By By JOHN EBY / Dowagiac Daily News
CASSOPOLIS – As much as she might be looking forward to getting home to Germany next week after a five-week internship with the Cass County Sheriff's Office, Sina Klostermann dreads the flight itself.
As someone who came to America before Sept. 11, 2001, and returned again just before the fifth anniversary of terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, Klostermann notices the difference.
"When I first got here, I didn't have any trouble going through customs or checking in at the airport," she said.
"Three years ago I had a hard time flying back. I had to arrive at the airport three or four hours before so they could check my luggage and open every suitcase.
"I'm not looking forward to next week," she sighed. "They will check everything" flying out of Chicago.
Klostermann, 23, first came to Cassopolis as a foreign exchange student for the 1999-2000 school year, living with the David Stump family.
She also returned during the Christmas holiday in 2003.
Terrorism tenseness is "not as bad as over here, but security is getting bigger at airports than it used to be," Sina said.
"We do internships quite often," though "usually more locally," such as with Lake Michigan College, Undersheriff Rick Behnke said Wednesday.
In fact, Behnke did one in 1986 as part of a 10-week, junior-year program through Ferris State University.
When he was a sergeant, Behnke headed up internships for the sheriff's office as well as worked with Mark Binder's law classes at Union High School.
"We take people who are in the academy, about to be in the academy or going to college," Behnke said. "We assigned her to specific divisions in the department. She wore a uniform. We've done ride-along programs with the high school, but this is a little more intense, a new level to take it to. We don't take just anyone coming in and wanting to do an internship without having some commitment on the front end. She's committed to law enforcement. It helps people get an idea of what they're getting into."
Sina already completed an internship in Europe.
When it came time to translate the German on Klostermann's evaluation, the undersheriff could also turn to Dowagiac graduate Darcy Garwood, who is essentially the department's linguist.
Garwood is fluent in German, Spanish, from work with the Border Patrol, and Russian, which came in handy when a delegation visited the Rotary Club.
Klostermann is from Bremen. Her city is about the size of South Bend, Ind. Some might associate her hometown with Beck's brewery.
She has completed three years of police academy in Germany by the end of September.
"Bremen is a city and a state at the same time, and that's where I'll be working. It's in the north, about an hour away from the coast."
Sina said she did not know when she first came to Cassopolis that she would become a police officer. In those days she imagined a teaching career.
She will speak English as well as German with her unit. She also studied Spanish and Latin for five years. "We have to take English from first grade on, then another language starting in seventh grade."
Her travels have also exposed Sina to Denmark, Sweden, France and England.
The older by 10 years of two daughters, Sina said her father manages computers for a large company. Her mother works with children with Down's syndrome.
"There are no police officers in my family," Klostermann said, "but I wanted a job where I get to work with all different kinds of people and get to do different things so that every day is different."
"It's a pretty safe job" because when she turns 27 she will be the law enforcement equivalent of a tenured teacher.
Police work in Germany and in Cass County are very similar, she said.
Germany "has the same problems as you. Domestic violence. Drunk driving. We have guns, pepper spray, sticks and handcuffs and another gun in the car."
A highlight for her was taking part in an aerial Operation HEMP marijuana harvest.
"We always have two officers in one car. Here, they just double up at night. Officers run alone in the daytime. It's not like that in Germany.
But "there are the same complaints," Klostermann indicated.
She said the famed Autobahn is without speed limits in some stretches, but not its entirety.
"I did so many different things here," she said. "I rode in patrol cars. I went diving in the lake. I spent a day with the Coast Guard on Lake Michigan. I went to court and watched a trial. I spent a day with Protective Service. I watched the canine unit. I'm going to watch SWAT training (this) morning. I did shooting training."
Cass County has a rudimentary shooting range in a gravel pit on Fox Street and officers can participate in video training at the 911 central dispatch center.
While the term Special Weapons and Tactics has fallen out of fashion in favor of an emergency services unit that Cass County calls the warrant service team, the nine-member squad will be in Edwardsburg trying out new equipment.
Behnke said the team consists of deputies and Dowagiac Police Department officers who collaborate when they respond to calls where they expect drugs or guns to be present. "It's not a full SWAT team."
Klostermann's stint with the Coast Guard is actually a good fit with her German duties, where she will troll rivers checking boats from overseas. Since the amount of water is limited, though, she will also respond to major accidents. She went to the scene of a fatal accident in Jones involving a Dowagiac semi-tractor and a Three Rivers driver.