PW_04_2017

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“We are Berliners ” Region 10 ILDEP * activity 2017 Steve Hunt - 10 Region Secretary.

10 Region have for the past four years arranged a two-week ‘internship’ for student German Police Officers from Brandenburg, near Berlin, as part of the IDLP scheme. T his year we welcomed 20 year old Fräulein Melanie Vrede and 32 years old, Herr Sven Mosig. Both spoke excellent English and were excited about their attachment to Essex Police which was based in Colchester. Over the years I have tried to vary the students’ itinerary so they get as much varied UK policing experience as possible and maybe a chance to experience duties different to their usual tasks in Germany. Their first three days was spent in plain-clothes with officers from ‘Operation Raptor’ a local drugs enforcement team that specialises in investigating local and travelling drug dealers to Essex. Based in the north of the county in covert premises the German officers joined in with the team of Esther, Iggy, Matt, Andy, Sarah and Nico. They were involved with local arrest and drugs warrant operations.

left to right Melanie Vrede, Ben Pedro Anido and Sven Mosig

Then came a day with Crime Scene Investigators at Clacton where Sven was introduced to the famous ‘Rossi ice cream’ on Southend sea front. A dwelling burglary examination took him and CSI Gareth JONES to the south of the county, while Melanie assisted in taking fingerprints from another burglary scene. The start of the following week saw them for two days attached to the local policing team at Colchester patrolling routinely with uniformed officers in marked police cars. When they were with the team they were shown around the town hall and met the Mayor.

The following day Melanie assisted with a drugs interview at Clacton Police Station whilst Sven went to the local recycling centre to assist in searching for a cat believed to have been accidentally deposited there. One of the tasks that befalls the student officers is preparation and delivery of allocated thesis by their supervisors, to be delivered upon their return. This year the subject was, ‘police corruption’. I contacted Essex Police Professional Standards Dept and they were granted a day at that

department firstly with Detective Inspector John Walne who explained the complaints procedure and corruption investigations. They then spoke with Detective Sergeant Jeff Wright who had his own challenges when exposing corruption many years ago as a constable and his stories transfixed them. The next day the pair were welcomed at the Essex Police Air Support Unit and very soon each was ‘scrambled’ to accompany the helicopter crew to locations including Basildon to search a park area, Hertfordshire for a man with a knife, and Peterborough for a vulnerable man who was missing. Melanie hadn’t flown in a helicopter before and was most apprehensive but took to it like a ‘duck to water’ and enjoyed every second. Sven, an ex-paratrooper took it all in his stride. Both were then able to take a flight over London and see the sad remains of the Grenfell Tower tragedy, a sight I am sure will remain with them for many years. After describing their visit as ‘wonderful and fantastic’ the next day they were safely delivered to the airport –

another successful internship completed. *International Learning & Development Exchange Programme

POLICE WORLD Vol 62 No. 4, 2017

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