BEVERLY, Mass. (AP) – A police officer has retired from the Beverly force, about a month after he responded to a call involving his son three days before the son fatally stabbed himself and his girlfriend.

Relatives of Lori Corbett, 26, said they were outraged that the officer, Raymond Beals Jr., announced Monday he would retire after 26 years on the force. The announcement means Beals will not face discipline for his response to the police call that preceded Corbett’s stabbing last month.

“He took that oath to protect and serve, and he didn’t protect her,” Corinne Sirianni, Corbett’s sister, told The Boston Globe.

Beals said “things have been taken care of.”

“I’m out of the business. Just give me a break,” he told the Globe.

Three days before the killing, Lori Corbett’s mother, Gail, had called 911 and reported to Beverly police that Jason Beals was refusing to leave her home.

The dispatcher was Jason’s father, Raymond Beals Jr., a 26-year department veteran.

Instead of dispatching a cruiser, Raymond Beals answered the call himself, despite the department’s policy not to respond to domestic calls alone. He also went despite an unwritten rule to avoid answering calls involving family or friends.

Beals, 63, escorted his 34-year-old son out of the house, but never logged the call, according to Beverly officials. He also never told the Corbetts that they could file an emergency restraining order, Gail Corbett said.

Then, on Dec. 1, Jason Beals stabbed Lori Corbett 15 times as she lay in her bed in her room. Beals then stabbed himself fatally.

On Monday, Beals announced his retirement. The decision allows him to avoid a disciplinary hearing scheduled for Jan. 9.

He will collect a nearly $41,000-a-year pension, with health benefits.

Because he will not be an employee of the Police Department on Jan. 9, there is no disciplinary action the department can take, Solicitor Peter Gilmore said.

“There is nothing we could do, even if we wanted to,” Gilmore said.

Mayor Thomas Crean said the resignation made sense.

“He’s not going to be an officer anymore,” Crean said. “I think it’s the most appropriate thing that could have happened.”

AP-ES-01-01-04 1532EST