We were quite surprised a couple of weeks ago when our remaining magazine salesman, George Brehm, advised us that after traveling around Florida selling ads for our magazine for the past 25 years, he has decided to retire as of April 2. With the retirement of Richard Smith, George has sold all of The Florida Police Chief advertising for several years now. We will miss him and wish him well in his retirement. George and his wife intend to move to the west coast and settle in the Naples area.

We have talked from time to time about the role of the magazine given our extensive Web site and briefly considered the possibility of reducing the number of issues per year and/ or converting to a newsletter format. Because ad sales are only covered through the June issue, I have asked the staff to explore the different options available and provide me with recommendations as well as a cost-benefit analysis as soon as possible.

I thought I might bring you up to date on our Executive Search Program. Hal Robbins, our Executive Director, advised me he was enthusiastic about the program following a meeting he had recently with Mike Sittig, Executive Director of the League of Cities, and Lynn Tipton, Executive Director of the Florida City and County Management Association. They expressed a willingness to help us perfect the program into one that will be used by their respective members, and will be soliciting some help from their organizations.

Finally, I would like to remind you of the Legislative Breakfast, which is co-hosted by the Florida Sheriffs Association, and is scheduled for April 13,2004 from 7:15-9 a.m. (See page 10 for more information.) Thanks to the generosity of Nextel, there is no charge for the breakfast that has grown every year. We will be sending invitations to all of the legislators but hope that you will take time to personally invite your local legislative representatives to join us on the 22nd floor of the Capitol.

Chief Paul Rumbley