Home  

Home
Why Join?
President's Letter
Board of Directors
Board Minutes
SDPOA Auxiliary
SDPOA Seminar
SDPOA News
Spirit of 6 Award
SDPOA Essay Winner
Scholarships
Constitution
By-Laws & Rules
Links Page
 

 

 

President's Letter

 

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
 

 

Start making
plans for the:

 

SDPOA
Convention
/ Seminar in
Huron, SD.

 

Sept. 12, 2010
through
Sept. 14, 2010

 

Crossroads Hotel
Huron Convention/
Center

 

MAKE
RESERVATIONS
EARLY

 

ROOMS MAY

BE LIMITED

Call us and we'll
help you get

registered!

 
   

horizontal rule

Home ] Why Join? ] [ President's Letter ] Board of Directors ] Board Minutes ] SDPOA Auxiliary ] SDPOA Seminar ] SDPOA News ] Spirit of 6 Award ] SDPOA Essay Winner ] Scholarships ] Constitution ] By-Laws & Rules ] Links Page ]

South Dakota Peace Officers' Association