Two foreign police officers flew around the world to spend time learning in Carson City.
Two German cadets are interning with the Carson City Sheriff’s Office to learn about policing in different parts of the world.
West Germany natives Vanessa and Michelle (who asked their last names not be printed due to security reasons) are in Carson for three weeks working with the deputies in order to enhance their perception with law enforcement. Both women are six months out from graduating the police academy in Germany, where they’ve spent the last two and a half years.
“(I am excited) of course to see how the officers work, how the system works and differences with Germany and USA,” Michelle said.
The two chose Carson City after hearing about what a great place it was from two cadets who interned with the department last year.
“Tobias and Christian were here last year and told about this place and everyone was nice and made it a good experience so when we had a place to choose our internship … we thought we could try Carson City and they said yes, love to have you here,” Michelle said.
While here, the women will explore all of the divisions in the sheriff’s office to see how policing is done in America and how it differs from their home country.
Vanessa’s mother, grandfather and various friends are all police officers and she said she wanted to follow in their footsteps.
“My mom and friends told me it was a safe job and I (completed an) internship and decided it is a good job for me and been in the police for two years,” Vanessa said.
Michelle, on the other hand is a first-generation officer but excited for the career none the less.
“I just decided one day, thought it was cool to be police,” Michelle said. “To drive car and have weapon, so it was my dream from beginning. So happy I am at the academy and it is working well.”
Only two days into the internship, the two have already seen a lot of differences between policing in the different countries.
“(In Germany) you are never alone on police, you always ride with a partner and it is different here to have so much more equipment in the U.S.,” Michelle said. “We have radio to communicate. And everything (in Germany), is much smaller, cars and weapons.”
The 20-year-olds are excited to get to explore all the Carson City area has to offer. Michelle said they’re most looking forward to taking a helicopter ride over Lake Tahoe, as well as getting to expand their knowledge of law enforcement.
“Not easy to say (what we are looking forward to) because we know nothing about all this (department) and everything is really interesting,” Vanessa said. “I want to see everything and everything is new for us.”
For the women, this will be their first time to Nevada, for Vanessa it’s the first time in the country, but the two couldn’t wait to get started.
“It is a chance to see this and make internship,” Vanessa said. “We won’t have that time ever again. It is our one and only chance to do this.”
