Greetings to all,
I hope this message finds you all well, as the Flu has hit California Hard.
It is with great sadness that I must announce our Conference Chairman, Robyn Boersma, recently retired to an on the job injury, has resigned her post. Robyn has had a set back with her condition and needs to concentrate on getting healthy and did not feel she could give the conference planning her full attention. Please join me in wishing Robyn all the best. I will truly miss her planning and friendship with the organization.
With that being said, I recommended Missy Morris from the Northern Region to fill the vacancy for the remainder of Robyn's term (2 years) and the board unanimously approved her appointment as the conference chair. Missy has already jumped in with both feet and is contacting speakers and setting the training agenda. If you have any input you may contact her through the CAHN website. Also as the schedule is built we will do our best to update it on the website so stay tuned.
We have been busy planning the conference in Anaheim. As previously mentioned we are going to return to our old schedule of starting the conference in the afternoon on Monday the 23rd of September and ending at noon Friday the 27th of September. There are other changes possible and we will attempt to keep you informed as we move along in the planning process. We have the opportunity to purchase group tickets, a price will be forwarded when it is forwarded to me, for Disneyland. The group price is usually good for a two week period during the time of the conference. This will require you to pay for the tickets you may wish to use up front when we order as the financial cost to the association would be far too great of an expense. I will keep you posted on this and have Patricia send e-mail blasts out with the information once I receive it.
Finally I must reflect on the situation in Newton, Connecticut. This was a senseless tragedy and in my opinion a failure of our mental health system. Ultimately the suspect took his own life as he heard the responding officers, but this too had the potential to grow on a larger scale. While this did not involve any negotiations, it again brings into focus our need to hone our skills both in negotiations as well as dealing with those in crisis, so that we stand ready to intervene when needed. We have an important trade craft that continues to be used and will be scrutinized if it is not, so continue to provide the service you provide at the level you all do and be proud of what we can accomplish. Within my own agency, we have begun to look at schools and their safety site plans and review them with the schools administrations to ensure we are prepared. As Lt. Colonel Grossman has said "where else do we (the US) place our children without protection, because we feel it is safe?.......Public Schools". At the majority of these sites there are not armed personnel on campuses, with budget cuts departments are losing school resource officers on the campuses. Let us stand ready if we have to seek out and neutralize the active shooter or negotiate with him/her if the need arises.
As always, this is YOUR association and we welcome and look forward to your input, so please feel free to contact anyone on the board with your ideas or questions you may have. If you see or read about an interesting event that would relate to what we do please contact one of your regional representatives and they will explore it to see if we can utilize it in one of our regional or annual training conferences.
Stay safe and keep up the passion for negotiations that you all have.
See you Anaheim,
Matt Thomas
President
