Indiana NAFTO News

(02/14/2004)

Indiana NAFTO just keeps growing, and while I can’t say it’s by “leaps and bounds” just yet I can say that I’m very pleased. The board has been very active over the last year with 3 of us attending the National Conference in Scottsdale Arizona last May. We used the National Conference as a springboard for the work needed to be done in the state. After several meetings it was decided that we would skip our 2003 conference, which had always been in December, for a more budget friendly February date in 2004. We also decided to expand the conference from one to two days.

The length of the Indiana Conference wasn’t the only thing that changed. The goal of the board was to create an event for the entire state and offer excellent instruction, a quality location, and draw a larger turnout. I am proud to say we managed all of the above.

The conference was held at the Bloomington Convention Center which provided a comfortable setting and excellent food. A continental breakfast was provided both days of the conference and a buffet lunch was catered on the second day. Instruction was provided by Dr. James Reese, Lt. Andy Chandler, and Lt. Randy Davis. The keynote speaker was Dr. James Reese who provided excellent instruction and many of the conference attendees said he was the best speaker they had ever had the pleasure of hearing. If you ever have an opportunity to hear Dr. Reese speak I highly recommend it, you won’t be disappointed. Finally we managed to increase our turnout significantly. In 2002 we had 23 attendees at the conference. This year we had 44 members.

We also managed to enact new by-laws at the conference and elect officers. Many of the officers from 2003 stayed on for 2004. We did expand the board to include regional members to help increase membership and provide a liaison for each section of the state. The new regional members to the board are Jeff Davis with the Indiana University, Purdue University, Fort Wayne Campus Police, Shannon E. Bunger with the Indiana University Police, and John Hall with the New Albany Police Department. Congratulations to all of the board members elected and thank you for taking on the new responsibilities.

We will have more on the conference in a special section on the webpage so check back, and as usual we will be posting information on training and field training topics within the state.

- Steve Kellams, Director