PORT TOWNSEND — Mototsugu Kuya and Yutaro Kawaguchi may speak little English, but they know enough to describe their first time riding in a police cruiser.
“Exciting,” Kuya said. “Very, very exciting.”
The two 21-year-old university students from Hyogo, Japan, came to the North Olympic Peninsula to ride in a patrol car, ask questions about Tasers and learn about speed radar guns.
Both are studying to be police officers in Japan, where getting hands-on experience is tricky.
“No way could we ride [in a police car] in Japan,” Kuya said. “No way possible.”
In Port Townsend, all who have filled out the required paperwork and passed a background check can ride along with an officer — even if their background is in another country.
On Monday and Tuesday, the Port Townsend Police and Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office took the students around
“It’s a great program,” said Port Townsend Police Sgt. Mike Evans, who helped organize the students’ visit to Jefferson County.
“The fun part for us is, we are learning at the same time they are learning,” Evans said.
“Obviously, the language barrier is an issue, but we’ve found some ways around it.”
The main way is through computers inside the police vehicles, which fascinated the Japanese students, Port Townsend officers said.
“The computers in the cars have Internet, so we pulled up a translation Web site and typed it in between English and Japanese,” said Port Townsend Police Officer Bill Corrigan.
“They don’t speak a lot of English, but they speak more than I speak Japanese, so the technology really bridges that gap.”
The students said the technology in the vehicles and used by the officers was very impressive.
“We got to see a Taser work,” Kawaguchi said, describing an electroshock weapon police use.
“We got to use the speed gun and see how the cars work on the inside.”
Kawaguchi also was impressed by the way vehicles are equipped to record video and audio of everything before and during a traffic stop.
Emergency operations
They also took a tour of the emergency operations center at the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, and got a look at how the two agencies are different, similar and work together.
Still, the most impressive thing to the students was, “How everyone is so friendly,” Kuya said.
The students explained why they had to fly overseas to get inside a police car for the first time.
“It is much more strict [in Japan],” Kuya said.
“They are more serious and not very friendly to people.”
Kuya said he the Japanese police force was nothing like Jefferson County.
Sheriff’s Deputy Charles McCarty, who gave the students tours at the Sheriff’s office, said he believed calling the Japanese police philosophy more militaristic wouldn’t be a stretch.
“I served in Japan while in the Marine Corps, and it is much more militaristic there,” he said.
“So it was interesting talking with these guys about stuff I could relate to and remember.
“They were really interested in how we conduct ourselves, how we use the Tasers and how we operate under use of force.”
Sheriff Tony Hernandez said that his office operating less strictly than Japanese police doesn’t mean deputies aren’t serious.
“We are a contemporary law enforcement agency that is community oriented,” Hernandez said.
“We try to be reflective of the community we serve, have personal relationships with the people and operate as servants of the community.
“We honestly believe we are the best Sheriff’s Office in the country, and it’s nice to have people from other countries come here and see the model of law enforcement we operate under.”
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Reporter Erik Hidle can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at erik.hidle@peninsuladailynews.com.