This is one of three stories Father’s Day stories about area children following in their fathers’ footsteps

Once a profession gets in your blood, it is hard to shake it. For several Miss-Lou sons and daughters, that profession — be it law enforcement, physical therapy or ophthalmology — was something with which they were born.

William Mitchell IV, Summer Milliken Thompson and Dr. Aaron Smith all tried to fight their father’s profession for various reasons, but ultimately all were called to professions they love, and their fathers could not be more proud.

This is Mitchell’s story:

Mitchell, the son of the late William Mitchell III, in 2006 followed his father into law enforcement. His father, depending on whom you ask, was either the first or second black policeman at the Natchez Police Department, though many agreed Walter Squalls Jr. was the first.

Both Squalls and Mitchell III started in 1965 at Natchez Police Department, and Mitchell, who was born after they started, said he considers both of them the first.

Mitchell said his father was a people’s officer.

“People would show up day and night at our house, knock on the door, and ask to speak to my dad,” Mitchell said. “I could peek in and see them talking. It was like having a police substation at your house.”

Mitchell said his father could be on vacation, and he would still take time for people at his house. Mitchell said his father was often stopped at the grocery store.

“There are too many times to remember them all,” Mitchell said. “He would always make time for people.”

At first Mitchell said he was hesitant about getting into law enforcement because he was not sure he could live up to his father’s career.

“I had always known I wanted to do law enforcement, but I tried to run from it,” he said.

Mitchell went to college and dual majored in criminal justice and music, When he first returned home, he ended up working at the school district as the percussion instructor.

Less than a year later, in December 2005, people at Natchez Police had called him and said they were about to administer the civil service test and he should at least consider taking it. Mitchell took the test and was enrolled in the police academy by April 2006.

“A police officer is a counselor, a teacher, a protector, a doctor, a lawyer and a mechanic,” Mitchell said. “That person who lost a loved one needs a shoulder to cry on, and also needs a person to find the person who took their loved one.

“I always tell potential officers if you are not here to help people, you need to go somewhere else.”

Mitchell worked for NPD, where his father spent his whole career from 1965 until 1993, from 2006 to 2016, when Sheriff Travis Patten was elected and he moved to the Adams County Sheriff’s Office.

At first as an officer, Mitchell said he even tried to fight being like his dad as an officer.

“As I got out of my rookie years, people would tell me I was acting just like my dad,” Mitchell said. “I didn’t think so but people would tell me I should be like him because my dad was the man. They would say if you looked in Webster’s dictionary under policeman, there would be a picture of my dad.”

Growing up, Mitchell’s father always told him to be better than him. At the same time, he would be showing him the ropes of how to be an officer.

“I learned how to be firm and fair from him,” Mitchell said. “You say what you mean, and mean what you say.

“He passed two years before I became an officer, but he would be proud of me. Being an officer meant a lot to him.”