The 35th Annual Training Seminar was held at Harrah's Lake Tahoe Hotel on October 2nd, 3rd, and 4th, 2006 in South Lake Tahoe, Nevada.  This year's seminar was hosted by the Northern Chapter of WSATI. 

Golf Chairman Ken Hutchison co-ordinated a Golf Tournament at the Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course, South Lake Tahoe, Nevada prior to the seminar on October 2nd. 

Monday afternoon saw the beginning of the "mug shots" being taken for identification cards by Sharon Nelson of CI Solutions.  The cards were sponsored by Lee S. Cole & Associates and NorthAmerican Technical Aid & Forensics Services.

The seminar opened with the California Highway Patrol Valley Division Honor Guard presenting the colors.  The national anthem was played for all in attendance. 

2006 Northern Chapter President Cliff Gray presided over the opening ceremonies and welcomed the close to 400 attendees (seminar roster available by clicking here).  Cliff asked for a moment of silence for the recent death of CSAA SIU Manager Dave Prescott.

The Keynote Speaker was Mike Brown, the Commissioner of the California Highway Patrol. Guest speakers included Nevada Department of Corrections Inspector General Pat Comay, 2006-2007 IAATI President Tommy Hansen, and NICB Senior Special Agent Dave Schwartzkopf.
 

Cliff Gray gave a special thank you to WSATI Southern Chapter Past President Gary Labb  for helping promote the seminar on the Southern Chapter website www.wsati.org.  Gary is the webmaster of the WSATI.org website. Cliff said that he appreciated being able to make the many updates and corrections that it took to keep information current.

NICB Special Agent Ken Hutchison made a presentation of the Gary Gray Auto Theft Achievement Award.  There were two awards given.  The first award was presented to the Denver (CO) Metro Auto Theft Team (DMATT), comprised of Det Al Hutton, Det Bryan Vandemeer, Crime Analyst Diana German, Inv Jill Reuteler, Inv Billy Mayfield, Inv Art Petersen, Inv Michael Jones, Det James Kautz, S/A David Olilla, and Det WH (Bill) Johnson. NICB Area 3 Director of Operations Bob Jones presented the award.  The second award went to CHP Valley Division Delta RATT, comprised of Lt. Michael Richards, Sgt. Mark Clemons, SA Roger Hogan, Inv Monty Stickels, Inv Will Inskip, Det Robert Foppiano, Inv Gary Catherwood, Dale Chesley, and Connie Weiman.  NICB Area 3 Director of Operations Ralph Lumpkin presented the award. 

Ken Hutchison also announced that NICB would be honoring Dave Prescott with a donation to a charity of Dave Prescott's family’s choice in his memory. 

Cliff Gray then called WSATI Northwest President Frank Zangar to the podium to present the new WSATI Award, the Gerald "Jerry" Boyer Memorial Award.  Frank explained the criteria for the award.  He said it is to go to a member of one of the IAATI Western Regional WSATI Chapters for outstanding service and unselfish dedication to the organization.  Frank then said that this year's award is presented "to the guy with the camera here in front of me, Gary Labb."  Gary accepted the award and said how much it meant as some of his initial vehicle theft training came from Lee S. Cole and Jerry Boyer at San Jose State University's "Vehicle Theft Investigation" class almost 20 years ago.  He said that both Lee and Jerry kept in touch with their students, both as friends and mentors.  Gary said that he and his teaching partner, Jim Hayes, try to emulate Jerry and Lee in how they instruct their vehicle theft investigation classes.
 

Cliff then requested that LoJack Law Enforcement Liaison Ted Saraf come to the podium.  LoJack was one of the sponsors of the seminar.

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