a patrol officer with the Conshohocken Police Department

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Hickey Jr. is among several officers in eastern Montgomery County following in their fathers' footsteps. The others include: * George Metz Jr., a patrol officer with the Conshohocken Police Department, who learned about police work from his father, George Metz Sr., a Lower Merion Township detective. * Daniel R. Diedel Jr., a part-time dis*****er with the Lower Gwynedd Police Department and son of Daniel R. Diedel Sr., a Springfield Police Department detective. * Officer James J. Cotter Jr. of the Whitemarsh Police Department and the son of James J. Cotter Sr., chief of the East Norriton Police Department. * Detective James Dougherty of Conshohocken, the son of the late Matthew Dougherty, a former Conshohocken police officer who had transferred to the Montgomery County Sheriff's department. In interviews, all the sons said they went into police work with their eyes open. They learned firsthand of the difficulty of maintaining family life around shifts. They learned that the drama of police work is mixed with large doses of monotony. Some recalled times when their fathers were injured in the line of duty, injuries that made them sharply aware of the dangers of the job. On the plus side, they learned that it was steady, well-paid work with a higher-than-average level of job satisfaction. Hickey Jr., 29, traces his interest in police work to his early experiences with his father. He recalls visits as a youngster to the Whitpain police station, where Hickey Sr., 53, has been an officer for 20 years. He was especially proud when his father came to his school in uniform to talk to his class. He also remembers sitting in the patrol car while his father showed him how it worked. "It was pretty exciting," Hickey Jr. recalls. "I wanted to be a cop right away." Hickey Jr. realized his dream four years ago, when he was hired by the Norristown Police Department after four years as a military police officer in the Army and two years as a security director while earning an associate's degree in police science from Montgomery County Community College. "I love this place," he said, his face lighting up with a broad grin. "I like helping people. It's not boring. There's something new every day." "I was always fascinated by the work he did," Cotter Jr. said of his father. Some officers said they were impressed by the social service aspect of the job. Dougherty, for example, recalled his father helping people resolve their problems over cups of coffee in his home. "It was just the general impression of him helping the people of Conshohocken" and the fact that "a lot of people had trust in him," Dougherty said. But being a policeman's son has its drawbacks. "You stood out in a crowd when your dad's a policeman," Hickey Jr. said. ''You're constantly being scrutinzed by everyone. We would walk a tight line. If we didn't, our fathers would be the first to know about it." The officers said they had come from close-knit families and believed they would have been just as close if they had chosen different occupations. They are fathers and sons who had hunted and fished together for years before they shared police work. They were from families who are used to scheduling holiday celebrations around police shifts. Some of the sons said they occasionally seek their fathers' advice on job- related issues, but generally they try to keep their professional and private lives separate. The fathers said they never tried to discourage their sons from a livelihood they knew could be hazardous. "He never sort of talked me into it but he never talked me out of it," Metz Jr. recalled about his father's response to his career choice - a decision he made when he was a high school student. "George matured early in my opinion," commented Metz Sr. "He has good judgement and common sense. That's what you need on the street." "In a sense, I'm proud that he wants to follow in my footsteps," Diedel Sr. said of his son. But Diedel conceded that he does worry about some aspects of the job, especially the toll it can take on families. "It's a tough life," he said. "It takes them away from their kids. . . . It takes a special woman to be able to put up with all those shifts." Despite the drawbacks, "it's an exciting job," Deidel said with a smile.