PORT NECHES — Port Neches Police Det. Scott Thompson is the consummate outdoorsman, blending kayaking, fishing and family in a balance with his work in law enforcement.

But his first attempt with the kayak had a less than desirable ending.

He took the kayak out on the day he was scheduled to take a polygraph test — the final step to being hired as a police officer, and then rolled the one-seater kayak, ruining his phone.

“I knew I had passed but I didn’t have a phone at the time so there was no way to call me,” Thompson said. “My first time in a kayak was a fail.”

Thompson spoke recently from his office at the Port Neches Police Department, where on a wall behind him hangs a metal cutout of a fish surrounded by an outline of the state of Texas.

Born in Port Arthur, Thompson was raised in Amarillo and spent summers in Groves and surrounding areas where he honed his love of fishing. With a number of family members in law enforcement, it seemed like a family tradition so he joined the ranks. His first job as a police officer was in Longview.

Thompson loves his job and his current task as a property detective.

“It’s a different thing every single day,” he said. He gets satisfaction from being able to recover stolen items — “people work hard for their money” — and enjoys helping others.

Family

Thompson and his wife have a son, Jonathan, who will be 10 in March. Jonathan is a special needs child who has a chromosome deletion causing him to be non-verbal and have mobility issues. But he is smart and shares some of the same personality traits as his father.

A few weeks ago Thompson took the reels off his fishing rods to clean them and out of the blue his son picked one up and proceeded to reel it. He had never had coordination to do the task before.

“I thought ‘that’s my son,’” he said with pride. “He’s very smart just confined to what he can do.”

One morning Jonathan heard Thompson getting ready and thought his dad was going fishing. He told his son, ‘no, I’m going to the gym’ to which his son made a sign with his hand similar to waves, which means fish.

Not long after, the family was on Pleasure Island and Jonathan caught his first fish — a keeper redfish and the proud dad recorded it on his GoPro.

“We have a similar personality and he laughs at everything,” he said. “He’s just an awesome kid, 100 percent great.”

And there will be more fishing trips, he added.

Port Neches Police Chief Paul Lemoine, who is also an avid outdoorsman and family man, spoke about the detective.

Lemoine said Thompson loves to fish and to be with his family, saying the detective may paddle out on his kayak but will return to the bank and spend plenty of quality time with his wife and son.

“And he is a really good detective, conscientious and detail-oriented,” Lemoine said. “He doesn’t just file a case, he wants to be able to solve every case.”