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LEAPS
El Paso
Assistant Chief Ken Adcox
El Paso Police Department
Greetings from the Sun City. The members of the El Paso Law Enforcement and Private Security Association would like to wish all of you a very happy New Year.
The past year witnessed several major advances within the El Paso LEAPS Association. Our membership has grown and the association now has more than 70 active members representing each of the major local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies in our region � plus an equal number of private security professionals from the guard, private investigations, alarm, and security consulting industry. The average attendance at our monthly lunch meetings now exceeds 45 members and the information exchanged and relationships forged at these meetings has proven to be invaluable.
Another major advancement undertaken by the LEAPS Association during 2007 was the hosting of a comprehensive one week general security training session. The training session was designed to provide those in attendance with the knowledge necessary to seek certification as a Certified Protection Professional though ASIS International. This training was gratuitously sponsored by the El Paso Police Department, which committed to send all nine members of its own command staff officers to the training.
This training was very significant as ASIS International is widely recognized as the primary source for knowledge, professional development, and networking for security professionals throughout the world. Additionally, the CPP is highly coveted and is recognized as the highest certification offered through ASIS. The CPP designation is awarded only to experienced security practitioners who have demonstrated in-depth knowledge and management skills in eight key areas of security, including general security principles, personnel security, physical security, information security, emergency preparedness, investigations, legal issues and security business practices. Fifteen of the students were from the EPPD, five from other law enforcement partners and six from private security. If not already a member, all students were required to join the local chapter of ASIS.
With the guidance of several current El Paso CPPs, and in recognition of the vast specialized knowledge possessed by many of the students attending the training session, the LEAPS CPP course boosted a unique student-based instructional design. One month in advance of the course, participating students were brought together, provided the appropriate reference material, and assigned individual presentation topics. During the one week CPP Training Course, which began in October, each student presented his/her assigned topic to the rest of the class. At the conclusion of the course, students were given an extensive CPP practice exam to test their newly acquired security knowledge. All of the students in attendance did well on the practice exam and successfully completed the program. Although many of the students are still awaiting ASIS approval to take the actual CPP certification exam, several participants have since taken the exam and, to date, each has passed and received formal recognition as a certified protection professional.
In recognition of the success of this program, the EPPD was presented with the prestigious Organizational Award of Merit by ASIS International. Of the three awards given in 2007, the EPPD was the only police agency recognized and the only organization based in the United States. The formal award was recently presented to the department at the ASIS International Annual Conference in Las Vegas, NV. Additionally, EPPD Chief of Police Richard Wiles and Assistant Chief of Police Ken Adcox were given special service awards by ASSIST, at the state conference in recognition of the distinguished successes of the El Paso LEAPS Association.
These awards served as confirmation of EPPD�s continued commitment to our private security counterparts. With organizations such as LEAPS continuing to foster trust, respect and openness between our two families, improved relationships and additional partnerships are being forged each day.
The city of El Paso is happy to set the example as its public law enforcement and private security entities continue to unselfishly commit themselves to working together toward a safer tomorrow.
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