Pocatello Police Capt. Bill Collins never thought his daughter Callie would follow in his footsteps with a career in law enforcement.

Callie, now 27 years old, had already gotten her master’s degree in natural resources at the University of Idaho and was two years into obtaining a doctorate in environmental science there when grant funding for her research got cut.

It took Callie a few months to process that she wouldn’t be getting a Ph.D. after completing more than half of the program, though she felt she had no other option but to change course once financing for her work fell through.

“I’ve always been interested in law enforcement because of my dad and he’s so passionate about the job,” she said. “It’s easy to get caught up in other people’s passion because seeing them passionate makes you want to have that, too, but I had other things I was interested in and I wanted to pursue those.”

Callie eventually decided to jump into a six-week police training program with the goal of joining the Pocatello Police Department. She was hired at PPD as a patrol officer in December 2020 and just finished field training about three weeks ago.

When she told her dad she would be joining the force, she said he was supportive.

Bill is a 31-year veteran of the Pocatello police force. He has held various posts in the department over the past few decades and was recently promoted to captain in July.

“Throughout the department I get a lot of people who say, ‘Your dad let you be a cop?’” Callie said. “A lot of people don’t want their kids to be in law enforcement, but my dad was always supportive.”

Bill said he was surprised to learn that Callie had diverted from what he thought was her path to a doctorate degree and a government job, perhaps one in human performance in the military.

“She said she had decided that she wanted to do something besides sit behind a desk all day,” he said. “But it was stressful for her going through our training. I think she realized there was a lot more to law enforcement than she thought.”

Bill said he’s worried about his daughter’s safety now that she’s in the field as a patrol officer, but he finds comfort in the fact that she’s had good training.

“I think every family member of every police officer worries about them every time they go to work,” he said. “But I’m confident she’ll make great decisions when she needs to.”

When Callie was growing up, her dad was often busy at work but they would bond over firearms at the shooting range when they had time. Now that they work in the same office, they get to spend more time together.

“When I was a kid, my dad was super devoted to the job and the job takes a lot of time, but the times that my dad and I would get to bond was over firearms shooting, which he got me into when I was a child,” she said. “So this job has just been something more that we can bond over.”

Callie is one of 12 female officers with PPD. She said she hopes to climb the ladder within the department and one day become the first female member of the department’s SWAT team, on which her father also once served.

“This job is more than I ever thought it would be, but in a good sense, in that it’s always a challenge but that there are a lot of rewarding moments too,” she said.