LITITZ BOROUGH - Bis später Niklas (translates to See you later, Niklas). 

The LBPD recently had the privilege of hosting Niklas Gartmann, an intern from Hochschule für Wirtschaft und Recht Berlin (Berlin School of Economics and Law). He was hired by the Berlin Police Department and their police academy is three years in length. At the conclusion, the officer also receives a college degree.  Niklas was in his last semester of school and only needed to complete an internship to complete his degree and academy.  He was allowed to complete his internship anywhere and he decided to come to the United States.  He was originally scheduled to intern with the San Antonio Police Department in Texas, but about a month prior to the start, they had to cancel.  He was left trying to find another police department on short notice. 

Through professional networks, a law enforcement instructor from Berlin reached out to a network of peer instructors, including an officer from the LBPD. After internal considerations, it was decided this would be a good experience for both the LBPD and Niklas. 

Niklas interned with us from February 21^st to March 7^th.   During his internship, Niklas was exposed to various activities and duties of the LBPD and policing in general, including participating in the Fire & Ice Festival as part of the LBPD.  He was assigned to our various divisions to include Patrol, Criminal Investigation, K9, and Special Emergency Response Team.  He attended training with Officer Burke and K9 Nicha.  He also attended firearms training and Crisis Negotiator training with Detective Savage and the Lancaster County Special Emergency Response Team.  He was able to witness the judicial system from start to finish by seeing the State Capitol where bills are made law, Magisterial District Courts, PA Common Pleas Court, District Attorney’s Office, County Prison and County Youth Intervention Center. He sampled pretzels from Sturgis and said they remined him of Germany. 

Niklas reflected, "I really enjoyed my time in Lititz. I was very overwhelmed by the hospitality of the Lititz police department. Steph Detz in particular, has put a lot of time and effort to make this an exciting internship for me. But of course the other police officers were also very friendly and explained and showed me many things. My favorite spot in town is the Main Street at night, with the lights and lanterns it just looks very beautiful."

While we are not nearly the size of San Antonio PD, nor do we experience the volume of calls they do, Niklas was shown first-hand the value of community-oriented policing and we appreciate the time he spent with us. 

Media contact: Media@LititzPD.org.