Police World Edition 3 2014

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of the local officers took theopportunity to speak tous, exchange contact details and take some photographs. After some socialisingand taking inabaseball game, wehadawalking tour ofMilwaukee, before our final triponSunday. The final day startedearlywitha visit to theUS Coast Guardbase, SturgeonBay FireandPolice Departments and their control centre. Theareawas beautiful, right on LakeMichiganand thepeople were verywelcoming. The swapof the tripdefinitely happenedherewhen theFireChief fromSturgeon Bay swappedhisheadwear for Phil’sbeat helmet. Theywereboth like small childrenat Christmas proudly showingoff their newacquisition. TheUS Coast Guardswerealsohappy to showus around their boats andbase.Weeven took theopportunity to claim the lighthouse for QueenandCountry by flying theUnionFlag from the top–althougha .50 Cal gunwasnearby sowepromptly gave it back! Our final eveningwas spent with JudgeKevin Rathburnandhis family at hismagnificent home.We werewelcomed like family.Wewere treated to some Irishdancingby John’sdaughter and thenwe let our hair down.Wepresentedour hostswith some gifts andalsopresented flowers to thewives of Kevin, Joe and Johnas a thank you to themandalsoas it was MothersDay in theUS. Theday to fly homehadarrivedall too soonandwe wereall disappointed tobe leaving.Wehadbeen treated likekings sincewehadarrivedandhadall had themost amazingexperience. Thepeoplewe met were incredibly hospitable. I’despecially like to thanksDonnaGilson,Michael Albertsonand JudgeKevinRathburn - aswell asNWTC staff and students andall theother PoliceChiefs, FireChiefs andofficers. Youall opened yourselvesup to seven people fromEngland, whoseonly link to youwas beingpart of thepolicing family - and the importance of family is exactlywhat this triphas reinforced. I thankmy family formaking sacrifices so I could take part in this amazing trip - and I thank theFlannery and Johnson families for allowing Johnand Joe the time tobe the great hosts theywere. Lastly, this trip couldnever have takenplace if it wasn’t for the IPAandall that it stands for. GaryWarren , BTPbranchSecretary

handlers anddispatchers. TheCommunicationsCentre is positionedabove theCounty Jail andhas theability tomanagea crisis should it happen. It was amazing to see the differences inworkingpractices and compare similarities. We thenheadedback toNWTC tomeet upwith some studentswhowere going tohelpus put some of our drivingand firearm training intopracticeacting out various scenarios. Thehighlight wasdefinitely seeingGerryMcDonald giving chase to students that hadbailedout of a car and systematically nabbing themoneby one. After shooting (andbeing shot) by the studentswe were then visitedby theGreenBayK-9 sectionwho put onadisplay. Phil, whohas aspirations to join theDogSection, keenly volunteered tobe livebait. Weall watchedas thewell traineddogswereput through their paces and tooka chunkout of ‘bad guy Phil’s’ arm.Wewereall happywhen thebite sleeve held firmandhe came tonoharm–honest! That eveningweheaded toa local bowlingalley for a meet and greet. Therewas anice turnout byNWTC students, staff andalsoofficers from the various departmentswehadmet. It was a great opportunity to thankall thosewhohadalready givenus somuch and I presented Joe Johnsonwithanengraved plaque. Joewas alsopleasedwith theeveningashe managed to signup sevennewRegion56members - “ $25buys you theworld ” is the lineheuses and the newmembers certainly agreed. Thenextmorning sawushead toMadisonCounty to takepart in theWisconsin LawEnforcement Memorial Service. It was amazing to see local people’s reaction to seven ‘BritishBobbies’ walking along the street. The servicewasmovingand remindedus all of the sacrificeofficershavemade whilst doing ‘the Job.’Wewere reminded that those who choose tobepoliceofficersdo so inorder to protect thepublic, uphold the lawand serve the community and that sometimes they don’tmake it home to their lovedones. After the service,many

variousdepartmentswehad first visited to takepart ina ridealong. I was pairedwith JamieZynda from AshwaubenonPublicSafety andwewerebusy from the start witha trip toBrownCounty Jail todropoff a juvenileoffender.We thenhad todashalong the highway tobackup colleagues that weredealingwith a female that hadallegedly takenahighnumber of antihistamine tabletswithalcohol. After a few vehicle stops forminor violations and responding to an intruder alarm theexperiencewas over. It was a great insight intowhat our colleagues across the pondhave todeal withand it surprisedmehow similar our jobs are. I thank JamieZynder, Neil Brownandeveryone fromAshwaubenon for thehospitality they showed bothPhil Rossier andmyself that evening - and the Lieutenant didmake theworld’sbest potato salad! Johnhadarranged for Andy Piper andChris Leah to giveapresentation to interestedparties inANPR technology and itsuse in theUKon Thursday morning. Johnhadbeen impressedby the technology whenhe visited theUKandwas interested to see what others thought. Anumber of peopleattended, includinga local judge, state troopers andmilitary personnel. Thepresentationwaswell receivedand brought about a lot of discussion.Whilst Andy and Chriswere talking ‘traffic’ the rest of the group headed toBrownCounty CommunicationsCentre wherewewere givena tour and spoke to the call

$25buys you theworld “ ”

JohnFlannery andGaryWarren

Hoisting the flag

AshwaubenonPublicSafetyDepartment

POLICEWORLD Vol 59No. 3, 2014

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