The meetings are for auto theft investigators, insurance company special investigation agents, vehicle leasing loss prevention agents, and other individuals involved in the investigation, recovery and prevention of vehicle thefts.  Investigators from in and out of Southern California attend the meetings to share information about current cases, suspects and auto theft trends.  The meetings also feature a guest speaker who gives training during the course of the training meeting / luncheon format.

The Training Meetings / Luncheons begin at 10 a.m. and go until about 2 p.m. Lunch is served about 11:30 a.m.  We would recommend coming about 9:30 a.m. to meet your peers and share coffee or tea. 

For the May meeting, the Meeting will begin at 9 a.m. and go until about 2 p.m. Lunch will be served about 12 p.m.  We would recommend coming about 8:30 a.m. to meet your peers and share coffee or tea.

The next WSATI Training Meeting / Luncheon will be held on Thursday, July 16, 2009 at 10:00 a.m. 

The Guest Speaker will be LAPD/TRAP Detective Cesar Ramirez.  Cesar will give a presentation on Illegal Subleasing of Vehicles.

Once the location is confirmed, it will be posted right here.  Please check back for the information in the near future.

The Billy Osborn Memorial Award is scheduled to be presented at this meeting.

2009 WSATI Southern Chapter President Jim Williams (Long Beach Police) welcomed everyone to the Long Beach Police Department Field Support Center, and introduced himself as the 2009 Southern Chapter President.  This is the newest WSATI venue.  Jim explained that WSATI was trying to reach out to potential and current members by holding meetings in various locations.  Jim explained the motorcycle theft training that was going to take place during the meeting and thanked everyone for coming an hour earlier than usual so more training could be provided to the attendees.

Jim then requested that 2001 WSATI Past President Bill Lovold (AAA Southern California) lead the attendees in the pledge of allegiance. 

Jim then introduced WSATI Southern Chapter Immediate Past President Rick Greenwood (Riverside Police).  Rick, who is the current President of the Western Regional Chapter of IAATI, spoke about the upcoming IAATI Training Seminar to be held in Colorado on August 9-14, 2009.  Rick also spoke about the upcoming WSATI Training Seminar, hosted by the Northern Chapter, to be held in South Lake Tahoe on October 6th, 7th, and a half day on the 8th.  A golf tournament is scheduled to take place on October 5th.  Rick then concluded by speaking about the upcoming Arizona Auto Theft Investigators Association's upcoming AATIA Training Seminar taking place in Laughlin on September 15-18, 2009.  Rick advised the attendees that the annual IAATI WRC General Meeting and Elections would take place at the AATIA Seminar this year rather than at the WSATI Seminar.

Jim Williams then spoke about the upcoming Orange County ATAC Recovery Officer of the Year Awards Brunch that will take place on May 28, 2009 at the Irvine Marriott.  Jim spoke highly of the recent San Diego County ATAC Recovery Officer of the Year Awards Brunch that took place in March.

Jim then requested that the attendees give self introductions.  This took some time due to the great turnout of attendees for the meeting.  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.  Jim thanked the new attendees for coming out for the training.

Jim then introduced the 2009 WSATI Southern Chapter Officers in attendance: 

Legal Counsel Richard Knapp (Knapp Law Firm, LLP)
Sergeant-At-Arms Rob Manning (LASD/TRAP)
Secretary Dave Petrelli (State Farm Insurance SIU - Retired) 

Treasurer Tim Glover (LASD/TRAP) and Vice President John Bartolone (DMV Investigations/OCATT) were unable to attend the meeting.

Jim then spoke about upcoming training at the WSATI meetings.  Jim said he was going to try to have training that could fill some of the needs of the new law enforcement detectives as well as the new insurance SIU personnel.  He said he has found that many of the new detectives don't seem to understand some of the basics so he will try to cover some of the topics they are lacking.

Jim then introduced Guest Speakers Chula Vista Police/San Diego RATT Detectives Marty Bolger and Tony Molina.  They gave a presentation on motorcycle theft and how a program was put together in San Diego County to address the problem. 

Following Marty's and Tony's presentation, Jim introduced CHP Lieutenant Chris Costigan who gave a presentation on Harley Davidsons.

Following Chris' presentation, WSATI Southern Chapter Sergeant-At-Arms Rob Manning presided over the raffle, assisted by WSATI Southern Chapter Secretary Dave Petrelli.  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... 

Rob 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 Rick Greenwood 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 take a trip back for seconds (and for some, thirds)...

Following lunch, the meeting was adjourned.

Southern Chapter Past Presidents in attendance: Dave Dempsey (1998), Gary Labb (2000), Bill Lovold (2001), Lou Koven (2002), and Rick Greenwood (2008).