LTPOA Updates

Louisiana Tactical Police Officers Association
Board Minutes
January 10, 2006
Alexandria, LA

The second meeting of the LTPOA for 2005-2006 was held at the Holiday Inn Convention Center, Alexandria, LA on January 10, 2006 at 1100 hours.

The meeting was called to order and business began…….

Region 4 had a regional meeting and a new rep was elected due to the vacancy of Kent Goolsby, 2^nd VP.  The new rep is former LTPOA member Rob Olivera.  The board welcomed Rob and looked forward to his participation.

The Region 4 Rep meeting yielded 8 new memberships and 24 memberships came from the Lafayette SWAT School in December.  Region 4 spent $80.00 having their regional meeting with a net of $500.00 going to the LTPOA.  Great job Region 4!

Wayne Layssard will serve out the remainder of this year as the appointed Sgt At Arms. A special election will be held at the 2006 conference to permanently fill the Sgt At Arms position. Wayne was the runner up during the last election and has shown great interest in the position.  Jared King was elected region 3 Director and will serve out his term.

Terry Miguez, Barksdale Security Police has shown an interest in becoming the Regional Rep for Region 1 as Lynn Allen will have to resign as he is no longer on the Caddo S.O. Team. Lynn has moved on in his career, but is still a big part of our association and continues to be a vital member of LTPOA. We wish him well in his many endeavors.

Terry Miguez advised that HSS is teaching a Protective Detail Class at Barksdale in March. We have scheduled HSS to teach our Team Leadership Class at the conference.

Wes Doss of Kyber Training would be the speaker for the banquet.  Mr. Doss will also be teaching our Tactical Handgun class at the conference. Jeff Winn from NOPD will be the speaker Monday for the general meeting & Vendor Show. He will be addressing the hurricane issues faced by N.O.P.D. before, during, and after Katrina!

The Obstacle Course for the conference was discussed and an improvised Power Point presentation was given to the board for approval.  After the presentation it was discussed how many would be on a team and what the dress would be.  The team would consist of 6 members, 5 runners and 1 sniper who would not “run” the “O” course but would have his own course of movement that is combined with the Team’s competition.  The dress would be t-shirts, BDU pants, soft body armor and boots.

Part of the O course is a “Slide for Life” over water and a paddle back across.  If the team wanted to bring their own life jackets that would be acceptable, however there would be Life Jackets in the raft along with Rescue Divers in the water.

The tentative training tracks were finalized and are as follows:

Linear Assaults - 2 days - busses and aircraft - taught by Sandy Wall

Shield Instructor - 2 days - taught by Paul Fishwicke

Taser Instructor - 2 days - taught by Taser

Sniper Class - 2 day - Austin Provost and Mike Moore. With the Competition Course designed and ran by Kevin Divers & Kevin Ryan along with Terry Cross of K.M.W.

Tactical Handgun - 1 day - Wes Doss of Kyber training

Introduction to Night Vision - 1 day - Kyle Harth of ITT Night Vision

Team Leader Development - 1 day - HSS

The Louisiana Sheriff’s Association is coming in on the tail end of our conference to have a training tract seminar sponsored by the LTPOA.  This will give the LTPOA a chance to partner with the LSA for training and also get approximately 80-200 new membership.  The cost for this class would just be the $20.00 membership fee.  It was decided that an Incident Command Class would be taught by the Director of the NTOA John Gnagey and possibly Bob Chibali.

The next meeting is set for March 14^th, 2006 in Alexandria.  If anyone has concerns or comments be sure to contact Your Region Director and have them addressed at the next meeting.

Stay Safe & look forward to seeing everyone at the Conference!

William “Clay” Brister,
L.T.P.O.A.  2004-2006 President

Hello Everyone;

I hope you had a Great Year! I know that we all had problems with Mother Nature!! But, we have to move on… Our prayers go out to all the effected Brothers & Sisters and their families. Special heartfelt thanks to all the officers who were able to leave their families to assist others in need. With everyone’s help and prayers we will get back on track….

Our first meeting of the LTPOA for 2005-2006 was held at the Holiday Inn Convention Center, Alexandria, LA on November 29, 2005 at 1100 hours.

Your Board was ready to get to work preparing for our 9^th Annual Training Conference in May. We had a lot to cover. A tentative schedule was discussed and will be posted soon.

We want to thank Arkansas Tactical Officers Association for the very generous donation of $1000.00 toward the SWAT officers/members that were affected by Katrina / Rita. A discussion was had of how the LTPOA could assist the agencies that were affected.

Due to the vacancy of the 1^st Vice President, Trampus Gaspard, the board authorized the normal progression of the line of succession. Therefore, the 2^nd VP moves to the 1^st VP and Sgt At Arms moves to 2^nd VP, leaving a vacancy of the Sgt At Arms position. 2^nd Past President Blair Dore makes a motion to appoint Region 3 Director Wayne Layssard as the Sgt At Arms. The motion was seconded by 2^nd VP Kent Goolsby. The motion was carried by all. The board was advised that Jared King, Alexandria P.D. SRT was appointed as the Region 3 Director.

