuff retired her badge.

McDuff -- daughter of Catherine and Edwin Thedford, both deceased -- is a graduate of Rusk High School’s class of 1975. She then attended Stephen F Austin State University in Nacogdoches. She graduated SFA with a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice on May 5, 1979, then went to Waco Police Department on May 21, 1979.

In October of 1979, McDuff graduated from the Waco Police Department Training Academy and was assigned as a Patrol Officer. McDuff worked all areas of Waco during her patrol days. During that time, she became a Special Investigator helping to document, photograph and diagram crime scenes.

In 1982, she became a detective where she received training in handwriting analysis and comparison, advanced latent fingerprint techniques, questioned documents, fraud investigations – forgery, credit card abuse and identity theft, and became a TCOLE Licensed Instructor assisting in the Waco Police Academy training for several years.

Detective McDuff has earned her Master Peace Officer Certification, a certificate of Appreciation from the U.S. Secret Service, is a former member of F.I.A.T – Forgery Investigators Association of Texas, and a member of IAFCI – International Association of Financial Crime Investigators for the past 25 years.

The WPD and all the businesses she assisted in the years of her detective work wish her the best of retirement and she will be missed.