The Oak Bay Police Department welcomed its newest constable Aug. 27, with a swearing in ceremony for Cst. Nathalie Mishrigi.
Though Mishrigi loved her job working with Metro Vancouver Transit Police for the last five years, the birth of her twin boys last year and her husband’s job as an Air Force helicopter pilot being based out of Victoria, made a move to the Island an easy choice.
We just swore in OBPD's newest Constable. Cst. Mishrigi has 5 years of policing experience and other relevant customer service experience. She's excited to work here and very keen to get to know the residents of Oak Bay. Welcome Nathalie! pic.twitter.com/gRmMho94EY
— Oak Bay Police (@OakBayPolice) August 27, 2018
“I liked where I was, but we knew we wanted to raise our family here. The commuting there was so hard already and I couldn’t imagine bringing babies into it,” said Mishrigi. “Here I get to ride along Dallas Road to get to work. How can you be sad going to work with that view?”
While the policing priorities in Oak Bay are different from those in Vancouver, Mishrigi said she is very familiar with the community policing model.
“The biggest change for me is how supportive the community is here,” said Mishrigi. “How engaged and positive the people are.”
As a Transit Police officer, Mishrigi would go anywhere the Skytrain and buses went, but would primarily work in Vancouver.
“Transit moved over 100,000 people a day. I liked how many people we could connect with,” said Mishrigi. “It changed how people saw police officers.”
Born and raised in Coquitlam, Mishrigi went to UBC and earned a degree in Human Kinetics, originally aiming to be a physical education teacher. After she graduated she spent two years in Japan working for the Japanese government teaching English.
That’s when the travel bug bit hard. As a way to fund it, Mishrigi became a flight attendant, allowing her to satiate her appetite for travel for two years with visits to over 70 countries. When the airline she worked for went bankrupt, she came home to Vancouver and got a job training people to drive trains on the Canada Line.
“I didn’t know anything about it going in, but it turned out to be a lot of fun,” Mishrigi said of her five-year stint there. During her time on the Canada Line she had regular interactions with Transit Police, piquing her interest in pursuing it as a career.
At 33, she entered the police academy and never looked back.
“Because of my background, I like bringing a high level of customer service,” said Mishrigi. “I’m excited to get to know the citizens in Oak Bay and I’m happy to be here. It is a good fit for me. I’m very approachable and not one to hide, so I look forward to getting out on patrol and really getting to know the community.”
When asked how she is adjusting to the two day-shift/two night-shift routine, her response: “I have twin baby boys at home. This is nothing.”
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