INTERNATIONAL POLICE WORKING DOG ASSOCIATION

A message from the President:

Hello fellow members,

I hope this writing finds you and your loved ones well.

We are getting close to the annual Explosive Workshop being hosted by Rhode Island Fire Marshal's Office Bomb Squad, the Rhode Island State Police, the Rhode Island Airport Corporation Police and the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Transit Police. This event is scheduled for the 1^st week in April 2008. Please check out our training and events page for more information and registering if you’re planning on attending.

The Spring Executive Board Meeting will be held in Boston on 3-17-08.

Sgt.Russ Crague (Greenwood Indiana Police) and Lt.Tony Keith (Indiana Department of Correction) along with their k-9 units are meeting monthly and are planning an excellent 2008 National Workshop. The dates are 9-29-08 through 10-03-08. Please check the website in late April as we will have the information posted. Any questions beforehand please send Russ an e-mail or phone him.

Search and Rescue membership are encouraged to register early so that we may have our Master Trainers and Trainers on hand for training and certifications.

Please remember to send any articles of interest to Mark Mathis for the newsletter.

When you receive your membership renewal card, please fill it out completely and send it to the Membership Chair and Treasurer for the updating of their records.

Also, Trainers and Master Trainers along with committee chairs please check the website and update your contact information.

Cliff Lindsey is our Awards Chairman. If you have someone that meets the requirements for our awards, please send to Cliff.

If there are any members that have any ideas for training at the Nationals, please send your info to Russ so that the committee can attempt to incorporate into the schedule.

Many thanks to Mike Morgan for an outstanding job in the representation of IPWDA. Mike was contacted by Milk Bones about a donation of their product to the association.

Mike contacted me about the donation. The only thing we had to do was to pick it up and distribute it. Mike took his truck, making several trips, and brought this product to his house and stored it for approximately one month while he and I networked on how we would dispose of this.

We thought about sending this product to our brothers and sisters serving in the Middle East, but, due to logistics and the enormous cost, we couldn’t accomplish this without some serious planning and research.

So, it was decided that we would distribute the product to the Indiana Department of Correction because of the amount of k-9’s they have and the cost to get it to them would be minimal. So, Mike once again, rented a u-haul and paid for the gas himself and organized with Lt.Tony Keith a place to meet at the Indiana/Michigan state line to make the drop off.

Lt. Keith sent his personnel to the region to pick this up, and through a series of unpredictable events, these handlers put in a 20 hour day representing IPWDA and the Indiana Department of Correction and they should be commended. Many thanks to Tony and Mike along with their staff. I appreciate all you do.

The 2008 National Committee is working on a logo for t-shirts and sweatshirts. We will attempt to get them posted for purchasing by the membership and remember that they are a part of the fund raising for the seminar.

I look forward to seeing you at the nationals!

Stay Safe,

Richard L. McQueary, President