The Seminar took place primarily at the Hale Ikena which is a clubhouse meeting room area at Fort Shafter in Honolulu on 1/13/04 - 1/16/04.  We have had other gatherings there and it’s really nice in that we have access to large well equipped meeting rooms (given our high attendance we actually used 2 adjacent rooms with the divider taken out) and the restaurant area is right next door.  The latter furnished us with a very nice buffet lunch each day. 

Here is the schedule:
 

Tuesday January 13, 2004	Wednesday January 14, 2004	Thursday January 15, 2004	Friday January 16, 2004
Insurance Companies	Law Enforcement	Law Enforcement	Law Enforcement and  Insurance Companies
Opening Remarks Insurance Commissioner	Opening Remarks NICB	Vehicle VIN Numbers	Salvages and Vehicle Theft Related Fraud
Hawaii Insurance Fraud Bureau	Reconstructed Vehicle Laws	VIN Assist, VIN Alteration, and Vehicle Nomenclature	Field Exercise Insurance Auto Auction
ISO System	Cargo Thefts	SVIN Identification and Component Parts
Vehicle Locking System	Speed Racing & Auto Theft	Motorcycle and Offroad Equipment Identification
Vehicle VIN Numbers	Patrol Investigation of Auto Thefts
Interview Techniques

Greg Hutchinson and Mark Stowell, both of NICB, were the main speakers and were excellent.  They made sure they presented subjects and statistics that were relevant to and pertained to Hawaii, not just the national scene.  We also used some local speakers including certain of our officers to talk about such things as ways the patrol officers can
improve their initial auto theft reports such that they will be more helpful to the Auto Theft Detail.  We also had a group of inspectors come in from the City and County reconstruction inspection dept to talk to law enforcement about what to look for in modifications and what the kids are doing to their cars, legal and illegal. 

As you can see we divided the days up such that 1/13/04 was insurance personnel only, 1/14 and 1/15/04 was only law enforcement and 1/16/04 was both combined.  We were fortunate in that the Insurance Commissioner, P.J. Schmidt, gave the opening remarks on 1/13 and answered questions as well. The last day was particularly important in that in the afternoon we all went to the IAA lot and used certain of their total theft salvage vehicles for demonstration purposes. I and Steve Whiting (Pac Rim Investigative Services, a C&O friend I use on LM cases) took the insurance personnel to the various cars explaining what to look for, what the bad guys are doing, etc. Greg spent his time with law enforcement.

Leroy Fujishige, one of our chapter officers and current HPD, took several motorcycles and explained what to look for e.g. VINs, what the bad guys are doing etc.

As you may know our officers in the local chapter have backgrounds particularly condusive to this organization.  These truly were the ‘worker bees’ and made this event a real success.  I am the only one who does not have a law enforcement background:

Louis Souza, retired HPD and former head of the Auto Theft Detail (we are particularly thankful to have him with us.  He’s an old timer and can walk into the Chief’s office anytime…a definite plus)

John Dela Vega (retired HPD, former SIU AIG and current NICB rep)

Carl Wong (retired HPD, retired SIU, First Insurance)

Leroy Fujishige (current HPD and part time NICB assistant (our VIN expert guru)

Here are some pictures taken by Carl Wong which will give you a better idea of what went on. Overall we had about 30+ insurance personnel and almost 100 law enforcement personnel attend. The latter group included some military intelligence folks and U. S. Customs.

Here’s the link. Click on “Pictures” in the left hand column. Don’t mind the old fart with gray hair shooting off his face…that’s me.

http://groups.msn.com/vpca

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