2008 National Law Enforcement Exploring Conference

Section I- Introduction

Background

In 1977, the National Law Enforcement Exploring Committee first considered the possibility of developing a national event that would be open to all Law Enforcement Explorers and Advisors.

From its inception, one of the reasons for the success of the conference has been the active support and participation of prominent national, state, and local leaders in law enforcement. This year is no exception, beginning with administrator Karen Tandy of the Drug Enforcement Administration, as chair of the National Exploring Committee; and Cory Jackson, your elected youth representative.

Objectives

The objectives of the 2008 National Law Enforcement Exploring Conference are to:

Provide an opportunity to substantially enrich the program of each Law Enforcement post.
Help create new Law Enforcement posts.
Enhance the level of officer and Advisor performance within existing Law Enforcement posts.
Promote an exchange of successful post program ideas.
Encourage posts to incorporate the five areas of program emphasis (career opportunities, citizenship, leadership experience, life skills, and character education) into their post program planning.
Create a positive climate for federal law enforcement agencies and national law enforcement associations to become familiar with Law Enforcement Exploring.
Provide Law Enforcement Explorers with a format for career and educational exploration.
Give Explorers an opportunity for recreational and social activities, and for having fun.

Tradition and Leadership

Each conference chair has helped increasingly in ensuring a successful conference. The chairs and their youth counterparts have been instrumental in the evolution of the national conference to its present form.

Listed below are the director and youth chairs of the respective conferences, along with the agency affiliation of each individual at that time, university name, and conference location.

1979	Michigan State University, Lansing, MI Honorable H. Stuart Knight, director, U.S. Secret Service Julie Pierson, Post 103, Orlando Police Department, Florida Diana Wilcox, Post 1986, Montgomery County Police Department, Maryland

1981	Ohio State University, Columbus, OH Honorable Peter Bensinger, administrator, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Roland Corrales, Post 328, Hillsborough County Police Department, Florida Denise McCormick, Post 565, McComb County Police Department, Michigan

1983	Colorado State University, Ft. Collins, CO Honorable William H. Webster, director, Federal Bureau of Investigation Patrick Williams, Post 1050, Newport Beach Police Department, California

1984	Ohio State University, Columbus, OH Honorable William von Raab, commissioner, U.S. Customs Service Suzanne Schreiber, Post 601, Santa Clara Police Department, California

1986	University of Washington, Seattle, WA Honorable Stephen Higgins, director, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Michael Knight, Post 950, Lansing Police Department, Illinois Richard Ryals, Post 400, Volusia County Police Department, Florida

1988	Boston University, Boston, MA Honorable Charles Rinkevich, director, Federal Law Enforcement Training Center Karen C. Carr, Post 609, Chesterfield County Police Department, Virginia Laura Lee Locke, Post 83, Denver Police Department, Colorado

1990	University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO Honorable Stanley E. Morris, deputy director for supply reduction, Office of National Drug Control Policy Teresa Absher, Post 244, Nevada County Sheriffs Department, Nevada

1992	University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC Commissioner Carol Hallet, U.S. Customs Service Jamie Hoffman, Post 481, Chelsea Police Department, Michigan

1994	Indiana University, Bloomington, IN Supt. Lloyd Jennings, Indiana State Police Department John Christman, Post 655, Rochester New York Police Department, New York

1996	Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ Joe Albo, Director, Arizona Department of Public Safety, Phoenix, Arizona Vinnie Montez, Post 500, Boulder County Sheriff's Department, Boulder, Colorado

1998	University of Maryland, College Park, MD Col. David B. Mitchell, Maryland State Police, Pikesville, Maryland Ruben Lino, Post 104, Santa Barbara Police Department, Santa Barbara, California

2000	Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA Col. Robert Hightower, Georgia State Patrol, Atlanta, Georgia Ginger Anderson, Post 368, Verona Police Department, Verona, Wisconsin

2002	Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ Col. Dennis Garrett, Director, Arizona Department of Public Safety, Phoenix, Arizona Donna Gonzalez, Post 281, Township of Ocean Police Department, New Jersey

2004	Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA Col. George Ellis, Director, Georgia State Patrol Kori MacDonald, Post 782, Atlantic Beach Police, Florida

2006	Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ Robert Vanderpool, Director, Arizona Department of Public Safety Reginald McCullough, Post 219, Franklin, Tennessee