The Region 4 Directors position is still vacant due to the Katrina situation, but will be resolved in the near future.

LTPOA has partnered up with the Louisiana Sheriff’s Association to provide training in the Alexandria area for LSA Task Force. Seeing that hurricanes are more of a constant threat, training to establish Incident Command, Logistics, Deployment of Tactical as well as Regular LE assets would be important. This training will be conducted at the end of our annual conference. Dates and course are being discussed and will be finalized at our next board meeting.

Jared King has arranged for the Traveling 9/11Memorial to come to the conference. This will be the only time this memorial will be in Louisiana. It will be on display at the Alexandria River Front Center which is attached to the Holiday Inn. Don’t miss this opportunity to see this event. It is free to the public and we have arranged for a private showing for members and their family during the conference.

The fees for the conference will be as follows:

New members- $100.00
Renewing members- $ 80.00
Team competition- $100.00
Membership only- $ 20.00

Jared King made a motion to name the awards given at the conference for outstanding or valorous service by a team to be called the “Ezernack-Carruth Team Excellence Award”. 2^nd VP Kent Goolsby seconded and the motion was carried by all. Region 2 Director Chris Thurmon suggested the individual award be called the “Individual Excellence Award”. The award would be for the calendar year, and the cut off for nominations would be April 15, 2006. Nominations must be submitted in writing by a team member of the team nominated, and the nominees must be members in good standing of the LTPOA. The board will determine who is awarded these commendations. A plaque would be given at the banquet for the team and individual who is chosen.

The next meeting of the LTPOA Board will be held on January 10^th at 1100 hours at the Holiday Inn, Alexandria, LA. After the board meeting, a tour of the Obstacle Course will be given at the RPSO Training Center, located off I-49 at excite 90. If you happen to be traveling I-49 around excite 90, drop by for a tour or call ahead at 318-442-9229.

Stay Safe & look forward to seeing everyone at the Conference!
William “Clay” Brister,
L.T.P.O.A. 2004-2006 President

Hello everyone!

The board meeting on the 26th was held in Lake Charles. We want to thank “Bud” Crowe and all those who helped him to gather all the information that was presented to us. Helping us confirm that the Isle of Capri Hotel in Lake Charles will be a great place to host our 2005 Annual Conference. The host agencies will be Beauregard SO, Calcasieu SO, and Lake Charles PD. They are working hard to get ready for the event! Thanks again. The agenda is still being decided but some of the classes being looked at are: Tactical Rifle, Tactical Medicine, Tactical Command, Linear Assaults (aircraft & bus), and of course Sniper Class. If you have anything you would like to see please contact your regional representative. The board also appointed “Bud” Crowe to the Sgt. at Arms position until the elections can be held in May. Bud Crowe has been an active member since the beginning. And has contributed a lot to the growth of the association. I am sure he will be asking for your vote in May. Thanks again Bud for standing up once again to fill the spot. (You can find out who your rep is by going to the correct web page.). The website is almost complete! Check it all out!! At the Board meeting in Baton Rouge on the 16^th the agenda for the Tac-Pro conference was completed and you can download it off the website under Events. Hope to see you there. The next Board of directors meeting will be held on Sunday night January 9^th, 2005. We have a lot to discuss and finalize both with the Tac-Pro conference and the Annual Conference for May. We need all the regional reps there!! Contact your Rep. and have him or her voice your concerns. Looking forward to all the regional meetings any time now!! Keep in mine that we still need any nominations for Sgt. at Arms as well as any new regional representative by February.

Thanks and Stay Safe!

William “Clay” Brister

LTPOA President

Time is still flying by, summer is gone and hunting season is here! I hope everyone is well! I am sorry it is taking so long to get the website going but it will be complete soon! Lot’s has happened and I appreciate you patience. The agenda for the Tac-Pro conference is complete and you can download it off the website under Events. Hope to see you there.

Our Annual conference in May 2005 will be held in Lake Charles. The Board is having a meeting in Lake Charles on Tuesday, 26th of October. Bud Crowe and his crew are working diligently on getting things together to make the conference a great success. We will have an opening in the State Wide Sgt. at Arms position at the conference. David Netherland has resigned from the RPSO SWAT Team to pursue other things. We wish him well in his endeavors but this means he can no longer hold the office of Vice President. This means that Trampus Gaspard will move up to Vice President and Ricky Backle will be the new 2nd Vice President, Leaving the office of Sgt. at Arms vacant. This office will have to be filled at the annual conference in May. If you are interested in this position, remember we need the nomination in by February through your regional representative. Our next board meeting is scheduled for November 16^th in Baton Rouge.

Thanks, and keep safe!

LTPOA President

Lt. William “Clay” Brister

Hello!

