Greetings one and all. I hope everyone has been enjoying their summer and was able to get at least a little bit of time off to play with family and friends! I find it hard to believe that this week, it's going to be September already. Talk about time flying!!
There were no new Region 10 members this past month; however, I DO have to make a correction to one of my blog entries. Apparently, I was doing my best to promote one of our new members, and I listed Andrea Arreola from the San Diego County Sheriff's Department as the SHERIFF and not a Lieutenant!! Sorry about that, Andrea! That would have been QUITE a promotion, eh? Let it not be said that I'm not here for my Region members!
Good news for Region 10 member, Ellen Kirschman, Ph.D. Many of you may know Ellen from her outstanding book, "I Love a Cop: What Police Families Need to Know" (she is also the author of the book, "I Love a Fire Fighter: What the Family Needs to Know"). If you haven't read "I Love a Cop," I strongly advise you to pick it up and read it, then share it with your families. It's very powerful stuff, and will be a beneficial read whether you're new to the job, or whether you have been a veteran for years; it is especially important for your families to read. I just learned that Ellen has received The Americal Psychological Association - Division 18 (Police and Public Safety) 2010 award for outstanding contribution to police and public safety psychology! Congratulations, Ellen. You deserve it! To learn more about Ellen and the work she does, check out her website at www.ellenkirschman.com.
Last week, I received an e-mail from Region 10 member, Susan Baldwin, who is a retired Special Agent, who provided me with information on trainings that she does through her company, Personal Protection Institute in Tempe, Arizona, which I have forwarded onto you. I wanted to encourage any of you who are trainers to write up some information about who you are, what your training specialty is, and how to contact you, and I'll be happy to forward that information onto the Region for you. You never know when one of us might be looking for a trainer, and what better way to help get the word out about some available trainers than by doing so through our Region.
I'd also like to let you know that my stay at the Sheraton Maui Resort & Spa in Ka anapali, Lahaina a couple of weeks ago was quite impressive. Former IAWP 2nd Vice President, Lynette Hogue, and I met with the sales manager there, who spent alot of time with us showing us around the facility and beginning the first stages of discussions on whether it might be feasible for us to bring a Region 10 training there in May or June of next year. We'll see how it plays out, but I can tell you they were very keen on having us there, and are willing to work with us to do what it takes to make it happen. I'll keep everyone posted as discussions continue. I'd love to get your feedback as to whether you might be interested in a day or day and a half training there; whatever rate we're able to negotiate, which I suspect may likely be the current government rate of $169.00, will be good for 3 days before and 3 days after the training, so it will enable people to extend their trip out a few days and make it into a vacation with their families, as well as a training, which will be a tax write-off, to boot! More to come . . .
I'd like to congratulate the following officers on their nominations for IAWP's Officer-of-the-Year Awards this year. Although none of them won, I can tell you that just being nominated for one of these international awards is quite an honor. Congratulations go out to:
Officer Ally Jacobs and Event Manager Lisa Campbell, University of California Police Department, Berkeley - Excellence in Performance Award
Officer Maria Oropeza, San Francisco Police Department - Community Service Award
Officer Monica Macdonald, San Francisco Police Department - Medal of Valor
I'll include the texts of their nominations in future blogs, so you can be as impressed and proud of them as I am. Hopefully, we'll have even more nominations for the awards next year! Start keeping your ears open now for outstanding police work occurring in your Departments (go to the IAWP website at www.iawp.org for all award criteria), and maybe one of our Region members will be a winner next year!
Finally, there's still time to register for this year's Annual Training Conference that will be held next month in Minneapolis. Check out the IAWP website for details. They've got quite an impressive training schedule lined up and should be an outstanding experience. Hope to see many of you there.
FYI, I'll be attending the Board of Directors meeting prior to the beginning of the conference, so if anyone has any issues or concerns that you would like me to bring forward, please let me know as soon as possible.
Until my next blog, stay safe!
