On November 8-10, 2010, the 5th Annual Women Leaders in Law Enforcement (WLLE) Training Symposium was held in Pasadena, CA. It was SO good to see so many Region 10 members in attendance! I have attended all 5 of the WLLE training conferences, and I can tell you that it just keeps getting better and better all the time. The 1-1/2 days of training was outstanding, and the connections made at the State level are priceless. This year, 737 law enforcement officers attended this sold out event; two of the sponsorship booths were run by IAWP members - Region 10 member, Valna Wilson with Cambridge Financial Partners, LLC, and Bettina Aschenbrenner with American Military University. (Thanks for your support!)
I encourage everyone to put November 13-15, 2011 on your calendars when the training will be held at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose (for those not familiar with the WLLE Conferences, they alternate years being held in Northern California and Southern California). It's an investment in your law enforcement future and not something that you should miss. All law enforcement officers are welcome, as are civilian law enforcement employees; it is also not restricted to only those in law enforcement in California -all are welcome.
It never fails to amaze me when I go to trainings like the WLLE Conference how many women have never heard about the IAWP or that we're the oldest women's law enforcement organization in the world, having been in existence since 1915! I'd like to encourage all of you to reach out to other women law enforcement officers that you know and spread the word about the IAWP. Get a list of the women in your own agencies, print off a copy of the IAWP's application form on the organization's website at www.iawp.org, and send it to them with a note encouraging them to join (membership is just $40.00 a year or $70.00 for two years, and is a tax write-off, to boot!). If your agency has a POA or FOP, submit a copy of the membership application to them to print in their publications, encouraging women to join. The networking in the IAWP is priceless and the more we can do to share this important law enforcement resource with other women, the better.
As an incentive for you, anyone who is able to get a woman law enforcement officer to join the IAWP and they give your name as the person who recommended that they join, I'll send you an IAWP Challenge Coin! So, start recruiting and get one of these limited edition coins!
