Last Friday I opened my morning copy of The Skagit Valley Herald to behold an image on the front page (above the fold, no less), that I instantly recognized as that of the Chief of the Mount Vernon Police Department, Chris Cammock.

Please take note of the fact that I did not refer to Chief Cammock as “Interim,” as I have in previous stories. This is because the local newspaper’s sub-headline on February 21 was, and I quote, “Cammock appointed MV chief.”

To pause and acknowledge an achievement by a person who is virtually synonymous with the Mount Vernon Police Department seemed an appropriate thing for this week’s Citizens Academy series; and in the interest of full disclosure, I’ve lifted it from a larger piece now being drafted on the selection process for becoming a commissioned officer in the MVPD. I’ve chosen to let Chris’ story stand on its own, not only because his position is important to the effectiveness of our local law enforcement, but also because it tells you a lot about the person who occupies its highest municipal level.

I hope you enjoy reading this story as much as we all enjoyed hearing it from Chris himself during our second session in “Cop Class.”

Meet the Chief

Chief Cammock has a good reason to feel fortunate. In addition to living in the place he grew up in and loves, he has a family he treasures and a job that has challenged, fulfilled, and rewarded him for more than three decades. Unlike those of us who found it difficult to decide what we wanted to be when we grew up, Chris has pursued a career that he has aspired to since he was in high school, and continues to aspire to as it takes him in directions he could hardly have foreseen as a teenager.

Chris’ career in law enforcement began when a state trooper pulled him over for speeding. A week or so later, he passed a Washington State Patrol car working I-5 in Conway. It was being driven by a trooper named Roger who was a family friend, and who was concerned about how young Chris was feeling after his “brush with the law.” 

“It was about 9pm, and he had me get in the passenger seat,” Chris remembers. “He told me that he’d heard that I’d gotten a ticket, and he just wanted to make sure I didn’t have a bad taste in my mouth about the police. It was like sitting in the cockpit of an airplane. All of a sudden he told me to ‘belt up,’ and he shot down the I-5 ramp like a rocket with the ‘cherries’ on. I could almost feel my skin peeling back. He pulled a car over, and I said to myself, ‘I could hang with these guys.’”

When Roger transferred to the Ellensburg WSP Detachment, he invited Chris to come over for some ride alongs. As Chris recalls, “The first ride along was all action. During the second one, with a different trooper, we must have visited every business or fruit stand along the way. The first guy showed me one side of law enforcement — the second one showed me the stuff that really mattered.” 

Chris initially thought he’d like to be a state trooper, until he accepted an offer from then Chief Ron Tarry to do some ride alongs with MVPD.  Sergeant (later Chief) Jerry Dodd was his first ride. “This convinced me that I wanted to do municipal policing,” says Chris. His first step in that direction was to pursue a law enforcement degree at Skagit Valley Community College. In an impressive act of youthful prudence, Chris pursued a degree in accounting as a “back up” career option, which is how he ended up at Central Washington University (where his 23-year old daughter is currently majoring in communications).  

If you need evidence as to whether accounting or law enforcement was Chris’ preferred career path, consider that he blew off a spring break in Mazatlán with some college buddies in order to complete his required physical and written tests for joining the MVPD. It would be nearly a year before a position opened, during which time Chris had graduated with his accounting degree in hand — and was being courted by a Seattle firm. “They were taking me to dinner in Seattle,” Chris recalls, “while I was one of 200 to 400 people who had all taken the same test to become police officers.”

Chris joined MVPD in 1989 and, in the words of the Skagit Valley Herald article, “at different times managed every division in the department.” During the course of 31 years his assignments have run the law enforcement gamut from patrol, gangs, S.W.A.T., Crime Prevention, sergeant, and eventually as a lieutenant overseeing the department’s administrative services as Chief Dodd’s effective “number two.” When Jerry retired last year, Chris stepped into the position of Interim Chief as the City of Mount Vernon considered its longer term appointment options — a question which was clearly resolved last Friday.

In addition to his gratitude for “the opportunities this agency has given me over the years,” Chris also got a life partner out of his vocation. His wife was working for the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office as a Correction Deputy when Chris first encountered her. “I like to say that we met in jail,” he quips. Which, by the way, is something else you quickly learn about Chris Cammock should you enroll in Citizens Academy. The man has a wicked sense of humor, as well as a love for law enforcement and the City of Mount Vernon. Congratulations, Chief Cammock. Accounting’s loss is law enforcement’s gain.

See you in Cop Class!