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We join with those who mourn the loss of life,  the injuries, and the disruption of lives caused  by the attacks  against Washington,  DC, and  New York, N.Y.    All those effected -- the brave people who helped in rescue efforts, those involved in America's response to terror and in the war with Iraq-- are in our thoughts and prayers.

Participants: 
*       Santa Barbara Chapter – Michael S. Williams (Chair), Bill Dunn, CPP, Merrill Hoffman, Jerry Johnson, Cheryl Pelton at Tenet Healthcare in Santa Barbara, CA.  Bill Drake, Scott Roberts, Al Allison, Jim Miller and Randy Freeman at PG&E at Diablo Canyon, CA; 

On the phone in Santa Barbara for the historic international ASIS Chapter meeting were (L to R): Michael Williams, Jerry Johnson, Merrill Hoffman, and Cheryl Pelton.

Called to Order:  Michael Williams and Patricia Knight called this first of its kind meeting to order at 12:00 noon PST. 

Mike (Santa Barbara) asked Patricia (United Kingdom) to start off the discussion.  Patricia explained that the Foundation had unfortunately been caught in the crossfire of leadership discussion when the Foundation had sent out an email requesting support money.  Patricia had hit a ‘Reply All’ when she responded to the effect that it was unreasonable and inappropriate for them to ask Chapters for money.  Many of the Chapters are struggling and cannot give more money and in fact could use assistance themselves from Headquarters. 

Mike (Santa Barbara) asked Bill Dunn (Santa Barbara) to highlight the main points of the meeting he attended in Dallas at the 50th Training Seminar.  This special meeting was set up as the result of all the emails exchanged.  Bill indicated that there were about 12 attendees who met with Robert Rowe.  Mr. Rowe apologized for the Foundation letter and its content.  He stated that he had not intended it as a demand.  The lady who wrote the content for him also apologized.  Mr. Rowe indicated that he will review the outgoing Foundation notices more closely in the future, but did indicate that the Foundation is run separately from the ASIS HQ. 

There seemed to be a consensus among the worldwide chapters that they are experiencing poor attendance, high costs, declining membership, and lack of support from ASIS HQ.  All chapters agreed that ASIS and the Headquarters exist to serve the membership, rather than the membership exists because of HQ. 

Patricia (UK) stated that this form of communication amongst Chapters is an excellent outcome from the original emails.  It shows us that we all: 

*     Have similar problems 
*     Don’t want chapters to fold 
*     Need HQ to communicate better with the local leadership and all the members to know what each chapter is struggling with 

Mike (Santa Barbara) indicated that he understood from Denny White that ASIS HQ used to have a forum segment on their website, but discontinued it because there was too much liability for the content. 

Kaj (Denmark) stated that we should establish ourselves as an on-going communicating group, do our homework, and then submit opinions and ideas to HQ for improvement.  For German and Austrian members, all costs are out of pocket. 

Dale (Germany) said he was having difficulty in keeping members, primarily due to the annual costs to belong to ASIS as well as the costs of the Certification programs.  The European members see more benefit for themselves in belonging to other European 
organizations. 

Merrill Hoffman (Santa Barbara) indicated that membership in ASIS gives the primary benefit of member interaction and networking.  The Security Management magazine has been a nice benefit for members, but it is becoming primarily advertising.  Chapters really don’t get other benefits back from ASIS HQ.  Merrill also stated that we get a good meeting turnout when we have a really interesting speaker (e.g., a convicted bank robber shared his thoughts, techniques and helpful hints to the many bank employees who attended a meeting for the first time). 

Patricia (United Kingdom) said the UK Chapter (208) has 600-700 members.  They hold four regular members meetings/seminars per year and are probably in a better position financially than many smaller chapters.  In the past two years, they have had meetings with other European chapter chairs, which have proved to be very useful. 

Kaj (Denmark) indicated that costs are an on-going problems as they had to hire and pay a secretary to do the necessary job for the chapter.  This made it extra costly. 

