HOUSTON ASIS CHAPTER MINUTES

OCTOBER 29, 2003

The Chapter held a luncheon meeting at the Renaissance Hotel. Chairman Mike Crocker CPP presided. Fifty-six and guests attended.

Opening Prayer: Lawrence Weber

Pledge: Mike Crocker

Special thanks and recognition was given to Crescent Realty for underwriting our parking fees and to Securitas for providing the audio/visual equipment at each meeting.

Committee Activities:

Newsletter: Tom Hamilton CPP announced that the name of the newsletter will be “The Sentry”. Don Bush was the winner of the “Name the Newsletter” contest. The layout and pricing are all complete. December 1 is the projected date for the first of five issues. All articles are due by November 7^th. Tom congratulated his committee for selling the advertising space. They successfully exceeded the budget for printing the first five issues.

Certifications Committee: Darin Dillon CPP expressed his appreciation to Don McGray for providing accommodations for the training sessions. Fifteen people attended the “crash course” that was just offered. Karim Vellani CPP announced he is starting the first PSP Review class on Tuesday at Barton Services. Geoff Mules is our first member to pass the PSP.

Treasurer’s Report: Copies of the treasurer’s report were distributed.

Placement: Check out 2 new postings on our local web page.

Houses of Worship: Matt Silcox CPP stated they are still having difficulty identifying religious facilities that are willing to participate in the survey. Please check with your area churches/synagogues/mosques.

Golf Tournament: We will be starting up within the next 6 weeks. Please contact Mike Crocker, Darin Dillon or Bob Cascino if you would like to be on the committee.

Legislation: Dave Parker briefly reviewed some of the changes at TCPS.

Nomination Committee: Capt. Mark Curran is our Nomination Committee Chairman. Email and fax notifications have been sent regarding the election. Nominations are welcome. Only ASIS members may vote. The election is on the next luncheon date: November 19 (one week earlier due to the holiday).

Survey on Utilization of Off-duty Law Enforcement Officers in Security Positions: Hard copies of the survey are on each table. They are also being emailed. If this survey applies to your organization, please support and fill out the survey.

Miscellaneous: Ken Nelson, Business Development Manager for Smith Protective Services, proposed having a Bowling Tournament as a fundraiser for the Chapter. Several members expressed interest. Please contact Ken or Mike Crocker if you would like to explore the possibility.

Law Enforcement Recognition Award: Introduced and presented by Mike Mallon. Our honoree this month is HPD Officer Mike Garrett.

Officer Garrett is a 17 year veteran of law enforcement and has spent the last six years with the Major Offenders Division and nine years as a Hostage Negotiator.

He is being recognized particularly for two recent cases. In 2002, he investigated a female subject who was passing hot checks. He was able to recover $3200 and over $500 in merchandise. In 2003, a mall security director in Dallas notified HPD about recovered merchandise found in a car with Houston license plates. During his investigation, Officer Garrett discovered one subject was wanted on warrants in three states. The subject was captured in Houston. Because of his diligence and initiative, Officer Garrett contributed to closing a 5-city ring of stolen merchandise and recovering merchandise before it was even known as stolen.

Officer Garrett was presented a plaque in appreciation of his consistent commitment to law enforcement.

Speakers: Dr. Frank Williams III, Dr. Marilyn McShane and Dr. Hsiao-Ming Wang

University of Houston Downtown Criminal Justice Department

Topic: Building Resources for the Houston Security Community

What are the implications of having a graduate degree in Security Management? What are the collaborative opportunities for projects of interest to the Houston Security community?

Dr. Williams started his presentation by offering the Houston area security community free opportunities, or ones at a minimal charge.

The process to begin a graduate degree program started in the spring of 2000. By the fall of 2001, a 12 unit trek was already initiated. From 2001-2002 the Criminal Justice Department developed a proposal for a stand-alone graduate degree in Security Management. In November 2002 began the state-mandated approval process, which will be completed by December 2003. Because the 12 unit trek was already developed, it provided a basis for the curriculum presented to the State. The State requires a minimum five-student enrollment before the classes can begin. Five students from Taiwan are already pre-registered for the official start date of August 2004. Overtures have already been made by Dongguk University, Seoul, South Korea and they anticipate a second agreement resulting in additional international students.

Some of the topics include Communication for Managers (technology, how to hire/fire etc); Crisis Management (risk assessment, legal aspects) Research and Development (statistics, policy analysis of real-time issues); 36 hours of professional seminars and a thesis on a directed product. Our Industry will be able to use graduate students to help research and problem solve issues for their company. The courses will be incredibly flexible because this field is changing so rapidly.

UHD also hopes this will not just be a degree program, but a forum to create a center for security issues with the potential for contributing to National Energy and Security Policies.

Dr. McShane spoke about the activities of the Community Justice Institute. These activities include research, training, support services (translation, grant writing). It is a clearing house for information. They can partner to help get training funds.

Dr. Wang addressed his new project called “Bayou Connection”. It is an international partnership with UHD to bring Houston to the world. Bayou means river; in Chinese, a river symbolizes a channel to a different civilization. Dr. Wang brought the program to the University of Taiwan, who became their first partner to introduce security professionals from both sides of the world. Taiwan has almost the same population as Texas (23 million vs. 21 million), yet is only one-nineteenth the size. However, there are only 16 members of ASIS in Taiwan compared to over 500 in Houston alone. This partnership will encourage interest and membership in ASIS International.

The Taiwanese government plans to certify its private security forces. They need our consulting guidance. Dr. Wang is organizing a delegation to Taiwan from May 23-28, 2004 to talk to major people in Security, as well as government officials. We may be able to have input on their new policies and certifications. They will be visiting Chia-Yi and Taipei. Tours include MJIB (the lead agency for investigating economic crimes, public corruption, drug trafficking and money laundering), the National Palace Museum and Sun-Moon Lake. The estimated cost $2000 per person, includes airline, four nights accommodations and local transportation. Hard copy Information on the delegation is on each table and will be available on the Houston ASIS web site.

A plaque was presented to our three speakers in appreciation for their time and dedication to providing this new degree program.

The next meeting is on November 19, one week earlier than normally scheduled, because of the Thanksgiving holiday. Our speaker is Dr. David Mobley, with the Houston Health Hour Radio Show.