The End of Watch motif relates to the theme of Death and Mortality. The term refers to a number of things in the story. It is the term usually applied to the end of each officer’s daily shift. Here, it is also used to refer to retirement, when an officer who has dedicated his life to service lays down his arms and his duty and enters a new phase of life. It first comes up in reference to Pete’s retirement.

In Hodges’s case, End of Watch refers to end of a life spent in service. When Hodges first retired, he was unable to lay down his role as a “Knight of the Badge and Gun” (21). He felt that his life’s work wasn’t completed, and he didn’t know who he was without that life’s work. Eventually, he found closure by catching Brady and was able to let go of his old life. His new stage of life was one of teaching a new generation—Holly and to a lesser extent Jerome.

Stopping Brady for good this time is Hodges’s last task. It marks the end of his life’s work. Now that his students are ready to take up the fight, Hodges is now called upon to lay down his arms and move on to the final stage of life, which is letting go—the End of the Final Watch.