Longtime Upper Southampton Police Sergeant Announces Retirement

Leaving just about any job after 32 years is tough.

When it's a job you still love, it's harder.

But police Sgt. Jeffery Delp says he knows he's doing the right thing.

“It comes to a point when you've got to realize your physical limitations. I don't want to become a liability,” said the 55-year-old married father of five and grandfather of three.

“Now I have to find something I love just as much,” he said.

Delp joined the Upper Southampton Township Police force in 1979 and was promoted to sergeant in 1986. His last day will be June 17.

“I've served longer as a sergeant than most guys spend on an entire police force,” the Langhorne resident said with a laugh.

He says his decision to retire was tough. So, too, is recalling specific special moments during his tenure.

“They kind of run into one another,” he said.

But one incident that stands out as especially rewarding is when he was one of the first local officers to use a defibrillator on a man in a home on Laurel Road about eight years ago.

“The subject was having a heart attack,” Delp said. “I shocked him and he came around. As far as we know, he's still living and is our longest living survivor (in Bucks County).”

The most dangerous incident he recalls is a raid on a methamphetamine lab in 1988.

“There was supposed to be men in the house known to be police shooters,” he said.

“The funny thing is that when we knocked on the door to announce the raid, we heard a voice from a female asking us to hold on. So, we forced entry and the female was running around the house dumping Clorox over the floors to attempt to throw my dog off,” he said.

“I was coming down the steps with my dog and I saw a plastic playhouse in the center of the basement,” he explained. “It was the first time I had tunnel vision I thought for sure they were hiding in that playhouse. I don't remember anything but that playhouse.”

The men weren't in the playhouse. But Delp and his canine partner soon found them in a hidden room in the house.

“I did canine work for 16 years," he said. "That was really rewarding.”

And while Delp jokes that “I saw the dogs more than I saw my family,” it's his human colleagues he will miss the most.

“When you deal with some of the things we deal with, it kind of binds you,” he said while remembering two baby deaths.

“Both times I performed CPR on the baby on the way to the hospital," he said. "That's tough for guys to get over and it draws you a little closer.”

While Delp may be doing some more camping in the coming months, it's not surprising what his eventual “retirement” plan is.

“I want to stay in the law enforcement field,” he said.

Delp has been looking at security positions with casinos and hospitals.