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It’s Almost Time for IACP: What Are You Looking Forward To?

By Leischen Stelter

In just a few days, law enforcement officers from around the country will be traveling to Philadelphia for the 120th Annual International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) Conference from October 19-23, 2013.

This will only be my second IACP, but for many members of American Military University’s law enforcement team, this show is a long-time favorite. For example, this year will be Mike Sale’s 27th IACP conference. Yes, you read that right, 27 YEARS! Last year, he wrote a great piece about his experience attending this show through the years. You can check it out here.

AMU's law enforcement team from IACP 2012. From left to right: John Currie, Tim Hardiman, Jeff Kuhn, Mike Sale, Dennis Porter and Dave Malone. Missing: Jim Deater and Leischen Stelter.
AMU’s law enforcement team from IACP 2012. From left to right: John Currie, Tim Hardiman, Jeff Kuhn, Mike Sale, Dennis Porter and Dave Malone. Missing: Jim Deater and Leischen Stelter.

Why does he attend year after year? It’s largely about the networking opportunities, of course. I did a quick survey of our law enforcement team (you can find more info about each of them, here, by the way) and networking was the number one reason they said they attend this show.

This will be Dave Malone’s 15th year at IACP, and he said the biggest benefit for him has been the networking.

“It’s great to talk to people who are in the same position as you and hear how they handle the same issues that you’re facing,” he told me.

In addition, the association has done a great job of putting a stronger emphasis on education.  More and more officers attend the training sessions and there is greater recognition about the importance of leadership training and professional development.

Speaking of education, American Military University has some exciting news to share at the show this year! We recently launched our Law Enforcement Executive Leadership Program, an undergraduate or graduate certificate program in law enforcement leadership. Right now we are working with the North Carolina Association of Chiefs of Police to enroll their membership, but if you’re interested in knowing more about this certificate program, please email: LEleadership@apus.edu.

Also, we are announcing a new Webinar series for law enforcement officers ONLY. These Webinars will include everything from wiretapping basics to electronic countermeasures technology to parcel interdiction (go here for a list of Webinar topics). This Webinar series includes law enforcement-sensitive information, so all registrants must be confirmed as law enforcement officers in order to participate. You can register here.

IACP event photo
AMU’s reception from IACP 2012. It’s an event not to be missed!

Come visit AMU at IACP, booth #2418, to learn more about these new programs. And, if you need a reason beyond the fact that we’re great people to talk with, we will have COFFEE and EXTRA-COMFY COUCHES in our booth. (If you have ever attended a large trade show, you know just how important both these things are. Come put your feet up and re-energize!)

Also, we will be holding our annual reception at the show, which has been a HUGE hit among attendees, BUT you’ll need to stop by the booth to get details and an invite.

A few more notes about IACP:

  •  The mobile app is great. You can manage your schedule on the website, using My Briefcase. It enables you to choose the sessions you want to attend and then it syncs it with your phone. Pretty awesome and certainly helpful for managing your time at the show.
  • Make sure you attend some educational sessions. The networking component is wonderful (invaluable really), but there are some great educational opportunities to be had here that you can’t get elsewhere.
  • If you can’t attend, but want to know what’s going on, follow the hashtag #IACP2013 on Twitter. Lots of posts there already!
  • You can follow The IACP blog here.
  • You can also become a fan of their Facebook page here. AMU will also be posting pictures and updates to OUR Public Safety Facebook page here.

What else are you looking forward to at this event? Any other tips or guides for making the most out of this show?

Leischen Kranick is a Managing Editor at AMU Edge. She has 15 years of experience writing articles and producing podcasts on topics relevant to law enforcement, fire services, emergency management, private security, and national security.

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