Issaquah Police Department School Resource Officer Diego Zanella said goodbye to Issaquah High School on Feb. 3, as he has been promoted to corporal detective.

“We have a very great detective unit; it will be interesting to go to a supervisor position,” he said of the promotion. “But I’m sad about leaving the school — I have a bittersweet feeling right now.”

Zanella, who has been a member of IPD since 2007, has worked full-time on the high school campus ever since becoming the school resource officer two years ago. He said that he “always felt really lucky” to be at IHS because there were no major crimes like in other schools across the state and nation.

“Diego has done a fantastic job working with our parents and students to provide resources, education and safety measures,” said IHS Principal Andrea McCormick in an email. “We’ve really enjoyed having him here as part of our IHS family.”

Zanella will cherish the memories he shares with the high school students and staff with whom he has bonded with over the past two years.

“I was able to have a good relationship with the majority of the kids,” Zanella said. “Believe it or not, teenagers are fun and interesting. It’s a misconception that they’re problematic … it’s really fun to interact with them.”

For Zanella, it’s important for his students to see him not only as an authority figure, but also as a friend. Reaching out to students in this way has involved volunteering to have a pie thrown in his face at a the high school’s charity auction in March 2016.

“I tried to have a good relationship with them rather than just enforce the law,” Zanella said. “I have to be a cop who enforces the law but also is a mentor … so they understand you’re not just a cop, you’re a human being.”

Before joining the IPD, Zanella worked in the Kent Police Department, but the new corporal detective has not always lived in the Puget Sound. Zanella originally hails from Florence, Italy; he moved to Seattle 19 years ago after marrying a Pacific Northwesterner.

“The only thing I don’t like about Seattle is the rain,” Zanella said. “I really like the people and the outdoors — hiking, biking, skiing.”

In Italy, said Zanella, the police are one entity under the national government. Here in the U.S., he said it was at first “strange to see so many different entities doing police work.”

While in his native country, Zanella had been part of the special forces, which he said was the Italian equivalent of the U.S. Navy SEALs.

“We did a little of everything, from jumping from airplanes to scuba diving,” he said.

Upon moving to America, he knew he wanted to continue “to do something helping people,” and decided to go into law enforcement.

Now, Zanella carries out his passion for helping others not only through the IPD, but as commander of the Major Task Force in the Coalition of Small Police Agencies (CSPA), a group of law enforcement members who give extra support to 13 smaller cities (including Issaquah, Snoqualmie and Mercer Island) in the event of a major crime, such as a homicide.

Luckily, said Zanella, “we are very fortunate” that such crimes are rare in Issaquah.

“Our [IPD] patrol officers are very busy, but there’s nothing violent, nothing major,” he said.