“To Protect and Serve” is the motto of Police Officers everywhere. The men and women who put their lives on the line every day to protect the citizens of this country are true heroes. They not only protect and serve, but they also teach, guide, and love the people in their communities. Two such people are Charlie and Vickie Britton.

Charlie was born and schooled in Kennett Missouri graduating from high school in 1961. He came to Chillicothe in 1971 on vacation (who vacations in Chillicothe?) and never left.

In 1974 he met Vickie who was to be his “partner in crime” (preventing it, not committing it) for the rest of his life. Vickie was born in Peoria but moved to Chillicothe shortly thereafter. Vickie’s father was an MP (military police) staff sergeant in the army, so she was always interested in police work. After graduating from IVC in 1971 she took some classes at the junior college, but nothing felt right. When she met Officer Britton, she began to think more about getting into police work herself. The two were married in 1975 and together have one son, Joseph. Charlie has two daughters from a previous marriage, and they have six grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. 

Charlie began working at the Chillicothe Police department in 1973 as an auxiliary police officer where he worked his way up to Captain. He then became a part-time officer and attended PTI  (Police Training Instruction) graduating from his training in 1980 and becoming a full-time patrol officer. 

During those years Charlie worked for the U.S. Marshall’s office, taught officer driving education classes at ICC, was named Officer of the year in 1989, was the sniper for the department, the range officer, organized the ERS (Emergency Response Services), and was field training officer for the department. Charlie retired from the Chillicothe force in 1999. Later he also worked for Peoria County search and rescue unit and at Methodist Hospital transporting patients.

In 2013 he accepted a job at the Henry Police Department where he served as Captain for six years, retiring in 2019.

Now “retired” Charlie still works a few days a week for Starforce National, transporting young men back and forth for military testing.

In 1976 Vickie herself decided to get into Police work. She applied and became a Police Matron at the Chillicothe Department. That year she also started working security at IVC High School. She acquired the nickname “Pinky” and is still called by that name occasionally. While at the school she helped establish the Station Adjustment Program that helped troubled kids. Instead of arresting the kids, they would put them on probation for three months. If they completed all the necessary steps they would not be charged with the offense. She also worked with other officers and the Boy Scouts to establish a program called Chillicothe Police Cadets for high school students. The kids could learn about police work and do ride-alongs with the officers. This new program changed lives, as some of the participants went on into police work. During her time at the school, Vickie also created a drug awareness program for parents, training them on what signs to look for in their children.

From 1983–1985 Vickie worked for the U.S Marshalls office transporting prisoners. 

After the school dropped the security program Vickie began working security at Methodist hospital and trained officers on the systems there. In 2016 she retired from police work.

When asked what their proudest accomplishment was during their careers they both agreed saying; “The impact they had on the youth and their community throughout the many years.”

Nowadays you can find this retired couple fishing. Twice a year they travel to Chetek, Wisconsin, and fish for a week or two along with some of their close friends. Later in the year they have a huge fish fry for about 50–60 of their friends and family, where they eat, laugh, and tell “fish stories” and a few old police stories too!

Being an excellent cook, Vickie was asked to write the monthly cooking column for the Hometown Voice Newspaper, which she enjoys doing.

Charlie and Vickie deserve all of our respect and admiration for keeping us safe and teaching our children lessons throughout the years. Thank you both for a job well done!