Ladies and Gentlemen,

Having just returned from the 55th Annual IAATI Training Seminar in Litchfield Park, I'd like to share a few things with you.

I'd like to personally thank AATIA President J.D. Hough and AATIA Past President Joe Brosius for the fantastic job they did, along with a long list of AATIA committee members, in putting on the Training Seminar. They did a great job in helping to promote the Western Regional Chapter as well.

Outgoing 2006-2007 IAATI President Tommy Hansen broke some long standing traditions and reached out to all IAATI members and chapters in an effort to better communicate with all. This is something that has brought IAATI closer to all, trying not to make one chapter "better" than another, just equalizing the playing field. This is something that newly elected 2007-2008 IAATI President Bobby Southard agrees to carry on as well. As your 2007 IAATI WRC President, I was fortunate this year to sit in on the board meetings and committee meetings, as well as to sit on the nominating committee, listening to all the officers and most of the directors of the new 2007-2008 IAATI Executive Board. This gave me an "insider's" perspective of the people who will be addressing IAATI's future, and I must say that everyone wants to continue with Tommy's ideas to make IAATI open to all its membership, and not just a few.

Continuing with the ideas in the Western Regional Chapter, the 2007 WRC Executive Board members who were present at the seminar, myself, 2nd VP Rick Greenwood, 3rd VP J.D. Hough, 4th VP Jim Kautz, Immediate Past President Dave Petrelli, and Past President Marianne Finney, convened a meeting to look at the future of the WRC. It was felt by all present that the past two IAATI WRC Presidents, Dave Petrelli and I, have made special efforts to reach out to the WRC membership and we want to continue to go forward with those efforts, and not step backwards. With that in mind, we want to actively pursue two goals in the next few months.

The first is to actively recruit only those people to the 2008 WRC Executive Board who truly have an interest in continuing to commit to pushing forward the new IAATI ideas, not to be content with the past "traditions" and inaction. We are asking anyone who has an interest in joining the 2008 WRC Executive Board to send a resume to the current Executive Board members eboard@wrciaati.org expressing what position you are seeking prior to September 3rd, 2007. We are also asking current Executive Board members to do the same. Please indicate how you see the future of IAATI, IAATI WRC, and what contributions you have made this past year to better the WRC. If you are going to nominate someone, please let them know so they can forward a resume as well. We will be having our Annual General Membership Meeting/Elections at the WSATI Training Seminar in San Diego on September 11, 2007 at 1700 hours (meeting room to be determined). If you are attending WSATI, please make sure you attend the Meeting/Elections. Or as Tommy Hansen said, "If you didn't speak up, don't complain about it later."

Second is to try to bring in member states Alaska, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming, and province Saskatchewan that have only one or two active IAATI members (if that). We need presidents of local auto theft associations to step up to the plate in these states and province and to let the board know that they wish to step into a director role in the WRC. The WRC was chartered by IAATI to assist the localized associations with training needs and the director position allows the local associations to contact their state/province director, who in turn can contact the WRC Executive Board to express their needs/concerns. Right now these four states and one province have no representation. We would like to assist these states and province not only with training needs, but assist with establishing auto theft associations if needed. I was able to speak to a member from Idaho at the Seminar and he was going to try to assist in establishing an association in the Boise area. That is a good first step. We also need to assist our smaller states and provinces in recruiting IAATI members.

Communications... Please sign up for the "Members Only" section of the IAATI.org website. With a "mass mailing" feature of the website, the IAATI President Bobby Southard, and the IAATI Executive Director John Abounader, can send messages to all IAATI "members only" recipients. I can send messages to all IAATI WRC "members only" recipients. This makes it easy to share information provided to me by IAATI President Bobby Southard, to update WRC members regarding the current status of the chapter, and to send informational messages important to WRC members. May I strongly suggest that you take the time to go to the iaati.org website and register for the "Members Only" section. It is the best way to keep you fully informed and involved in IAATI.

The easiest way to do this is to pull out your IAATI membership card and fill in the information exactly as you see it on your card. Go to https://www.iaati.org/Members_only_registration.asp and then fill in your IAATI Chapter Number IN-XXXXX-WE and then your first name and last name and hit Submit Entry. If you are unsure of your IAATI WRC Chapter Number (IN-XXXXX-WE) contact me and I can supply you with the number.

There are still several training opportunities in the Western Regional Chapter in 2007, including the annual WSATI Training Seminar in San Diego in September hosted by the Southern Chapter. A few days later CATI will be putting on their annual Training Seminar in Colorado. There are many other opportunities put on by local jurisdictions within the WRC. Please take the opportunity to attend one of these training opportunities (or all of them if you can). Today's sophistication requires us to be up-to-date with our knowledge of how the thieves are doing their "job" so we have a better idea of how to do ours.

Please take the time to also go to http://www.wrciaati.org for information, training opportunities, photos, and to find out more about your Western Regional Chapter Officers and Directors. We are here to try to help you.

Both the Lee S. Cole Officer of the Year Award and the Gerald "Jerry" Boyer Memorial Award will be presented at the WSATI Training Seminar in San Diego. Please check on the information regarding these awards on the main IAATI WRC page. Nominations have closed for the Lee S. Cole Award, but nominations will be accepted until August 20th for the Jerry Boyer Award.

In closing, I want you to know that these past eight months have been an eye opener on the new "cooperation" between IAATI and the IAATI WRC. Let's continue in this "new tradition" and continue to move forward.

Sincerely,
Gary Labb
2007 Western Regional Chapter President

Click Here to view the President's October 7, 2008 Message

Click Here to view the Past President's October 7, 2008 Message

Click Here to view the Past President's September 8, 2008 Message

Click Here to view the President's July 1, 2008 Message

Click Here to view the President's May 28, 2008 Message