ASIS INTERNATIONAL HOUSTON CHAPTER

MEETING MINUTES: October 26, 2005

The 9/28/05 meeting was cancelled due to Hurricane Rita

The luncheon meeting was held at Renaissance Hotel. Chapter Chairman Darin Dillon CPP presided. 37 members and guests attended.

Opening prayer and Pledge: Lewis Eakins CPP

Committee Activities:

Treasurer: The report was discussed.

Newsletter:

• The newsletter will be mailed within the next two weeks.
• At year’s end, we expect to have a profit to provide a $1,000 scholarship.
• This committee is developing a Public Relations subcommittee.

Social Activity:

• The first Annual Chili Cookoff was held on October 22. 8 teams participated with about 40 attendees. The Voodoo Cookers, all under the age of 13, won the contest!

Membership:

• Half the members assigned to the Houston Chapter are also local members. We are developing a new outreach program to encourage participation from the other half.
• This committee (in conjunction with the Education committee) is also developing a University-outreach program.

Certifications:

• The next CPP review class will only be 2 weeks long sometime in November, due to Hurricane Rita.
• We will be setting up a password protection of the CPP Review material.

TPSB: Kevin Galloway has graciously reinstituted the luncheon CEU program for the licensed members. One credit can be earned for attending an eligible luncheon.

Scholarship: We are working on applying for matched scholarships from National.

Chapter Elections: The new Executive Committee is selected in November. If you have an interest in serving or have a nomination, please submit the name(s) to Committee Chairman Captain Mark Curran. The proposed slate is John Brady, Chair; Posie Clinton CPP, Vice-chair; Bob Cascino CPP, Treasurer; Pamela Duncan, Secretary.

Seminar: Our annual local chapter seminar is November 8 & 9 at the AIG, Lise Building. Some of the topics include The Global Fundamental Islamic Terror; Digital Intelligence; Incident Command Simulation; Security Response to Rita/Katrina – lessons learned; Ethics; and Port & Transportation Security (see the web page for a full listing). Registration information is on our webpage.

Golf Scholarship Tournament: We are looking for a new course. Recommendations are welcome, as we must book soon.

Houses of Worship:

o The committee has been working closely with the Catholic Church and has completed 20 assessments.

o Lewis is also taping a segment on ID Theft and Fraud for Channel 14.

o Assessments are also being completed for the St. Vincent DePaul Thrift Stores.

o We will be expanding this committee with a subcommittee that will offer free security assessments for Battered Women.

Corporate Roundtable: This committee met on October 13 to discuss the corporate impacts from Hurricanes Rita/Katrina.

Legislation:

o $32 million in Homeland Security grants is being awarded to the Port of Houston.

o $175 million grant money is being requested to Congress. Public and private groups along the Ship Channel are blending their requests

Law Enforcement Recognition Award: HPD Officer Alberto Garcia

Officer Garcia is a 23 year veteran of the Houston Police Department, currently with the North Division. He was accompanied by Captain Richard Gerstner (with HPD for 22 years).

A series of aggravated robberies of Dollar Stores and Walgreen’s Pharmacies began in late September 2004. Of the 28 cases in Houston and five in Harris County, there were various vehicle descriptions associated with the suspect. Six of the cases involved an older model gray or gold Nissan Maxima or Altima with no license plate information.

Officer Alberto Garcia of the North Division requested information regarding these robberies including copies of the surveillance photos of the suspect in two of the cases. He then proceeded to check motels along Hempstead Highway which were closest to the most recent robberies. At the second motel, he saw an older model gray Nissan Maxima parked in front of the rooms. Officer Garcia checked the license plate and learned that it was registered to a woman in Houston and that she had traffic warrants.

He went to the motel office and asked the manager about the guest. Officer Garcia learned that it was a male who had checked in, however, the manager did not think the guest looked like the suspect in the Crime Stoppers photograph. The officer had the motel manager knock on the door. When the man answered, Officer Garcia saw that he was the same individual pictured as the suspect. The suspect subsequently confessed to the robberies. The suspect was on parole, a previously convicted felon with aggravated robbery convictions.

Officer Garcia was presented a plaque in appreciation for his service to the community.

The L.E. Liaison Committee is being changed to the Public Safety Liaison Committee. It will allow us to extend our appreciation for service to the community to other first responders such as Security Officers, EMS and Fire Fighters.

Speaker: Billy Smith, Instructor, Laredo Community College

Topic: Selecting/using Narcotic and Explosive Dog Providers for Commercial Applications

Mr. Smith retired from the Navy in August 1975 as Chief K9 Trainer ComNavAirpac and retuned to Texas. He retired after 23 years from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice as Team Leader Region III Narcotic Interdiction Team in May 2000 and is currently an Instructor at the Laredo Community College for the Laredo Job Corps Center. He works with the Law Enforcement Training Specialists International, Inc., a 501C not-for-profit organization dedicated to the proper certification of a Canine Team.

The first trial case using evidence discovered by a trained Narcotic dog was in 1969 from a marijuana seizure off a ship in Seattle. In 1975, there were only 7 Narcotic dogs in the U.S. Now there are a lot of “quick” Canine Detection companies, many without the proper certifications. Selecting and hiring a certified dog-handling provider can make the difference in your case. Mr. Smith stresses that he does not promote any particular company, but wants to provide good guidelines to help hire the right company and assure the safety of your employees.

Many of the fly-by-night companies promote “imported dogs”; yet many of the best dogs have come from shelters. Breed does not matter; it’s whether the dog performs and meets the standards. Dogs have scent discrimination and can detect a “residual odor” for up to three days. Many of these companies will state they have a “hit” after longer periods of time, but that is not possible. These companies will also boast of multiple trainers; there should only be one paired handler and dog. The average dog can work 8-10 years.

Are you asking the right questions when you hire the company?

• How long has the company been in business
• Is this there primary sole-source income or do they offer too many services
• Do they have National Certification, or only in-house certification for their handlers
• Do they have continuing education
• Do they claim the dogs are cross-trained in both explosives and narcotics? They will claim the dog alerts a different way for the two sources, but that is erroneous. Only use a dog trained for one type of detection.
• Be careful if the company has too many handlers; otherwise the handler has minimal time with a particular dog. They should be a paired team.
• Is the manager a marketer or a trained handler
• Do they have a permit with the local fire marshal to keep the explosives necessary for proper training (rather than synthetic equivalents)
• Do they keep good documentation; are they licensed; are they animals healthy
• Check out the training facilities; are they a puppy-mill; is it clean

Honest companies will promote their services as a tool, not as the solution. Please feel free to contact Mr. Smith to guide you and help verify that the company is reputable and in good standing.

A special thank you was extended to Mr. Smith for driving all the way from Laredo to share his expertise. A plaque was awarded in appreciation of his presentation.

The next meeting is one week early due to the holidays: NOVEMBER 16.