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Drugs, domestic incidents and traffic accidents plague both and sap a lot of police time to handle them. Winona County Sheriff’s Deputy Tim O’Brien and Jail Shift Commander Ben Klinger got a unique chance — April into early May — to experience law enforcement in Bersenbrück for 17 days and compare it to what they’re used to at home.
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Winona County Sheriff's Deputy Tim O'Brien, left, and Jail Shift Commander Ben Klinger went to Germany earlier this year as part of the German American Police Exchange Program. O'Brien and Klinger saw first hand the differences between American and German police procedures through training and simulation programs. (Photo by Paul Solberg/Winona Daily News) |
“We do a lot of the same things,” O’Brien said. “Law enforcement is law enforcement.”
But it’s good to get a different perspective on the same kinds of things, Klinger said.
O’Brien and Klinger went to Germany as part of the German American Police Exchange Program.
The program started out as a friendly conversation between a vacationing police officer from New Ulm, Minn., and a German officer in a “Polizei” station 20 years ago. It has since expanded to include the Winona police and sheriff’s departments. Officers from both countries take turns hopping the pond every two years to share law enforcement ideas and learn about each other’s technologies, procedures and culture. According to New Ulm police, it’s the only program of its kind.
“It’s an awesome experience,” O’Brien said of his second trip in four years.
O’Brien and Klinger sat in on SWAT team training, K9 presentations, tours of police academies and training on how to handle an active school shooter. O’Brien’s previous visit included shooting water cannons at a riot police base, a tour of a German military base and tank simulation programs.
The trip isn’t all work, however. It’s equal parts law enforcement and cultural submersion.
O’Brien and Klinger visited Adolf Hitler’s bunkers and headquarters, got a tour
of the North Sea and
saw the often-photographed Neuschwanstein Castle. The Americans show the Germans around the Mississippi River and state parks.
Besides the tourism, the officers form strong bonds with their host families, who take care of activities, lodging and food. The trip becomes as much a part of strengthening that bond as it is to discuss law enforcement.
“They become an extended family to you,” O’Brien said.
Another exchange won’t happen for another two years, but the Americans are already getting prepared for when their visitors arrive in August or September of 2010. Fundraisers are being planned for later this summer to help spread the burden of host family bills.
Although the countries share a lot of similarities, there are some pretty big differences, too.
The German officers are impressed by all the equipment the Americans carry on their belts — equipment they don’t have — including portable radios and Tasers, O’Brien said. He said German police can pull over a vehicle for no reason, something
that would get criminal charges thrown out of court in America.
One of the most obvious differences is the German language, but even that doesn’t seem to be a problem.
Klinger said he doesn’t speak German, but he and O’Brien got along just fine because German children learn English as a second language from an early age and become fluent, essentially eliminating the language
barrier.
“I took German in seventh grade and flunked it,” O’Brien said.
Contact Kevin Behr at (507) 453-3524 or at kbehr@winona dailynews.com.
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