With Father's Day near, a Yonkers father and son are celebrating their blood ties and police ties.

Vincent Tilson, a detective with the Yonkers Police Department's Financial Crimes Unit, joined the force about 30 years ago. He says he was inspired by his cousin, officer Abdi "Sonny" Ali, a police officer whose name adorns street signs on Elm Street in Nodine Hill.

"It's an honorable profession, just wonderful," says Tilson, who can remember calling home often to check on his family as he worked his way up through the ranks.

Tilson's son, Vinnie Tilson, agrees about the merits of police work. "I'm definitely my father's son," he says.

The younger Tilson carries a police badge of his own, and his father has praised his son for doing "very well" on the police exam. The younger Tilson says his father prodded him to take the test, and he is glad that he did.

The family's police roots go even deeper. "My great-aunt, who recently passed away, was the first female black police officer in Yonkers," says the younger Tilson.

Some of the Tilsons' colleagues can relate, as the department employs seven father-son pairs.