police world Edition 1 2013

Article

Herts Go Stateside

Chris Cowell received an email from IPA Hertfordshire branch Chair, Mark Bullen, trumpeting an opportunity for four officers from 9 Region to visit Region 56 in Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA to experience policing and training over there! Chris explains what happened next.

F or me this was an opportunity that to go ever since I was a child. I couldn’t think of a better place for my first IPA trip. When it was confirmed I couldn’t believe it - I was finally going across the pond to America! I was selected along with three other Hertfordshire members; Simon Hawkins, Mike Saunders and Dean Watson. So a few months later, the (painfully early) morning had arrived. On Monday 17 September, a little after 2am, we all left Hertfordshire police headquarters - destination Wisconsin. We were greeted off the plane by our two IPA hosts; John Flannery, a local gang expert and Joe Johnson, a police dog handler. We were also joined by Bill Bongle, the local Green Bay police captain. Once we had settled in the hotel we were taken for dinner by Joe, where we met a retired Green Bay police officer who had travelled from over an hour away just to meet us. This is when I began to realise just how friendly the people of Wisconsin were. The next day, we were taken to Northeast Wisconsin Technical College (NWTC) where a Q&A session had been set up for the students of the Law Enforcement Programme. All the students and staff were really friendly and our tunics and helmets went down well. Unlike Britain, students have to pass the Law Enforcement Programme before applying to be a police officer in the US. The college has lots of facilities and equipment, including the The MILO Range PRO training system, which we were lucky enough to have a go on. The MILO range is an interactive dry fire simulation shooting range. I think the best way to describe it is as an extremely advanced version of the arcade game ‘Time Crisis’. Afterwards, for a chance to unwind, we got a tour of the ‘Packers’ football stadium and passes to the ‘Hall of Fame’ - which was impressive to say the least. It was a real experience, when we all went on ‘ride alongs’ with separate officers from the Community Policing Unit of Green Bay. We were told that this was based on the British model of community policing, and you could definitely could not be missed. I had never visited the USA before even though I've wanted

see the similarities. From talking to the officers you could tell that the problems they faced were similar to ours in terms of nuisance behaviour and with a small proportion of the community doing a large proportion of the offending. We also got to see their new squad cars which are all fitted with computers in the front, plastic cages in the back and a plastic shell, instead of a rear seat, for easy cleaning! That evening, an IPA meet and greet night had been set up. It was a really good turnout with numerous officers of varied rank and even federal agents popping in to say hello to the ‘British Bobbies’. The following morning, we were taken to the shooting range. Here we were allowed to try pistols, rifles and a shotgun. Mike and Simon impressed with their accurate shooting and Dean fell in love with the Benelli shotgun. I on the other hand, had a slightly different relationship with this weapon. Having never fired one before the first shot’s kick back caused me to stumble and nearly fall over. It also left me with a souvenir in the form of a nice purple bruised shoulder! This was in preparation for an ‘active shooter’ training session in an abandoned school. This turned out to be my favourite part of the whole trip. Once we arrived we were taught a few simple tactics and then given face/eye shields and airsoft guns - which felt very realistic. We were then sent into the school to find the active shooter whilst students from NWTC assisted in screaming and playing the victims. We had to clear rooms and progress up hallways in order to ‘take out’ the shooter - it was a lot of fun! As a finale, we were taken for tours of Sturgeon Bay police department and the US coast guard station. We were shown their facilities including the boats they use to help protect the waters of Sturgeon and Green Bay. Once we arrived back from this we were kindly invited to the family BBQ of a local judge. Pumpkin Pie which was delicious and topped off by some Irish dancing from John’s daughter - which was great!

The four Hertfordshire members with their hosts

The last day of this fantastic trip had arrived. All four of us were gutted to be going home. We then said our goodbyes and left, all disappointed we couldn’t be staying longer but happy that we got to take part in such an

Training in the old school

incredible IPA trip that left us with so many good memories and newly acquired insight to policing in the US. The kindness and generosity of everyone we met, especially from John and Joe, will be hard to match but we’ll be giving it our best shot when our new friends come to visit us in the UK in 2013! Special thanks to Kevin and Liz from NWTC, Katie and all the other students, and to all the officers and police chiefs we met and who expressed their condolences at the recent tragedy in Manchester. Chris Cowell , Hertfordshire branch

Simon Hawkins - Inside one of the new patrol cars

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