Keith Goins (ASIS HQ) asked what we need from HQ.  Various ideas were discussed: 
*     Patricia (UK) said she’d like more interaction between ASIS HQ and the chapters.  She indicated that she had sent Shirley Pierini an email and still had not received a response.  Patricia also asked Keith to press the Board to get their assistance with funding. 
*     Mike (SB) said the costs of the individual 1-3 day seminars are prohibitive for many members who must pay out of pocket.  HQ should consider reducing costs to members. 
*     Mike (SB) indicated that HQ needed to get creative in finding ways to help chapters financially.  Perhaps HQ could give a percentage of the membership dues collected back to chapters. 
*     heryl Pelton (Santa Barbara) suggested HQ paying chapters $50 per meeting upon submittal of required meeting Minutes, as is the practice with another security organization to which she belongs. 
*     Dale (Germany/Austria) chapter meets only once per year in January and he has requested a Board member come to speak at their meeting, with no success. 

Other general comments from participants: 
*     John Lineweaver (Florida) felt they have a lot of issues.  They have 300 members and feel lucky to get 30 attendees at their meetings.  They did improve their meeting attendance 10-15% by moving the meeting location. 
*     Merrill (SB) said one of the problems is that security is failing to be a profession for many folks – for instance, the retail security folks in Santa Barbara are basically ‘stuck into the position’ without much background and training and then quickly move on. 
*     Bert Corniel (Hawaii) said it was difficult to get members and hold them because of competing organizations; potential members have only so much time and money. 
*      ______ (Tennessee) said it would be very helpful if HQ would reduce the mandatory number of meetings (currently 9) that must be held each year.  Keith (HQ) stated that the regional VPs could officially waive that requirement.  In response to a status question from Mike (SB) on the committee that was going to review official meeting number reduction, Keith (HQ) indicated that the committee had made a report to the Board in Dallas where they reviewed the policy.  A decision should be published very soon. 
*     Patricia (UK) commented that they only have four regular members’ meetings but these are sometimes augmented by meetings/seminars held in conjunction with other industry bodies. 
*     Bill (SB) said that HQ had done a very good thing at the Dallas seminar by giving several continuing education credits for attendance at the sessions when you turned in your Critique forms.  In the past, a maximum number of credits were given. 

Mike (SB) suggested that we try holding these teleconference meetings quarterly, varying the time to be convenient for various parts of the US or internationally.  We could set up a schedule that is published and get even more chapters participating.  Keith  (HQ) offered to work with Mike (SB) and Patricia (UK) to set these up.  The next proposed meeting will be in late January 2005. 

Specific discussion on certification programs and costs: 
*     Bill Dunn (SB) asked participants at the ASIS Certification Booth in Dallas what the reasoning was for establishing the PSP and PCI certifications.  Bill and several of the participants felt that the additional certifications detracted from the prestige of the CPP certification.  The booth workers indicated that various companies had asked for these certifications, but when asked who those companies were, they didn’t know. 
*     Santa (Virginia) said that ASIS owns the Protection of Assets (POA) manual. 
*     Many participants feel they would like to have the POA available to them as a free benefit of our membership.  If that were the case, it would be a dynamic incentive for interesting potential new members.  It would be the best incentive we could think of during this discussion. 
*     Patricia (UK) said that to prepare and take the exam in Europe costs a member about $3,500: this includes study weekends and purchase of books. 
*     Dale (Germany) indicated that ASIS HQ doesn’t recognize the certifications that are given out in Europe and Bill (SB) indicated that ASIS HQ also doesn’t recognize the certifications (e.g., CFE) given out in the United States other than those granted by ASIS.  Patricia (UK) said the UK Chapter is working very hard to get CPP officially recognized in Europe. 
*     Bill (SB) said it is frustrating to see three separate ASIS certification programs.  In job requisitions the only one he has seen required is CPP. 
*     Santo (Virginia) said that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is working to state a requirement for CPP certification for internal promotion consideration. 

Bert (Hawaii) said that he felt the entire discussion was fruitful and that everyone worldwide seems to be having many of the same problems. 

Mike extended a hearty thank you to all participants and especially to Bill Dunn and Tenet Healthcare for hosting this ground-breaking event. 

The teleconferencing meeting was adjourned at 13:05 PST. 

Respectfully submitted, 

Cheryl K. Pelton

Cheryl K. Pelton 
Santa Barbara Chapter Secretary