33rd ANNUAL TRAINING SEMINAR
September 28th - October 1st, 2004

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The 2004 Training Seminar was held at the Town and Country Resort & Convention Center in San Diego, California.  The seminar was hosted by the Southern Chapter of WSATI. 

The Seminar officially began with early registration taking place the afternoon of Tuesday, September 28, 2004, and late registration taking place on Wednesday morning, September 29, 2004.  About 375 registered for the Seminar.

On Wednesday morning the opening ceremonies took place.  The ceremonies included the presentation of the colors by the San Diego Police Department Color Guard.  Following was the invocation by the San Diego Police Chaplain and comments by local dignitaries.  There was also a time for remembering two WSATI Southern Chapter members who passed away this year, Carol VanNatter and Fritz Grimsley.

Among the dignitaries speaking were CHP Headquarters Enforcement Services Division Deputy Chief Adam Cuevas, CHP Border Division Assistant Chief Tim Clark, IAATI 4th Vice President Mikel Longman, IAATI Western Regional Chapter President Joe Brosius, NICB Agent Ken Hutchison, LoJack Law Enforcement Liaison Ira Beaty, and WSATI Southern Chapter President Phil Macklin. 
 

WSATI Southern Chapter President Phil Macklin welcomed the large gathering to the Town and Country Resort & Convention Center. 

Phil had WSATI Southern Chapter Past President and Seminar Training Chairman Dennis Frias speak about the classes that were forthcoming for the group in the days to come.  Dennis announced that WSATI training had been approved by the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training. California P.O.S.T. Plan IV NA (credit for classes only) certification for the classes was obtained.  An 8 hour P.O.S.T. certified "Vehicle Theft for Patrol / Traffic Officers" class was also held on Thursday, 9/29/04 from 0800-1700 hours in conjunction with the WSATI Training Seminar.  This was offered as a separate training package to try to bring in some patrol officers to the seminar. For a schedule of classes for the Seminar, please click here.

There were several awards presented during the opening ceremonies.

NICB presented their annual Gary Gray Memorial Award.  This year the award went to two individuals, Jim Phan, California DMV Investigations and Ron Kramer, Oregon DMV Investigations.  Presenters included NICB Senior Special Agent Ken Hutchinson, NICB Director of Operation - Area 3 Bob Jones, and NICB Director of Operation - Area 3 Ralph Lumpkin.  Also in attendance were California DMV Deputy Director Mike Champion and California Deputy Chief Doug Brenn.
 

LoJack Law Enforcement Liaisons Ira Beaty and Ted Saraf made a presentation of the IAATI / LoJack Award to members of the CHP Air Support Sergeant Mark Cannon and Officer Tyler Johns, RAID Task Force Detective Guy Gilbert, and CHP Inland Division Investigator Mike Harris and Investigator Kurt Nester.

IAATI Western Regional Chapter President Joe Brosius awarded the Lee S. Cole Award to Tempe Police Department Detective John Bier.

IAATI 4th Vice President Mikel Longman presented an IAATI Director's Award posthumously to Carol VanNatter.  The award was accepted on behalf of Carol's family by AAA Southern California SIU Assistant Group Manager Dan Brogdon.