NIOA members have elected Chuck Allen as Vice President for 2010-2011. Jack Goldhorn will advance as President of the organization. Marlee Boenig will continue to serve on the executive board for one year as Immediate Past President.

From Chuck’s recent election bio:

“…I have been with the Nevada Department of Public Safety-Highway-Patrol Division for twenty years and have spent the past six plus years as the spokesperson for my agency. I am also a twenty-six year member of the military and am currently assigned as the Human Resource Advisor for the 152nd Airlift Wing, Nevada Air National Guard, and report directly to the Wing Commander.

I have been a member of the NIOA since 2004 and have attended every annual conference since then. Additionally, I assisted with a presentation detailing the lessons learned regarding the Steve Fossett search at the Sparks conference in 2008 and spoke at one of the breakouts in Nashville last year about doing more as a PIO.

The core values for my full time career are Dedication, Pride, and Service, and my Air National Guard core values are Integrity, Service before Self, and Excellence in All We Do. As a public information officer I live by the core values of Approachability, Availability, and Visibility. With a belief system in applying all of these values, I truly believe I represent my agency in the most professional manner and believe that by building and maintaining relationships with the media is the key to being successful.

As for my involvement in the community, I have been a member of the Executive Board of Directors for the Nevada Humane Society for 4 years and am currently assigned as the Secretary. I am also heavily involved in the Law Enforcement Torch Run (LETR) in Nevada and coordinate and participate in a number of fundraisers every year benefiting the athletes in the Special Olympics Nevada program. I also sit on the board of directors for the Sparks Traffic Survival School, a non-profit group involved with providing teen and adult driving safety training.

…I will work as hard and as passionately as possible in promoting and expanding the growth of the NIOA. I love this organization immensely and will continue to be a proud member and a hopeful officer of the board…”

We wanted to pass along some news out of Region 9. Long time NIOA member and regional director Steve Frady from Reno Police and Fire has announced his retirement from Public Service effective May 6, 2010.

Steve has been a mentor and good friend to all of us and we wish him the best of luck in his retirement. With this in mind, Steve will also be stepping down as Regional Director of NIOA.

The Board has chosen Michele Anderson of the City of Reno to replace Steve as Region 9 Director.

Please be sure to congratulate both of these fine people for their accomplishments.

At the 2008 NIOA conference in Reno we introduced a “Best Practices” session.  This was a well received addition to the conference.  We would like to carry it on to Nashville in August 2009.

In these best practice sessions we will highlight four case studies from our members that feature unique and successful ways NIOA members dealt with a particular issue that is relevant for first-responder PIOs.  Each case study is 45 minutes in length, with a short Q&A.

If you would like to be considered as a presenter, please send a one-page (maximum) synopsis of your case scenario to me at rpalmer@washingtontwp.org by March 6.  The Board will choose a cross-section of cases and four people will be asked to present at Nashville.

Please use the following headings in your synopsis:

Organization name & presenter:

Incident type & date:

Type of organization:

Synopsis/overview of case/event/incident:

Challenges/Issues:

Solution/How you dealt with it:

Outcomes & Results:

Lessons Learned:

It is always a great opportunity to learn from one’s colleagues. On behalf of the entire board, I look forward to your submissions!

I thought this would be of interest to many of you.  The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund has just put out a release and newsletter announcing that the number of officers killed in the line of duty dropped by 23% in 2008.  In fact, the number who were killed by gunfire, according to the NLEOMF fell to a 50 year low.

However, while this is an improvement, of particular concern to your Secretary here, as I work in the Highway Safety business, is the fact that for the 11th year in a row NLEOMF says that more law enforcement officers died in traffic-related incidents than from any other single cause.  This too is in spite of the fact that deaths related to traffic incidents dropped by 14% compared to 2007.

So as I post this on New Year’s Eve…a very dangerous night on the roads, my 2009 wish for all of you who are first responders is to be especially careful on the roads.  Please buckle up, drive defensively, remember to set a good example behind the wheel for the rest of the public, and be ever vigilant when making traffic stops (or responding to roadside crashes or medical emergencies) of other vehicles who may not have the good sense to Move Over and out of the way for you…no matter what your state law says.

And keep the families of those who have fallen in the line of duty over the years in your hearts and prayers.  If you want to see the report click on the link below.  And have a safe and happy New Year!

http://nleomf.org/TheMemorial/Facts/2008_endyear_report.pdf