TROY, Mich. – There are seven different officers in the Troy Police Department who have fathers that worked for the same department.
Lt. Nate Gobler’s father Mick Gobler worked for the department for 26 years.
“It was just something that I was always interested in as a kid,” Nate Gobler said. “He would come home and had great stories about what happened during the day.”
Mick Gobler is retired now. His advice to his son is to not take things personally and to just deal with the situation and it will pass.
All the fathers are retired now, but said they knew their sons looked up to them. They knew they had an interest in their jobs as police officers but didn’t assume they would follow in their footsteps.
Jason Clark and his father Jim Clark at one point worked crime scenes together before Jim Clark retired.
“He’d be the boss, just like dad. Telling me what to photograph, what we needed to draw. It was a nice opportunity to work at least a little together,” Jason Clark said.
Detective Ryan Whiteside’s father’s advice is what he said shaped him into the detective he is now.
“I know he always provided a really great life for us. His job was a big part of who he was and his character,” Ryan Whiteside said. “I realized at some point that I wanted that for my family.”
“I think one of the main things of this job is to show compassion to people while they are in the situations that they are dealing with,” Barry Whiteside said.
Many of the current officers said they loved coming to work with their fathers and attending other department events when they were little.
The boys turned into men and followed in their father’s footsteps.