“I didn’t know what to expect because (it was) something new for me and I knew it was something new for the police department here,” said Maren. “But the (Naperville) Police Department was so nice with me, just showed me everything.”
A student police officer from Germany spent the last three weeks interning with the Naperville Police Department (NPD).
From Frankfurt to Naperville
Maren, who preferred not to share her last name, is in her fifth of six semesters at the University of Applied Sciences in Mühlheim am Main, a city near Frankfurt. Maren initially sought a short-term position with the Chicago Police Department but landed 30 miles west instead.
“I found out last year at this time I could do an internship for my university,” said Maren. “My university said you have to find a department around Chicago, and then I thought Naperville, I like the region. So I read a lot about Naperville on the internet. I reached out to the (Naperville) Police Department with my resume and everyone, and it worked.”
Student officer learns about Naperville
Over her 21 days as an intern, the NPD gave Maren plenty of experiences around the city.
“She hit the patrol unit,” said Naperville Police Chief Jason Arres. “She was with our investigative unit. She was with our proactive policing units, and her last full day in the field, we had a big full-scale special response team negotiator exercise that we did, an active training session.”
German police practices are similar to those in the U.S. though Maren noted one difference: there are always two officers per patrol car.
Arres enjoyed having Maren at the NPD and looks forward to welcoming more international officers to the department in the future.
“In my 23 years here, I’m fairly positive that this was the first time we’ve had an international police officer come over and spend this amount of time with us,” said Arres. “And I will tell you right now, I would do it again in a heartbeat. It was a very positive experience for the department.”
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