Prior to the arrival of the attendees, 2007 WSATI Southern Chapter Past President Bud Hood (OCSD/OCATT - Retired) began preparing the luncheon. 

Due to the absence of 2009 WSATI Southern Chapter President Jim Williams (Long Beach Police) and 2009 WSATI Southern Chapter Vice President John Bartolone (DMV Investigations), 2009 WSATI Treasurer Tim Glover (LASD-TRAP) welcomed everyone to the Mercedes Benz Learning & Performance Center. 

Tim then introduced Guest Speaker NICB Supervisory Special Agent Tom Downey. Tom gave a presentation on the NICB Mexican Repatriation Program, which also encompasses a new NICB program on Owner Give Ups that are being taken to Mexico and then claimed stolen.  This was from both a law enforcement and insurance special investigation unit viewpoint.

Tim then requested that the Crime Prevention Program (CPP) of Southern California Executive Director Ron Poll come up for the presentation of the CPP "Hooter's Hummer" Award.  Ron then introduced CPP Executive Board President Greg Dineen, who introduced the Board Directors in attendance, Gabe Marquez, Dennis Frias, Lou Koven, and Rick Ferguson.  Greg then requested that Dennis Frias come up to give a background of the award.  Dennis explained this award honored the the memory of CHP Inland Division Investigator John Hootman, who gave so much time, effort, enthusiasm, and innovation towards helping the construction industry prevent and resolve equipment crimes. Dennis gave information on the large case that was John's last case before his untimely death.  Gre then introduced John's two children (of four) who were in attendance, Michael and Sharon.  Michael, who is a CHP Officer, then came up and spoke about the personal side of John and his family.  It was a very moving speech.   Greg then requested that Lou Koven come up to present the award.  Lou gave a background of the cases involved and the surprised recipient, Gabe Marquez (CHP ISU/TRAP), knew immediately he had been honored with the award.  Gabe was presented the perpetual hardhat award by Lou.
 

Tim then requested that anyone with any information or cases they wished to share to please come forward.

Tim Lewis, LCI Services, discussed several of the classes that he instructs that are available to law enforcement and in some cases, special investigation unit personnel.  He spoke about how in the last "Chop Shop" class, during the practical application, the students actually found an active chop shop.  For a full listing of classes available, go to http://www.lciservices.com/training.html. 

Past President Bud Hood (OCSD/OCATT Retired) spoke about the 2010 WSATI Training Seminar, which will be hosted by the WSATI Southern Chapter.  The Seminar will be taking place in San Diego at the Town and Country on May 24-28, 2010.  Bud asked everyone to think about not only attending but letting him know of some business that might be interested in sponsoring the Seminar or being an exhibitor at the Seminar.  Information on being an exhibitor or sponsor can be located here.

Tim Glover then requested nominations for the 2010 Chapter Officer Sergeant-At-Arms position.  There were five nominations for the position.  By the corporation rules, the position is chosen by the current Chapter Officers.

WSATI Southern Chapter Treasurer Tim Glover and Chapter Secretary Dave Petrelli conducted the raffle.  There were a lot of different winners, and at the same time many were upset with some of the repeat winners.  If you want to be like them, do what they do... buy extra raffle tickets... 

Tim then announced that the lunch was ready.  The attendees were then served a Santa Maria Bar-B-Q style luncheon, that had been prepared by Bud Hood while the meeting and training took place.  It included Tri-tip, chicken, sausage, salad, potato salad, beans, and a cookie to top it all off...everyone appeared to enjoy and some took a trip back for seconds...

Following lunch, the regular meeting was adjourned.

There were a lot of new faces that came to the meeting as well as several "old" members who had not been to the meetings in some time. 

2009 WSATI Southern Chapter Officers in attendance:

Vice President John Bartolone (DMV Investigations)
Secretary Dave Petrelli (State Farm Insurance SIU - Retired) 
Treasurer Tim Glover (LASD/TRAP)
Sergeant-At-Arms Rob Manning (LASD/TRAP), 
Legal Counsel Richard Knapp (Knapp Law Firm, LLP)

President Jim Williams (Long Beach Police) was unable to attend the meeting.

The following Southern Chapter Past Presidents were in attendance: Skip Davidson (1991), Ted Saraf (1992), Dennis Frias (1997), Dave Dempsey (1998), Gary Labb (2000), Bill Lovold (2001), Frank Graber (2005), Bud Hood (2007), and Rick Greenwood (2008). 

The 2009 WSATI Chapter Officers (minus Jim Williams) then met in Executive Session with Chapter Directors Rick Greenwood, Bud Hood, and Gary Labb sitting in.  There were many items of business, but  the first addressed was the position of Sergeant-At-Arms for 2010.  There were five candidates that were nominated for the position.  The Officers decided on Tim Jackson (AAA SIU) to be the 2010 Sergeant-At-Arms.  Since all the nominees were highly regarded, it was decided that since 2010 was a Seminar year for the Southern Chapter, that the other four would be Associate Board Members and their enthusiasm could be utilized in addressing the upcoming Seminar.  The four Associate Board Members are Tom Conces (TP Conces & Associates), Jim Eberhart (CHP ISU), Aristeed Powell (DMV Investigations), and Brian Yori (LAPD/TRAP).