Dear IAPE Members,

Now that 1998 is coming to an end, the Board of Directors and I would like to personally wish you Happy Holidays and Happy New Year. In addition, we hope that your inventory in 1999 doesn't grow by too much.

The year of 1998 was the most successful one in the history of our Association. Our membership grew by over 400 to just about double what it was just two short years ago, and attendance in our property and evidence management classes broke all records.

In 1997, IAPE conducted seven two-day training seminars with an average of 45 students per class. In 1998, we put on thirteen training classes with an average of 60 students per class, with three classes reaching almost 100 students. This demonstrates that others are finally recognizing the importance of property management as a function of the law enforcement community.

In addition, IAPE also put on six half-day executive workshops for police chiefs throughout the state of California. The Chiefs of Police in California now know that property and evidence can destroy careers and shatter the reputations of their agencies. The tragic newspaper headlines you see reviewed in The Evidence Log© are routinely shared with police executives across the country, so if you have a headline you think would help make that point, let us know and we will share it with other chiefs.

To make 1999 an equally outstanding year, we have scheduled (or are planning) classes in Salt Lake City (UT), Wasilla (AK), Bellevue (WA), Salem (OR), Kansas City (MO), High Point (NC), Augusta (GA), Bridgeport (CT), and Burbank (CA). Several other locations are a bit too tentative to mention, but look forward to some surprises in our 1999 Training Calendar, which we expect to distribute to IAPE members in January.

In the last issue of The Evidence Log© we mentioned that the IAPE web site was operational (http://www.iape.org). We are proud to announce that it has had over 600 hits, showing again the importance of property and evidence management.

Before closing, I would like to make a special appeal to our members. The success of The Evidence Log© is based on the input of our members. As we all have to acknowledge, there hasn't been much written on the keys to successful property and evidence management. In fact, one of the finest law enforcement libraries in the country, the FBI Library, only has about a dozen papers or articles - that's it.

So help us out, we always need articles of interest, and articles by professionals actually doing the job are frequently the most interesting of all. We really need stories about you and your property room. Stories of interest, creative policies, innovative solutions for storing property, headlines from your local newspapers, and fascinating items of property that you think no one else has.

If you provide us with a story we select as a feature story for The Evidence Log©, then we will provide you with a one year extension to your IAPE membership, along with a letter to your Chief or Sheriff commending your efforts toward professional property and evidence management. It's really easy.