Ballwin Police Intern Learning International Lessons

You may have noticed a new face on the Ballwin Police force in recent weeks. His name is Andreas Wagner, a 32 year-old officer from the Bavarian town of Regensburg in Germany, here as part of an internship program through the International Police Association. We asked him to write about what he's observed and what he'll take back with him as his time here wraps up. Here are some excerpts:

I made a request to the IPA USA if it would be possible to make an internship at a police department in the US.Lt. John J. Bergfeld of the Ballwin PD agreed to host me with his family and, in cooperation with Chief Steven Schicker, Sgt. Jim Heldmann, PO Sarah Case and PO Shaun Doerr, to make a 2 1/2 week internship possible. This was my first internship I have ever done. 

During my internship I had the chance to visit several different police departments and to get in touch with a lot of police officers.So I was at several departments of St. Louis County Police, the Missouri State Highway Patrol, St. Louis Court and Jail and of course the Ballwin PD. At Ballwin PD I had the chance to go on patrol with several police officers, to participate at D.A.R.E. and to have a police training day. 

I discovered that the police work in Missouri and Bavaria is not so different. Every country or state has its own demographic structure. As a consequence of this every department has people with special needs and problems the local police has to deal with. I was surprised that even the structure and the field of duties of the police departments in Missouri are comparable to the Bavarian Police. So,  It wasn't so hard for me to find my way. 

The most important thing I can take with me is, that I could work on my language skills. Especially in the command center in a country, which is in the middle of Europe, it is important to be able to speak English.