Time is flying by. I am sorry the up dates are coming slowly and I am working to get them out quicker. I appreciate you patience. I would like to begin by saying thanks to Chris Bittick and his support personnel, Monroe P.D.’s Team along with Ricky Bakle and Ouachita S.O.’s Team for making the conference a great success. They worked hard to get the conference ready and running smoothly. As usual the competition was great and demanding. And all the teams did well but no one expected the out come. The O.F.I. (Old Fat & Injured from Monroe P.D.) team came out as the overall winner. That’s when they changed the acronym to Oh Firearm Instructors. Because they cleaned house in the shooting events. They stressed the point of no matter what shape your in you have to be able to shoot when you arrive! Livingston had two teams who both did great these guy’s compete against each other all the time! And they are hosting swat competition in October.

Our yearly general meeting went well. I really appreciate your support in passing the amendments to our by-laws. Overwhelmingly we adopted a Permanente committee made up of past presidents for the purpose of monitoring all SWAT schools held in Louisiana. They will keep a list of all LTPOA schools, locations, cost, materials covered, and give them an overall LTPOA rating for you to see. This information will be available on request or possibly on the web.

We also pasted the proposal to hold the regional representatives election in their respective regions during the months of October to February. These elections will be monitored by one of the executive board members. The elected officials will take their offices in May at the annual meeting.

We regret the decision made by Capt. Eddie Rodrique our old 2^nd VP to step down. Eddie was promoted to Warden and has his plate full. We wish him well in his endeavors and hope to see more of him when he gets caught up! This opening called for a special election this year to fill the position. As you know we amended the by-laws during 2002 making the terms of office run for two years and progressively move up from the State Sgt.-at- Arms. We combined the Sec/Treas and made it an appointed position by a vote of the executive board. The Regional Reps are still serving a one-year term. It was also passed that a member must hold a position as Regional Rep prior to running for the position of State Sergeant-at-Arms. There was a little confusion with this but everything was worked out.

Our association has its own Challenge Coin and it was introduced at the general meeting. The picture is posted on the site. The coin is available for purchase at the conferences; don’t be caught without yours. Oh yea also DO NOT DROP IT in hearing distance of anyone who has one…it cost me $45.00 when I accidentally found myself in the hotel lounge. When you get yours read the coin history!!

We are looking for a host for the next annual conference if your interested please contact one of the board members.

We are now focusing on our Tac/Pro conference that we co-sponsor with Hendon Publishing; this year held in Baton Rouge Jan 12th-14^th. We have a board meeting on this on August 24, 2004, at the Holiday Inn on Constitution Blvd. at 10:30 am. If you have any input, get with your regional reps and have them pass it on. We will be posting the agenda as soon as it is finalized.

Thanks, and keep safe!

LTPOA President

Lt. William “Clay” Brister

As your new LTPOA President, I would like to begin by saying Thank You to Chris Bittick for his past service to our organization. He has brought valuable insight and leadership to us all and I will strive to build upon his ideas and expand our organization.

For those of you who don’t know me, I am a Lieutenant for the Rapides Parish Sheriff’s Office, assigned to the Training Unit of the Line Division. I have been with the department since 1988 and joined the RPSO SWAT team upon completion of my academy that same year. I have served as entry team leader, sniper, and currently as co-commander for the team. I am also currently the Incident Commander for the RPSO. I have been a member of the LTPOA board since inception, serving as Regional Director, Second Vice President, and Vice President. I am excited about starting my journey as your new President and look forward to a productive term.

One of my ideas for the future, and one I will be proposing at this year’s general meeting, is to see the inception of the “Past Presidents Committee”. As you know, in order to serve as part of the board, you have to be assigned to a tactical unit. As part of the Past Presidents Committee, the members who served as president but are no longer part of a tactical unit due to promotion or other assignment could remain involved in the progress of the LTPOA and help keep it headed in the right direction.

Upon the completion of their service as President, they would become members of this committee and would receive a Lifetime Membership to LTPOA, with the committee having one voting right as a whole. The duties of the committee would be to monitor Louisiana SWAT schools, keep a running list of active schools, and their ratings. They would also provide guidance to upcoming Presidents, promoting the growth of the LTPOA and promote more interest in serving on the Board.

Also in the upcoming year I would like to see the regional representatives be voted on in their respective regions. This would be done prior to the annual conference with their terms starting at the conference. In order to do this, the existing reps would be responsible for organizing a meeting in their region, ensuring that every tactical unit within that region be able to voice their concerns for the LTPOA even if they are not able to attend the Annual Meeting in May. This would provide for more involvement by all member agencies, boost membership incentive, and bring more training out to the regions.

These are just a couple of the ideas I have to build upon our current foundation and to promote the future of our organization.

Let’s all have a safe conference and a productive year as we strive to promote safe tactics, teamwork, and training.

Sincerely,

William “Clay” Brister