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Connecticut Cop Gets 3 Special Partners For His Final Patrol, His 3 Sons Who Are Also Police Officers

GREENWICH, Conn. (CBSNewYork) – It's a family affair on the force in Connecticut.

A retiring sergeant in Greenwich is spending one of his last days on patrol with three fellow officers he's got a soft spot for – his three sons.

Greenwich police officer Michael O'Connor Jr. had a new partner Thursday, but it's someone he knows very well. It was his dad, 59-year-old Sgt. Michael O'Connor Sr.

"I'm very proud of them," the father said.

That pride multiplied by three as he knew all three of his partners since birth.

Sons Michael, Patrick, and Billy followed dad's footsteps into the force they grew up in and in the town they grew up in.

"All my memories are of him in uniform, pulling up in a cruiser, and we'd always be waiting in the back porch," Patrick O'Connor said.

"What kind of drew me to the career as a whole was a sense of a family," Michael Jr. added.

As Sgt. O'Connor retires after 35 years, the chief granted him this one special family oriented assignment – each hour his partner was a different son.

"He technically was our supervisor so it's not that it's nerve-racking because at end of the day he is our dad, but at same time you always want to make your dad proud. It was definitely a great experience and we won't see that ever again," William O'Connor said.

They typically work different shifts in different units, but that's not to say there hasn't been confusion before.

"I got a check dropped off in Mike junior's mailbox for me and because it didn't say senior and he cashed it so he owes me 150 bucks," the retiring father joked.

"We're a very close family… they make me proud just in general," Sgt. O'Connor added.

"There's a lot of ways to get hurt here so I'm just hoping they'll have a safe career and help people."

"You always have to be honest and do the right thing and that's probably one of the biggest things I learned from him and hopefully can continue doing that," Patrick O'Connor said.

After Sgt. O'Connor retires, he'll still be around serving as an auxiliary officer, called in for special events.

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