ST. LOUIS — Careers of service are often something that is passed down from generation to generation and for one St. Louis family, it happens to be a career in law enforcement.
When Ronald Allen Jr. retired from the Army, he was looking for a new career. So he became a security guard which lead him to St. Louis Police Academy.
“Growing up in the inner city, I've seen a lot of violence, and I just wanted to be the change. One of my first baseball coaches, he retired, Lieutenant Colonel Ronnie Robinson, he was my baseball coach, and I looked up to him,” Allen Jr. said.
Ronald, or "Big Allen," worked his way up to St. Louis Police SWAT Sergeant and has grown to love this very challenging career.
“Public service is one of the best things that you can do, serving your city, the place where you grew up. And meeting new people, helping people, that's what I always wanted to do. Just wanted to help people,” Allen Jr. said.
Outside of work, he wanted to be a good example for his son, Ronald Allen III, or "Little Allen."
“He always looked up to me growing up. We were always real close and for him to follow in my footsteps meant the world,” Allen Jr. said.
Allen III said from a very early age he knew he wanted to be just like his dad.
“My dad has been my biggest role model since elementary school when he was in the Army,” Allen III said.
He said if he wasn't a police officer he'd probably still be on the football field.
While they're different, their reason for joining the force is the same.
“Like my dad said, serving the people and being the first on the scene, doing things that other people don't really understand or get to handle,” Allen III said.
Right now, St. Louis Police Sgt. Charles Wall said they're looking for more people to answer the call just like the Allens did.
Currently, there are a little more than 900 men and women serving the St. Louis Police Department, but they can pay about 300 more making recruitment cruicial.
“Your training is so important to us that we're going to pay you while you're in our academy. And upon successful graduation of the academy, we guarantee you a position with our agency. So you're already an employee from day one,” Wall said.
He hopes their story will inspire other families.
“Service is a lot of times deep rooted within families, whether it's military service, or in this case, police service, a lot of times, children will follow in their parent's footsteps,” Wall said.
To learn more about joining the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, click here.