A message from FPCA's President, Chief Gary R. Grosser:
"Mid-Winter Conference Successful and Productive"
February 1, 2000
It's hard to believe that this issue marks the "mid year", for my term in office.
Time has a nack for slipping by, at a very rapid pace, when activity levels are
high.
Our Mid-Winter Conference was, by all accounts, a wonderful success and very
productive. It is apparent that staff put a lot of effort into organizing the site and
vendors, and that our committees were diligent in completing their tasks.
As usual, the Training Programs were outstanding and we should extend our
thanks to the Training Committee and it's Chair, Chief Rick Overman.
In part of our business agenda, the association approved the purchase of a new
FPCA Headquarters Building. By the time you read this, we will have finalized the
purchase and have begun to update the interior, readying the office for business.
In another part of our agenda, we created a period of open forum discussion of
an issue that is developing in Florida higher education requirements for entry
level law enforcement officers.
We all know that this has been a point of consideration for our legislature and
CJSTC. How we address this issue is going to be critical to other issues in the
future: certification requirements, re-training, etc. Fortunately, we have a group of
our members who have volunteered to provide a grasp on the subject. Chaired
by Chief Jay Romine, the Educational Standards Committee will be surveying
members, analyzing educational programs, recording membership input and
recommending to our association, what they believe the course of action should
be. As they are working in our best interests, I would ask that each person called
upon would respond quickly to the call, so we may respond to this issue
professionally as an organization of leaders in law enforcement.
As we endeavor to improve our standing, as a profession and as an organization,
it is important to note the importance of the attribute: "attitude", in addressing
the issues we face each day. We know that "how" we approach a situation is,
often times, more important that 'what" we do to respond to the issue.
I'm sure most of you have already read the following writing by Charles Swindoll:
"The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company,a church,or a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past, we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you, we are in charge of our Attitudes."
There will always be people with differing opinions, second guesses"Monday morning quarterbacks". We will never change that. How we react, the attitude we exhibit, can make a positive difference as to how our profession is viewed.
We may not be in charge of that, but we are responsible for it.