TIDEWATER CHAPTER
MINUTES OF THE MAY 21, 2008 MEETING
CHRISTOPHER NEWPORT UNIVERSITY
NEWPORT NEWS, VA
Twenty seven (27) in attendance – Twenty three (23) members and four (4) guests.
The meeting was called to order by Chapter Chairman Joel Johnson CPP at 11:45 a.m.. After the Pledge of Allegiance, attendees were asked to stand and introduce themselves, the companies or organizations they represented, and their guests. Chairman Johnson formally recognized those new members in attendance and presented their ASIS Membership Certificates. He then congratulated member Joshua Chapparro on the publishing of his recent book “ Self-Defense for Teachers”. Copies were provided for all in attendance.
Chairman Johnson then introduced ASIS Regional Vice President Chris J. DiMartino, CPP from Richmond who was attending to present our Chapter with an “Honorable Mention“ award for our Chapter website. Chapter webmaster and Treasurer, Shawn Deans, accepted the award. For everyone’s information, Chairman Johnson reviewed upcoming Chapter meetings in June, July, and August. He highlighted the importance of our September meeting for outlining all, or most of our Chapter activities for 2009, and urged that as many members as possible attend that meeting at a place to be determined.
Finally, Chairman Johnson reminded everyone of the two free registrations for this year’s ASIS Exhibits in Atlanta, and that the registrations would be awarded via raffles with the first to be held in June. The monthly Treasurer’s Report was given by Shawn Deans and approved by the membership, and with not “Hot Topics” or “Lessons Learned” to discuss, everyone was invited to partake of the buffet luncheon.
After lunch, Chairman Johnson introduced the guest speaker: Chief Jeffrey S. Brown, Chief of University Police, Christopher Newport University. For the next hour, Chief Brown gave a very comprehensive “Power Point” presentation of the University’s police department, it’s organization, infrastructure, and relationships both within the campus and the community. Beginning with jurisdictional issues of his department , Chief Brown went on to cover such topics as campus watch programs such as alcohol awareness and drugs awareness, and the “silent witness” program which allows students to anonymously report crime directly to the police via the internet. He discussed how the student “Bike Registration Program” worked to increase the number of “stolen” bikes that are ultimately recovered. He explained how the use of nighttime campus escorts as well as the “Rape Aggression Defense” were used to help minimize the number of sexual assaults on campus. Some of the community/police initiatives that the CNU police department has engaged in include the police bike program which has resulted in greater interaction between the police and the community; the police aide program which utilizes student aides to assist the campus police; and the “emergency study break which helps the police develop a better rapport with students.
After a twenty minute question and answer period dealing mostly with university crime reporting requirements, and the federal legislation that mandates it, Chief Brown concluded his presentation with a summary of the university’s emergency preparedness procedures and emergency notification systems and components used to alert students about planned emergency events such as a hurricane, localized events such as a bomb threat , or immediate catastrophic events such as a sniper on campus.
Upon concluding his presentation ,Chief Brown was give a resounding applause. Chairman Johnson then presented the Chief with a Certificate of Appreciation and an ASIS pen. Having no further business, the meeting adjourned at 1: 37 p.m.
