A senior records clerk at the City of Delaware Police Department retired Tuesday after 27 years of service with the office.

Charlotte Cooper said Thursday that she’d always wanted to work at the police department, and she finally got her chance in 1993 when a full-time position became available.

“Luckily, I was accepted, interviewed, and got hired,” Cooper said.

She added she spent years dispatching officers and later processing reports and pulling information about cases for officers.

“I started out in dispatch and had the philosophy that nobody is going to get hurt on my watch, and thankfully, nobody did and nobody has,” Cooper said. “I was not only there to help the citizens of Delaware but to also assist any officers in any way that I could. It was something I looked forward to every day.”

Cooper, who turned 65 last month, said she decided it was time to retire so she could spend more time with her family.

“I want to be able to enjoy a little bit of my life with my husband,” Cooper said. “I need to spend time with him and with my grandkids. I feel like I abandoned ship. I hated to leave but felt that I needed to. Life is too short and too precious. Take it a day at a time and live it the best you can.”

Cooper said she grew up in Delaware and lived there for most of her life before recently moving to Marengo.

She said there’s lots she’ll miss about the department.

“Delaware is my home,” Cooper said. “I just miss everybody and miss the camaraderie of being with them and talking to them. I’ll miss processing citations, charges and reports. (I’ll miss) working with everybody, seeing everybody every day … having their backs every day.”

Cooper added she considers the officers in the Delaware Police Department to be her family.

“I’ll miss everything about working with the greatest group of officers in the state of Ohio, if not the United States,” she said. “They’re family. I’m old enough that some of them could be my grandchildren.”

City of Delaware Police Capt. Adam Moore said Friday that Cooper should be proud of her time with the department.

“Retirement is a significant milestone, and Charlotte should be proud of her 30 years of service to others in the community,” Moore said. “Her sense of duty and concern for Delaware was always front and center.”