Altoona Police to host officers from Germany in 2017

Tuesday, November 29, 2016
Kaitlyn Riley | WQOW

Altoona (WQOW) - The Altoona Police Department is reaching out overseas to create an international exchange experience for officers in the Chippewa Valley. 

The Altoona Police Department will host six German police officers in the summer of 2017. The German officers will take part in a three-week internship as part of the International Police Association. The international officers will participate in ride-alongs, training exercises and community social gatherings. They will also spend time with 11 different law enforcement agencies in the Chippewa Valley.

The idea was spearheaded by Altoona Police Officer Edward Bell, who was born and raised in Germany and moved to the United States in 2010. He said he always wanted to be a police officer, and after studying the law enforcement systems in the U.S. and Germany, he decided to come to the Chippewa Valley. Bell knew of the program and says very few police departments take advantage of it. 

"Through this exchange, we are going to be able to see how officers work in other countries on the same goals," Bell said. "There are training procedures, patrol strategies; all of those we can examine on a case-by-case basis and see how other officers do that and we can hopefully learn from those and adapt our training and policies to grow from that."

If the program is a success, Altoona police hope to eventually send some of their officers overseas through the exchange program.

According to Altoona police, the six German officers are paying for the experience out of pocket. A Go Fund Me page has been set up to help them with their expenses.

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