Officer Chris Przygocki (pronounced “sha-guess-ky”) joined the Covington Police Department in November. He is originally from Detroit where his dad worked as a police officer. His family moved to Chimacum when he was 6 years old. He commutes from Mill Creek. His dad now works for the Washington State Patrol. After high school he earned a criminal justice degree from Bellevue Community College. With that hard to pronounce name, he said he’s picked up the nickname “Sugar.”

Q.What initially drew you to a career as a police officer?

A.Initially it was my dad. He’s my idol. My dad was a Detroit police officer then he came over and was with the state patrol and he still is with the state patrol. Watching him leave every day and not knowing exactly what he did as a kid then learning about it as I got older (got him interested).

Q. Where were you working before you came to Covington?

A. I worked as a corrections deputy for the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department for four years. It was a great job. It teaches you how to talk to people because in a jail you don’t have weapons.

I matured, I grew up, I got to stay close to home. It was a great experience.

Q. What brought you to Covington?

A. I was hired to the sheriff’s department in 2008 and I did most of my training in the city of Covington. The city has a lot of officers who are trainers. I just really, really liked the city, the atmosphere. It’s big enough that you see a lot of things, but it’s small enough that you get to know people.

Covington offers so much opportunity, it was hard to pass up.

There were about five other people who put in for (the position in Covington) and I was lucky enough to get it.

Q. What do you enjoy most about being a police officer?

A. It sounds kind of cliché, but when you help people. People aren’t having the best day when they call us. When you go into help someone and they smile and say thank you at the end, that’s pretty cool.

Making my family proud, that’s also pretty neat.

I consider the department my family now… so just making everybody proud.

The job is serious enough, so, when you can keep things light that’s what makes it great.

Q. What is the biggest challenge you face as a cop?

A. Recently, I guess, with what’s happening, the challenge could be twofold:

One on a personal level, ensuring your family that you’re coming home tonight, that’s the main thing before I even get in my patrol car.

Then when you’re at work, the main challenge is trying to be everywhere at once. It’s tough because the city is big enough where sometimes you only have two to three officers on at a time. It’s pretty challenging.

And the last name, I wish people could pronounce it, it’s a common spelling in Poland. It’s the Smith of Poland.

Q. If you could clear up one misconception about police officers, what would it be?

A. The biggest misconception is that we don’t care. We wouldn’t be doing this if we don’t care. People say when you go to calls, ‘You don’t care.’ and that’s not necessarily the truth. If we didn’t care, we would slough it off or talk our way out of going to a call.

Q. Anything else we should know about you?

A. I’m a sports nut. I’ve only missed two Seattle Seahawks home games. That’s what my family enjoys doing together. I’m a weight lifter.

What do I enjoy? Coming to work. It’s the best job in the world.