ASIS INTERNATIONAL HOUSTON CHAPTER

MEETING MINUTES: November 17, 2004

The luncheon meeting was held at Renaissance Hotel. Chapter Chairman Mike Crocker CPP presided. 62 members and guests attended.

Opening prayer: Tom Hamilton CPP

Pledge: Mike Crocker

Committee Activities:

HPD Leukemia Bike Ride: A letter of appreciation from the HPD Bike Relay Team was presented. The Team also sent 3 t-shirts, a hat and duffel bag to give as door prizes.

Election: Our Nomination Committee Chairman, Capt. Mark Curran, was unable to attend the meeting. Mike Crocker conducted the election. No new nominations were presented. The proposed slate for the 2005 Executive Committee; Chairman: Darin Dillon CPP; Vice-Chair: John Brady, Treasurer: Bob Cascino; Secretary: Pamela Duncan. The attending members voted the slate in by acclamation.

Newsletter: Tom Hamilton CPP announced the article deadline was December 7 so that it can be mailed prior to the holidays. About one-third of the advertising renewals have been paid and there is a waiting list if a sponsor chooses not to renew.

Treasurer: the report was distributed. The invoice for local membership dues will be mailed shortly. The money is in from the seminar.

Certifications: ASIS International sent promotional buttons [Are You Certifiable?] to promote the certification programs. Information and applications are available on the web page. Our local review classes will resume in either February or March. Congratulations to Mr. David Burke; the first Houston Chapter member to hold CPP and PSP certifications.

Seminars: Mike Mason CPP stated we had 77 attendees and 7 exhibitors at the annual local seminar. Dr. Williams handled all the state regulatory educational registrations. Certificates for the seminar and a separate certificate for the Ethics Class are in the mail. UHD will host the seminar next year, which will save all the rental fees and provide more money for scholarships. Net proceeds will be shared between the local Chapter and UHD. We extend our appreciation to the Coast Guard for their support of the program.

Houses of Worship: The committee designed a brochure to promote the program. Samples were placed on the tables, but the final product will be printed on heavier paper. A special recognition was made to Matt Silcox CPP for his hard work on the brochure. Two of the final surveys are posted on the web page.

L.E. Award: We did not have an award this month due to the heavy meeting agenda.

Special Award: A plaque was presented to Bruce Rodriguez for his outstanding job as web master. In addition, we appreciate all the support Bruce provides during registrations for any of our programs.

Speaker: Cliff Grumbles, Manager, Private Security Bureau Regulatory Licensing Service

Mr. Grumbles was accompanied by Jean O’Shaw, Attorney for the Crime Records Service.

Since speaking to us 15 months ago, there have been a lot of changes at the Bureau. During the 3^rd special session of the legislature, the Bureau (formerly known as TCPS) moved to DPS. When they were an independent agency, there were 46 employees. Fourteen employees transferred to DPS and created the regulatory licensing service. Unfortunately, the agency is still working of their biennial budget which had been greatly slashed. DPS Colonel Davis has been a great support in augmenting personnel, developing programs, integrating databases and providing additional resources. He assigned 25 troopers to do criminal investigations, allowing the 5 TPSB investigators the ability to focus on administrative investigations. The backlog of almost 5,000 applications has been eliminated. New applications are being processed within days. Under the last legislature other security disciplines now require licensing, such as locksmiths and access control device manufacturers, which adds to the corporate application volume. Currently, there are 3630 licensed companies, 114,263 individual registrations (active and renewable), 4654 registered private investigators, 18,991 commissioned officer and 67,098 non-commissioned officers. There is an average of 40,000 new applications annually, mostly non-commissioned. This is a very transient group. There are increased renewals for commissioned officers, as well as an increase in processing transfers from one company to another for officers and alarm sales people.

Private Security is a great support to law enforcement, as it reduces the fiscal effect and response times to calls. Sharing responsibility to public safety allows the general public to reap the benefits of increased security without actually paying for it through their taxes. This is particularly the case since 9/11.

The newly formed Bureau still has a 7-member board, appointed by the governor and ratified by the Senate. The Public Safety Commission granted the Board authority for rule-making for Private Security. Statutory regulations must still come from the Legislature. The Board is currently evaluating several issues:

The type and quality of CEU requirements. They would like to increase the educational training requirements for Company Managers.
They are also looking at making training for Guard Companies more stringent and develop incremental training programs to produce a more stable, qualified officer. By increasing these training requirements, it may allow TPSB officers to augment the need for security at Clubs, currently only filled by off-duty law enforcement.
Whether it is appropriate for private industry to use tasers.
An RFP is currently going out for vendors to bid on a project to enable digitized fingerprinting. Electronic fingerprint technology will help speed the application process.
Individuals and companies may now renew through an automated registration process. This has greatly reduced the burden on his staff. Automating first time registrations is still pending, as they must develop their own templates. It is more costly to rewrite licensing software.
An electronic withdrawal for fees is also being evaluated.

There are almost 6,000 bills introduced each session and it is not realistic to expect that each legislator reads them all. ASIS is pushing for representation in Austin. The voice for private security will not be heard if left to someone else to watch for issues. By the time a bill is amended and passed, it often does not resemble the original bill. You must have someone there to monitor it and be part of the legislative process, as it changes rapidly. As the Manager, Mr. Grumbles cannot recommend a bill be introduced or changed. He can only answer the questions asked by the legislature committee when called to testify.

In summary, Mr. Grumbles expressed his opinion that moving the Bureau under DPS has been a benefit to security professionals and the citizens of Texas. Mr. Grumbles accepted a plaque in appreciation of his time and presentation.

Our next meeting is a week earlier than usual due to the holidays and will be held on December 15 at the Renaissance Hotel. Our speaker is Paul Williams, who will speak about computer hacking.