A family tradition...

There just seems to be a tradition in police work, of sons and daughters following their dads and moms into law enforcement.

It happens in the Greenville Police Department, too.   Officer Joe Tripp's son, Doug, was a Greenville Police Officer in the 1980s. Joe Tripp was an officer in the 1950s -70s.  Lt. E.E. Laughinghouse was a Greenville Police Officer in the 1960s and 70s, and his son, Edward, is an officer with almost 30 years of service with the department, now.     Reuben Sawyer was one of the most well respected Lieutenants this Department has seen in the past 20 years.  He is retired now, but his 2 sons are both officers with GPD.

Sergeant Matt Cleary was a Greenville Police Officer from the late 60s until the early 90s.  His son became a GPD officer in March 1992 and served as a K-9 officer until he was injured in a motorcycle crash in 2003.

There are plenty of other examples:  Officer Wayne Smith's dad was a Sheriff's deputy.  Chief Sauls's father is a retired Sheriff...there are others, too many to remember here.

What makes a young man or woman look at the field and decide to become a police officer?

Surely as the child of an officer, they must see daily the stress and long hours,  the missed birthdays and absent holidays...the nights away from home.

Yet, many of the children of police officers decide early in life that they want to follow that path and serve others.

Maybe its the satisfaction they see when mom or dad puts a bad person in jail.  Maybe its the respect their parent has for the community's safety.   Perhaps they see the uniform as a symbol.

Whatever the reason,  following mom & dad into law enforcement has been, and seems as if it always will be, a family tradition.

We recently learned the daughter of a good friend of ours just changed her college major from Construction Management to Criminal Justice.   Our friend was a former police officer who recently passed away.  The apple really doesn't fall far from the tree.