Minneapolis Conference - September 26-30, 2010

I'd like to encourage everyone to attend the 48th Annual International Association of Women Police Training Conference, that will be held this year in Minneapolis, Minnesota, September 26-30, 2010. This year's theme is "Strength in Unity."

For those of you who have never attended an IAWP Conference before, I strongly encourage you to attend. But be prepared . . . once you attend one, it's unlikely that you'll be able to stay away from future ones! The training that you'll experience at the conferences are second to none, and the connections that you'll be able to make with women officers (and some men) from around the country and around the world is priceless. For those who have attended IAWP Conferences before, I know that I'm "preaching to the choir!"

Multiple training tracks will be provided at this year's conference, so there will be something for everyone, no matter what your rank or what your interests. Areas that will be covered include Law Enforcement, Probation, Corrections, Legal, Skills, International, Technology, What's Current, and Enrichment! An amazing assortment of classes will be provided, and I encourage you to go onto the IAWP website at www.iawp.org and click on conferences, then go to the link for the Minneapolis Conference to get all the details!

You should also be aware that the registration rates will be going up one last time on July 1st, from $500.00 to $600.00 for members, from $550.00 to $650.00 for non-members, and from $250.00 to $275.00 for retirees and companions, so you'll want to try and take advantage of the lower rates now. Many Department's fiscal year end on June 30th, and if they don't use their training funds, they generally will lose them and not be able to carry it over to the next fiscal year. For agencies that regularly pay to send their employees to training conferences, this is a great opportunity for you to attend! For those of you who must use your own vacation or comp time to attend, as I have to do, I can assure you that the investment in time and money that you make to attend the conference will be well worth it. AND, don't forget, all expenses relating to the trip are a tax write-off, to boot! Look at is as an investment in your law enforcement future.

For those of you that I haven't met in person, I hope that I'll get a chance to meet you there! For those I have, I look forward to seeing you again! Make your plans now, and I'll see you there!

Ann Duncan's passing

It is with great sadness to learn of Ann Duncan's passing last night. Ann was an absolute sweetheart and will be sorely missed by her family and friends, as well as by her friends in the IAWP. Ann had been the Region 17 Coordinator for years, and just passed on the baton at last year's election in Seattle to AnnMarie Alleyne. For those of you who attended the conference in Seattle, you'll remember that Ann received the Heritage Award there, which she was able to share with her family, who had accompanied her to Seattle to witness her receiving the Award.

Our chaplain, Tamia Dow, is asking that if anyone has any memories and/or photos that they would like to share about Ann, to please e-mail them to her at chaplaindow@yahoo.com. She will be doing an ongoing tribute to Ann on her chaplain's blog, and would like to encourage anyone who would like to participate to do so.

Rest in Peace, Ann . . .

Welcome to the Region 10 Blog!

Greetings one and all! The Region 10 Blog is officially up and running! This blog will be used to keep the Region up-to-date on what's happening in the Region, so I encourage everyone to let me know what's going on in your respective Departments and areas in regards to training, promotions, and anything else you'd like to share so that I can make sure it's able to be passed onto the entire Region. This will be an important avenue of information sharing for the Region, which will now be the forum for sharing that type of information, as opposed to it being printed in the magazine. I'm new to blogging, so bare with me as I learn all the ins and outs of it. As you know, I've been active in sending you out regular e-mails on officer safety issues, training, etc, so as I transition over to using the blog instead of doing the mass e-mails, it should help you from getting overloaded with loads of e-mails from me. I will work on getting this set up so that you'll be notified on when a new blog is posted, but until I get that figured out, I encourage you to check the blog regularly! My personal e-mail continues to be RLM2214A@aol.com, so send your info to me there and I'll make sure it gets posted! Until then, stay safe!