Paul and Josh Hudson are never off duty.

Paul is the chief of police at the Andalusia Police Department, and Josh is a patrol officer with the Opp Police Department, and the father-son duo have taken what they’ve learned growing up and applied it to their demanding jobs on the force.

“I always try to treat everybody with the utmost respect, and hope to get that respect in return,” Paul said. “It doesn’t always work out that way, but that’s what I live by, especially nowadays.

“I want Josh to get as much training as he can get, and progress as far as he can progress, just like I have,” he said. “I’ve had quite a few opportunities, and I’d like to see him succeed.”

When Josh decided to go into law enforcement, Paul said he felt honored.

“I felt honored as a dad that he decided to follow in my footsteps,” he said. “Basically, he’s following mine and my dad’s (Dwight’s) footsteps. At one point when my dad was in law enforcement, there were three generations of law enforcement serving.”

Paul’s father worked as a chief deputy in Crenshaw County, and with the Butler County Sheriff’s Office. He retired in August 2012.

When the timing was right, Josh said he knew what he wanted to do with the rest of his life — be a police officer.

“I knew as soon as I got old enough that that was something I wanted to do,” Josh said.

Josh was 21 when he went to the police academy while working on the Florala police force.

He said growing up a police officer’s son was a little different.

“He was gone a lot, but there was a lot of entertainment in there,” Josh said. “We got to play a lot.”

Some good memories were of him and his father throwing the football in the yard, Josh said.

“We just got out and did stuff together,” he said.

Paul was hired as a patrol officer with the APD on June 17, 1994, and at the time, Josh was 3 years old.

“He’s been around it basically all of his life, or as long as he can remember,” Paul said.

With what law enforcement officers go through on a daily basis, Paul said he does worry about his son.

“Yeah, I mean just like any parent would regardless,” he said. “With the way things are today, you never know when something might happen. You have to protect yourself or somebody else.

“You always have that thought in the back of your mind, and you hear something going on and you get that phone call and ask hey, ‘Are you alright?’” he said.

Paul said he’s impressed upon Josh to always be careful and know his surroundings.

“By all means be aware that the public is watching everything that you do,” he said. “They’re ready to scrutinize everything you do. Treat people like you want to be treated. If you want to be respected, gain respect. That’s the biggest thing is to treat anybody with respect. You hope you get that respect.”

Josh said that his father has always told him to be safe on the job, and just to treat others like you’d want to be treated.

All in all, Josh said Paul is a great father.

“Dad’s great,” Josh said. “He’s always been there when I needed something.”