HOUSTON ASIS CHAPTER MINUTES

JULY 30, 2003

The Chapter held a luncheon meeting at the Renaissance Hotel. Chairman Mike Crocker CPP presided. One hundred and four members and guests attended.

Opening Prayer and Pledge: Mark Steinfort

Committee Activities:

Certifications Committee: Karim Vellani CPP congratulated our two newest CPPs. Three other members just completed the review session.

Treasurer’s Report: Bob Cascino announced the donation to the University from the Golf Tournament will be made at the next luncheon. Copies of the treasurer’s report were distributed.

Annual Seminar: Richard Hill reminded the Chapter of the seminar on August 12 & 13. The brochures with the registration forms can be found on our web site. Continuing Education credits are available and Greg Walker will be teaching an ethics course. There is still space available for Exhibitors ($400 for 2 days) and high-speed internet access has been arranged. Contact Richard or Matt Silcox for details.

Newsletter: Tom Hamilton announced his desire to organize a formal newsletter for the Chapter. He is working with Bruce Rodriquez and Mike Crocker on the concept. Please contact him if you have interest in participating on the committee. His goal is to distribute the first newsletter in November.

Law Enforcement Recognition Award: Introduced by Mike Mallon and presented by Sgt. Jones, Harris County Sheriff’s Department.

Our honoree this month is Deputy Louise Skinner. Deputy Skinner began her career with the Sheriff’s Office twenty-eight years ago; twenty-six of those years have been assigned in the booking division. Her knowledge of booking procedures is vast and her experience has proven invaluable in the training of deputies and her contributions in making the division function smoothly. She has also been a member of the honor guard for almost twenty years and has her Master Peace Officer License and Instructor’s certificate.

On May 7, 2003, Deputy Skinner received the Correctional Officer of the Year Award from the American Jail Association. In 1991, she received an Honorable Mention at the 100 Club Annual Banquet and in 1997 received the award of Female Officer of the Year and Mentor from the Texas Women in Law Enforcement.

Her dedication and desire in being the best she can be has truly been an asset, not only to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, but also to the citizens that the Sheriff’s Office serves. The Chapter awarded Deputy Skinner a plaque in appreciation of her professionalism.

Speaker: Harris County Judge Robert Eckels

Progress Report – Homeland Security Preparedness for Harris County

Judge Eckels chairs the National Association of Counties’ (NACo) Environment, Energy and Land Use Steering Committee and is a member of its Homeland Security Task Force. As the presiding officer of Commissioners Court, the five member governing body of Harris County, Judge Eckels is the only member of the Court representing all the citizens of the third most populous county in the United States.

Judge Eckels began his presentation with an apology for being late. He was attending the funeral of First Lt. J. Rozier, a Harris County resident who died in Iraq in service to his country. He quoted Lt. Rozier’s father from the funeral service: “Freedom is not free and I’m proud of my son. If we do not address the forces of evil, they will invade our shores.” The Chapter spent a moment to reflect on Lt. Rozier’s sacrifice.

Harris County is the third most populous county in the country with 3.6 million residents; 1.5 million are in unincorporated areas and rely solely on the county for basic government services. The county is larger than 21 states. The FBI has identified it as one of the regions in the U.S. that possesses all of the nine assets vulnerable to terrorism: energy, a major seaport and airport, manufacturers of substances that have a potential for misuse, aerospace, computer manufacturing and software, media and telecommunications.

Part of the County’s emergency plan can be found on www.hcoem.org. Multiple agencies including Transtar, the county, city, metro and TXDOT intercommunicate to provide current information on potential hazards to the community. For example, there are over 100 flood gauges throughout the county that can alert not only emergency responders, but the citizens, to potential flooding. There is also integrated training between the State OEM, the City and the Medical Center. They recently conducted a drill simulating a dirty bomb on a container ship with multiple fires.

Great strides have been taken to improve our response to catastrophic events. We have over 90 jurisdictions, except the City of Houston, are on the county’s regional radio system (the cost for the City to switch has been prohibitive). The City, however, has an excellent computerized dispatch system and is working to bring it to the County. We have a 911 early warning system, a reverse-911 that alerts the community to hazardous conditions. We have added HazMat positions. We can submit joint requests for federal assistance. Most importantly, we are working together through mutual aid without duplication of services.

Following 9/11, President Bush launched the Citizen Corps Initiative to inspire and enable all Americans to find ways to serve their communities and country. In August 2002, the Harris County Citizen Corps Council was formed to focus on recruiting volunteers for non-profit organizations and improving cooperation between first responder and volunteer organizations across Harris County. Existing programs were brought together (such as the United Way, The Salvation Army and the Red Cross) to mingle services and provide cross-training. Harris County has now become the model program for the country. Examples of some of the Citizen programs are:

Neighborhood Watch Programs that increase surveillance and awareness in cooperation with local police.

Volunteer in Police Service which provides a labor resource.

Medical Reserve Corps: we recently received a 3-year grant to develop the first one in the country for large scale emergency response and vaccinations.

CERT (Community Emergency Response Training): trains neighbors to help neighbors to supplement first responders until they can arrive.

More information can be found at www.harriscountycitizencorps.com or by calling 281-JOIN-NOW.

Other volunteer groups are working directly with the schools and include Crimestoppers, which focuses on getting guns and knives out of the schools, and The Gang Reduction Intervention Program (GRIP) who teach a non-violent choice to conflict resolution.

After a question and answer session, which included insight to the challenges of the Katy Freeway expansion, Judge Eckels accepted a plaque in appreciation of his time and contributions to our community.

Our next meeting will be August 27^th. Our speaker is Cliff Grumbles, the Executive Director of the Texas Commission on Private Security. There are many changes to the Commission, which now be under DPS, and may greatly impact your business.