Greetings! Since my last blog, I was advised by Region 10 member, Laura Molinaro from the Prescott Valley Police Department in Prescott, Arizona, that she has retired from law enforcement as of May 21st! Laura was a Commander with her Department and served with them for nearly 23 years. She was the first female officer, and their longest tenured employee. To read a couple of great articles about Laura's retirement written by the Prescott Valley Tribune, check out these websites: http://www.pvtrib.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&subsectionID=1&articleID=51990 and http://www.pvtrib.com/main.asp?SectionID=36&subsectionID=765&articleID=51984. Congratulations, Laura! Enjoy your well deserved retirement!
News from Hawaii . . .
In the most recent issue of the Journal, which is the Police Officer Association's monthly union newspaper for the San Francisco Police Department, there was a short article from Tommy Aiu on behalf of The Hawaii Law Enforcement Memorial Foundation that I thought I'd share with you.
"I am pleased to announce the launch of The Hawaii Law Enforcement Memorial Foundation website (www.hlemf.org or www.hlemf.com). This website, now several months in development, underscores the Foundation's mission (the planning and development of the Memorial), board management, House Concurrrent Resolution 139 (which provides for land on the state capitol), methods to donate, the generous SHOPO donation, and the Foundation's primary fundraising event.
Most important, the website honors Hawaii's officers from all branches of law enforcement, who died in the line of duty. This site will be a virtual tribute to our fallen while the Foundation continues to develop the Memorial.
While the website highlights the planning and eventual construction of the Memorial, it is also a site dedicated to the daily sacrifice made by every law enforcement officer in the State of Hawaii, past and present. This is "our" collective website.
To that end, please take a moment to visit the website (www.hlemf.org) and forward to all agency heads and respective command staff, all sworn personnel, co-workers, retired personnel, families of fallen officers, and law enforcement support groups. Our goal is to make the site available to as many of our fellow officers/agents, families and friends, as possible.
Lastly, please send us feedback for improvement via info@hlemf.com or to my email address (hawaii1811@yahoo.com).
Mahalo to those who provided testimony in support of HCR 139 and all of you who continue to support our collective cause.
Aloha,
Tommy Aiu on behalf of The Hawaii Law Enforcement Memorial Foundation"
Good luck on your undertaking, Tommy! If any of our Hawaii members are able to give Tommy feedback on the website, or help him spread the word about the Foundation, I'm sure he would greatly appreciate it.
Speaking of Hawaii, former IAWP 2nd Vice President, Lynette Hogue, and I will be travelling to Hawaii this coming week to visit friends in Kona on the Big Island for several days, followed by a trip to Maui the following week. While in Maui, we will be meeting with a representative from the Sheraton Resort in Kaanapali, who I met in Seattle on my way to the Final Banquet at the end of Seattle's conference last year. We discussed the IAWP a bit, and then I told her that I was the Region Coordinator for 5 states, including Hawaii, and that at some point in time, I would love to be able to have a Region meeting/training in Hawaii, as a number of Region members have approached me in the past and expressed an interest in wanting to do that. That conversation immediately resulted in a business card exchange and a promise from her to touch base with me again when it got closer to the time of my trip to Maui.
True to her word, she contacted me earlier this month. To make a long story short, she has graciously offered to host us at the Sheraton for two days of our visit there so that she can show us around the Resort and we can experience first hand all that the Sheraton has to offer! I, of COURSE, accepted! We'll see what develops from that meeting, and see if it would be financially feasible to host a Region meeting/training there. I'll, of course, keep everyone posted on any developments with that which might occur. We do not have alot of IAWP members in Hawaii, and this would be a fantastic way to be able to outreach to them, not only by providing some good, quality training, but also to introduce them to the IAWP. We'll see how it plays out.
In the meantime, I would love to hear everyone's feedback on how you would feel about doing a Region meeting/training in Maui, POSSIBLY sometime next year, and what type of training you might be interested in seeing there. I envision probably a one day training with a luncheon, though two days MIGHT be a possibility if the interest is there and the cost is reasonable. If it WERE to occur, I will ensure that it does not conflict with either the IAWP Annual Conference in Lexington, Kentucky, the IAWP Spring Board meeting, or any Region affiliate trainings (affiliates, PLEASE let me know if you have any upcoming trainings planned for next year ASAP, so I'll have a better idea on what kind of timeframe we might be looking at - you should let me know about those trainings anyway, so I can get the information up on the blog to help you get the word out on them; ditto for your websites).
Until next time, stay safe, and don't forget to please send me any information that you'd like to see shared on the blog to RLM2214A@aol.com.
