More Good Stuff Happening in the Region

Greetings one and all. First of all, I'd like to welcome the following new members to the Region since my last blog posting:

Sergeant Margarita Rios - Los Angeles School Police
Officer Erin Behm - Syracuse Police Department
Officer Jennifer Fiorello - San Francisco Police Department
Officer Regina Collier - Anderson Police Department
Officer Jacqui Perna - Menlo Park Police Department
Sergeant Suzanne (Jill) Morrison - North Las Vegas Police Department
C/O Cynthia Hubert - Henderson Police Department/Corrections
Officer Jennifer Jones - California Highway Patrol
Officer Ashley Ohrn - Phoenix Police Department
Lieutenant Julie Angulo - California Department of Corrections
Captain Valerie Tanguay-Masner - San Bernadino County Sheriff's Office
Officer Jaxi Close - Los Angeles General Services Police Department

SO good to have you join the IAWP family! Any information you'd like to pass onto the Region concerning upcoming trainings in your agency or regional areas, retirements, officer safety issues, promotions, or anything else you'd like to share, please e-mail them to me at RLM2214A@aol.com, and I'll be happy to pass it onto the Region, either through e-mail or through the blog.

I'd also like to welcome back the following members on their renewals:

Sergeant Wendy Bear - San Francisco Police Department
Sheriff Penny Kalua - Hawaii State Sheriff
Chief Sandra Spanoli - San Leandro Police Department
Officer Kristina Hershberger - Clovis Police Department
Retired Sergeant Carolyn (Carri) Lucas - San Francisco Police Department

Good to have you all back!

I had the honor of attending yet another one of our Region member's retirement dinners last night - this time, for Captain Alana Forrest from the Los Gatos-Monte Sereno Police Department. Alana served as a police officer for 28 years, working first with the Palo Alto Police Department, where she rose to the rank of Lieutenant, and then moving to the Los Gatos-Monte Sereno Police Department as a Captain in 2000. Congratulations, my friend; enjoy your well deserved retirement!

I also wanted to note that when I attended IAWP Chaplain, Tamia Dow's, retirement party in Las Vegas earlier this month, the Nevada Governor, Brian Sandoval, proclaimed February 1, 2012 as Tamia Dow Day in the State of Nevada. Very, very cool!!

Congratulations also go out to Region 10 member, Assistant Chief Patrol Agent Darcy Olmos from the U.S. Border Patrol on HER retirement on January 30th! Darcy served almost 27-1/2 years with the Border Patrol in Arizona. Congratulations, and have fun enjoying your new career! You're going to love it!

The only IAWP Affiliate in our Region, the Los Angeles Women Police Officers and Associates (LAWPOA), will be presenting their 2012 Professional Training and Development Symposium on March 22nd at the Sheraton Universal Hotel at 333 Universal Hollywood Drive in Universal City. Featured speakers include Lt. Col. (retired) Dave Grossman, speaking about "The Bulletproof Mind"; Olga Trujillo, J.D., speaking about "The Impact of Physical and Sexual Violence" and "Victim Behavior: Assessing Credibility"; Cynthia Tobias, M.Ed., speaking about "Turning Conflict Into Cooperation: Bringing Out the Best in the Strong-Willed Person"; and Sean Riley, speaking about "Life, Rise and Fall of a Cop".

Registration for the symposium is from 6:30-7:30 a.m. and the symposium will be from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuition is $90.00 for LAWPOA members and $100.00 for non-LAWPOA members. Checks shuld be made payable to LAWPOA at P.O. Box 531067, Los Angeles, CA 90053. For additional information, please contact John Vasquez at 213-486-8402, or Angeles Reynoso at 213-486-7668.

Congratulations go out to Rosanne Richeal, who was selected as the City of Rancho Cordova's first female police chief! She'll begin her new job on March 19th. Roseanne previously served as Assistant Chief for the Department.

Congratulations also go out to Jackie Rubin, who was hired by the St. Helena City Council as their first female police chief! Jackie is a 26-year veteran of the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Office. She began her new job on January 11th.

AWESOME to see more women rising to the rank of Chief! Good luck to one and all!

Finally, if you haven't seen the San Francisco Police Department's video of the "It Gets Better" project, check it out at www.itgetsbetter.org. It's a VERY powerful video; I believe that the San Francisco Police Department is the first law enforcement organization in the country to film a message for the project. Many thanks to their Department's LGBT organization, the S.F. Police Officer's Pride Alliance, who spearheaded the project, and to Chief Greg Suhr, who supported it wholeheartedly from it's inception! The video is anticipated to go viral, and once you see it, you'll know why. Four days after it's release, it hit 106,000 hits on U-Tube!! Please pass it along to your colleagues near and far; it's a powerful message that needs to be passed spread like wildfire.

Until next time, stay safe!