The past month has been a busy one for the Board of ALERT.  First of all I would like to announce that effective October 2nd 2018, Robert Watt resigned his position as President of ALERT International.  On behalf of ALERT and the Board, I would like to thank Bob for his service this last year as President, and wish him best of luck in his retirement and future endeavors.    According to the by-laws, the current Vice President will assume the role of President for the remainder of current Presidential term.   The current by-laws do not have a provision to fill the Vice Presidency spot.  As a Board we are working to make a by-law change to correct that loop hole, however it will not be able to take effect until its posted and voted upon by membership at next year's Conference.  I am looking forward to doing my best to carry out the duties of the President and continue to improve our organization.   As Emergency Vehicle Trainers, I feel we have an often overlooked, but extremely critical role in the continued safety of law enforcement.  Unfortunately as I write this, ODMP just announced a death of a young Police Officer In North Carolina who was killed when he collided with another Police Officer at an intersection responding to a call for service.  ALERT International has a vital role in this mission, and I want ALERT to continue to work to improve Emergency Vehicle Operations training, and have its members collaborate and network to do everything possible to prevent the next "preventable" vehicle related Line of Duty Death.   I do have some objectives and goals I'd like to try accomplish this year as an organization and for our Conference next year, but I will address those in an upcoming newsletter.

 

      I would first like to thank everyone who attended this year's Conference in Portland.  I feel it was a very successful Conference with awesome presentations and an outstanding track day at Portland State Academy.  A special thanks to Mike Brady and Lake Oswego Police Department for all their excellent work in planning and hosting the Conference.   I would like to congratulate Al Liebno, Maryland Standards and Training Commission on receiving the 2018 "Z Man" Award.  It was a special occasion to be in the City where Officer Mark Zylawy worked for 17 years.  Mark Y. Zylawy, "Z-Man", a highly regarded Portland police officer, died January 27, 2008 in a tragic and untimely accident at the age of 40. He worked as a district officer in Northeast Portland for 17 years with passion, dedication and enthusiasm throughout his career.  Al, as many of you know, served as ALERT President for 2 terms and continues to be an active and vital member of the Board as Past President.  Al handed out the award for many years, so it was well deserved for him receive it for his many years of involvement in Emergency Vehicle Operations training with the Maryland State Police, Maryland Training Commission, and ALERT.  Also I would like to congratulate Taylor Hill, daughter of ALERT member Lt. Todd Hill of White Lake Michigan, on receiving the 2018 Bruce Cabral Memorial Scholarship.  We had a great raffle on Wednesday night of the Conference to benefit our scholarship fund.  A special thanks to Cabela's of Portland Oregon for their gracious donations for our raffle.      

 

       Speaking of our conferences, we are extremely excited to have Karl Smalley of the Adams County Sheriff's Office, Commerce City Colorado, hosting our 2019 Conference.  We are currently finalizing dates and venue information and that information will be forthcoming shortly.  The Conference is already taking shape and we are looking forward to announcing the final plans.  I will be sending out information in the coming weeks looking for input from membership on what they want to expect and get from an annual Conference.  Based on comments and critiques of Portland, there are things I want to explain to the membership of what all goes into organizing and planning a Conference.  This is your organization, and I want to have as much input from our membership as possible from our membership to our Board, and communication from the Board to our membership as we move into the next year and next year's conference. 

 

      Finally, I'm excited to announce that the Board has hired Christie Ward of "got your six consulting", of Columbus Ohio as our 2018-2019 Marketing Consultant.  Christie has over 25 years of experience in marketing and 6 years of experience working with law enforcement associations.  She most recently lead the law enforcement program at Nationwide Insurance.  We are excited of what Christie will bring to the table for the organization.   Much more information will be coming on Christie and some of the things we want to accomplish as an organization.  Also I am excited to announce that I have appointed Mike Brady of Lake Oswego OR as our 2019 Conference liaison.  With the Vice President position vacant, Mike will be assisting the Board and will be the liaison between the ALERT Board of Directors and Adams County Sheriff's Office in the planning and logistics of the conference.   Mike did an outstanding job of planning the 2018 Conference, and his years of experience with ALERT make him an invaluable asset to the assist in carrying out this mission. 

 

       We are looking forward to an exciting 2019.  More information will be coming in the following weeks and months.  In the meantime, please feel free to reach out to me  alert.president@gmail.com or any Board member at any time with any concerns, issues, or ideas.   I feel communication is the key success to any organization and I want to improve communications between the Board and the Membership.  We are in the process of transitioning emails so please be patient as I transition into this new role.  I am honored to have served as your Vice President the past two years and looking forward to this year serving as your President.  I would like to thank everyone for their continued support as we work together to improve ALERT International and improve Emergency Vehicle Operations and Officer Safety for all of law enforcement. 

 

    Stay safe, and have a safe and Blessed Thanksgiving with your families!

 

Sincerely,

 

Geoff Bush

ALERT President