Two students from West Bend’s sister city Aischo-cho, Japan got a behind-the-scenes tour of the West Bend Police Department this weekend and it was pretty eye opening.
Michi Masa, 14, and Hiroto, 15, are staying with Laura and Nick Mitchell and the Charlie and Gaytha Hillman family. The boys are part of an annual tour to West Bend where students from Japan visit for six days and learn about U.S. culture, language and the communities in Washington County.
“This is our second year we’ve done this,” said Mitchell. “We love it; the only thing I was concerned about is it’s a little time consuming. My kids have camp and I have to fit in work and I want to make sure the students have good experiences so you actually have to dedicate time.”
On Saturday Mitchell arranged for a tour of the WBPD since Michi Masa expressed an interest in being a police officer and a member of the SWAT team.
The students and Mitchell’s family received a personal tour from officer Stacy Bruss, 28, who showed them the WBPD briefing room, booking area, locker rooms, sally port and evidence storage.
Bruss catered to crowd which expressed strong interest in night-vision goggles, the cameras in the holding cell and being able to sit inside a squad with red and blue lights flashing.
There was some discussion with Michi Masa on the use of guns by police in the U.S. compared to police in Japan.
Michi Masa talked about police in Japan shooting a warning shot in the air and he noted the police use only .38 special revolvers.
Officer Bruss gave an in-depth look at all the gear she carries in her squad including stop sticks, evidence bags and a medical kit with Narcan.
Side note on hosting a foreign-exchange student:
-Each family who volunteered as a host is assigned one student. There are group activities but the students are divided up so they have to use their English.
-All students and host families take advantage of a translator APP to help overcome language challenges.
-There are 16 students from Japan in this year’s group along with three adult chaperones.
-“I was really concerned about the food,” said Mitchell. “I didn’t want to force feed them because whatever you put in front of them they’ll eat because they don’t want to be impolite but then you think they want more and sometimes they don’t.”
-Some of the adventures this week included Maxwell Street Day, a visit to Wisconsin State Fair and Mars Cheese Castle, Sculpture Feast, West Bend High School, horse back riding, mini golf, Downtown West Bend Farmers’ Market, a dairy farm, and Cedar Community.
-An origami presentation and cultural dance will take place Monday afternoon at Cedar Ridge.