Twin Brothers Jim and Joseph Paoletti follow the footsteps of their Chicago Police parents.... James and Grayce Paoletti & become Chicago Police officers

PHOTO: Twins Jim (left) and Joseph Paoletti with their parents, James and Grayce Paoletti — both retired Chicago Police officers — last week after graduating from the Chicago Police Academy. 

As boys, twins Jim and Joseph Paoletti would put on their parents’ Chicago Police hats and marvel at the black leather “gadget” belt their father strapped on before he ventured out into the city after dark — like Batman.

“You’re a kid and you have to go to bed at a certain time, but he was going to work,” Joseph Paoletti said. “I knew he was out fighting crime and keeping the city safe.”

The twins, now 25, are getting their own taste of life on the city’s streets — after graduating together this month from the Chicago Police Academy, following in their mother’s and father’s footsteps.

“All the little kids are waving at us and asking us how they can become police officers,” said Jim Paoletti, who, with his brother, is monitoring one of the Safe Passage school routes on the South Side. “I tell them to make sure they stay in school.”

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