SDPOA
Members and Supporters:
I would like to begin by introducing myself to those of
you who don’t know me. My wife Cindy and I have 7 children and currently
live in Blunt, SD just east of Pierre. I retired from the United States
Army in 1995 where I served as a combat medic and then as an entry team
member on the Fort Lewis Washington Special Reaction Team. We moved back
to South Dakota in November of 1999 and we both went to work for the
City of Pierre, me as a Police Officer and my wife a Communications
Officer. I have been a member of the South Dakota Peace Officers’
Association since 2004 and Cindy has been a member of the Association
and Auxiliary since 2005. We both looked forward to attending the annual
conference every year and decided that if we were going to continue to
attend, we might as well put in the work to keep the machine running. I
would like to extend that invitation to everyone of our members. Your
support is very important to us; however, equally important is your
participation. An association of this size can only exist when there are
members who are willing to get involved. The free training the
association offers every year is world class and the opportunities to
network with officers from different agencies are endless. This is an
excellent low cost opportunity to gain 12 continuing education hours
towards the state required 40, and to make those agency contacts we in
law enforcement depend on so regularly. We also offer free HR-218 law
enforcement concealed carry Pistol and Revolver qualification for our
retired officers during the annual seminar. Please consider attending
the annual seminar in Huron September 12th – 14th 2010.
The past year was a successful one for the South Dakota
Peace Officers’ Association across several measures. We had
approximately 95 0fficers attended the talk tactics for first responders
training conducted during the annual seminar this past September. That’s
95 officers that have additional training in de-escalating a potentially
dangerous situation. This training will not only serve those who
attended well, it will also help to protect our citizens and make the
streets of our towns that much safer. Second, despite the persistent
economic downturn, our association was still able to donate more than 50
thousand dollars to South Dakota children programs and charities. We are
fortunate to be able to give so much back to South Dakota’s youth
because of the generosity of our members and the supporters of this
association. Your board of directors is currently putting together
training for the 2010 seminar. If there is any particular training you
would like, please feel free to contact anyone of the board members and
share your ideas.
I would be remiss if I didn’t bring up the fact that we
had a fellow law enforcement officer feloniously killed during the past
year. A tragedy of this nature has not occurred in our great state since
1984. Turner County Deputy Chad L. Mechels was killed in the line of
duty on March 15th, 2009. This is yet another somber reminder to us all
to remain vigilant in our daily duties. Our Thoughts and prayers go out
to the Mechels family. God Bless you all.
Thank you for your continued interest in and support of the South Dakota
Peace Officers’ Association and I sincerely hope to speak with and hear
from all of you over the coming year.
Sincerely,
Derald Gross
President
South Dakota Peace Officers’ Association
