WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — 24-year-old Paul Kurt is from Frankfurt, Germany. For the next few weeks, he's in Billtown, learning and working as an intern for the Williamsport Bureau of Police.
"Very welcoming here. Everybody is open-hearted and speaks to me very openly, and they answer all my questions. It is a very nice experience to be here," said Kurt.
Kurt is close to graduating from the Police Academy in Germany and becoming a detective. He hopes to learn a few things here in America before he heads back.
"I hope to gain a lot of experience and see how the American police force is working. Maybe I can learn some more efficient ways to structure things and learn new ways of dealing with certain situations," he added.
"He is great," said Williamsport Police Chief Justin Snyder. "He came in, and we just kind of broke it down about how things work here and talked about a lot of the units we do offer here."
Chief Snyder says Kurt will get plenty of different hands-on experiences.
"Everything from patrol to our SWAT team, to our investigators, he will run around with the detectives, and he will run around with us to see how we do things at the command staff level," added Snyder.
The Bureau of Police has offered an internship program for the past few years. Chief Snyder says it helps the department.
"So, when we bring a civilian, especially a college student, in, we get a whole different perspective on how we are perceived and how we are looked at, and they can help us bridge that gap," Snyder stated.
Kurt is staying with family in Williamsport. He told Newswatch 16 why becoming a detective is so important to him.
"I just want to help people. That is the main reason I want to work with the police. Helping people, doing something good for the community, and giving back," Kurt said.
He will return to Germany in three weeks and has just one more semester left at the police academy.
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