A Message From Our President

by K. Scott Abrams, CPA

04/10/08

President's Message -- K. Scott Abrams, CPA, FHFMA

Back to the Basics! That's the theme for the 17th Annual Training Conference hosted by the Wisconsin State Crime Stoppers, Inc. Crime Stoppers programs are based on a simple premise of citizens calling the law-enforcement coordinator regarding outstanding crimes and/or criminals, while paying a reward for information assisting in the apprehensions of criminals and solving crimes. Although this may seem like a simple concept, basic small business principles are required in order to have an efficient and sustaining organizational structure.

As simplistic as this may appear, it takes an organized and dedicated Crime Stoppers board of directors to lead this organizational structure. This structure is predicated on three very important pillars: community, law enforcement and media. Picture this structure as a three legged stool. Each leg of the stool must be present in order for the structure to be solid and to keep standing. Remove one of the legs and the stool falls over. Crime Stoppers depends on these three elements of community, law enforcement and media to be a successful organization.

The 17th Annual Training Conference will address the basics of these three important elements of Crime Stoppers programs. We are pleased and honored to have Jean Block, a nationally recognized speaker on non-profit organizations. Jean was a prominent speaker at the Crime Stoppers International conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 2006. Jean will focus on many of the basic elements of running and maintaining a nonprofit organization. She will speak directly on creating and leading an effective and organized Crime Stoppers Board of Directors for all local programs. Jean will address how to cultivate prospective board members, recruit them to your board and how to retain them within your organization. Finally, she will speak directly to running an effective fundraising campaign while sharing some of her past experiences, both good and bad, and what's worked and not worked. Getting Back to the Basics from a board perspective.

To be a successful Crime Stoppers program, people need to know about you and your program. Getting Back to the Basics from the media perspective will also be an interesting and stimulating focus of our conference. During our breakout workshop sessions, we are very fortunate to have the LaBarbera Media Group, LLC to assist us in better understanding media relations and their impact on our organizations. Joel LaBarbera, a former broadcaster on Channel 6, WITI of Milwaukee, and Police Officer Joel Dhein, selected as Wisconsin Crime Prevention Practitioner of the Year in 1999, will provide a basic "game plan" on how to establish media ground rules and develop a good working relationship with local media. These individuals have made media presentations to numerous law enforcement agencies around the country. You don't want to miss this presentation.

Finally, we will also focus on the law-enforcement aspect of the Crime Stoppers program during our breakout workshop sessions on Tip Taking. Again, this seems like a simple concept, but it is important to keep in mind the appropriate measures in taking tips to protect the caller's anonymity. Again, Back to the Basics.

The Wisconsin State Crime Stoppers Board of Directors has worked hard during this past year to bring you this exciting and worthwhile conference. We look forward to your continued learning, participation, and feedback during the conference. We trust this training conference will assist you in leading your program to becoming more effective and efficient. It's all about getting Back to the Basics!