By Staff
Melissa Cason, Franklin County Times
RED BAY – An officer from the Red Bay Police Department spent two days with a police officer from Sweden in an effort to share experiences and to learn how to handle different situations common in all places.
Patrik Johansson, a patrol sergeant with the Swedish National Police, spent a week in Alabama training officers in Winston County on police officer readiness, and survival skills, which Red Bay Sgt. Scottie Belue also instructed during the training day Wednesday afternoon.
"The Swedish National Police received an invitation from the Haleyville Police Department requesting training from one of our officers," Johansson said.
On the first part of his visit Johansson spent time with Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms officers in Birmingham before heading north to Winston County, and then to Franklin County.
"Officer Johansson patrolled Red Bay with me last night [Wednesday], and today [Thursday]," Belue said.
During their time together, Belue and Johansson discussed different trends in criminal activity that each deal with everyday.
"While our drug of choice seems to be meth here, Swedish police see a lot of heroin usage in their country," Belue said.
Johansson said that the Swedish Police benefit greatly from visiting different countries and helping them with training.
"I can take things that you do here and use them in Sweden, and officers I see and talk with can do the same," Johansson said.
Johansson is planning to return the Franklin County in the coming months to team up with Belue to bring more training to officers in our county and throughout North Alabama.
"We want to do a week-long training event where we cover different things to enhance officer survival," Belue said.
"The training would help local law enforcement by showing the latest trends, and helping them keep up with the latest local, state, federal and international laws."
Johansson is based in Malmoe, Sweden, and is the patrol, tactics, and firearms instructor for the Swedish National Police and serves as the head of all Weapons of Mass Destruction training for the Malmoe Police Department. After leaving Red Bay, Johansson was scheduled to visit the Hoover before returning to Sweden tomorrow.