This past January the Illinois Truck Enforcement Association hosted a truck officer conference at the Suburban Law Enforcement Academy in Glen Ellyn, IL. On January 9th, 2013, we are doing it again! If you are a police officer in Illinois that performs truck enforcement, are you signed up yet? If you are trucker who works in Illinois, have you called the towns where truck enforcement is happening to make sure their officers are signed up? The January 2012 event had an incredible turnout for a first time event. The January 2013 event will be even better…and here is why:
In January 2012, the conference was only 4-hours. The feedback was that officers would prefer an 8-hour class. This was to avoid wasting half of the work day…bosses are expecting to pay cops for a full days work. A second reason to extend the hours was to give the speakers more time to speak on their specific topics and leave time for questions and answers.
For those reasons, the conference this year will be a full 8-hour class. Part of the challenge of having a large group, lecture hall style class was allowing for questions of the presenters. It is easy to have conversation escape orderliness in that kind of environment. The background noise drains out the speaker and the critical information is lost.
Other than a short welcome to everyone as a whole, the class will be divided up into group and rotate around the facility to different workshops. The speakers at each workshop will have more time than they did last year. The speakers will have a smaller audience to allow for questions and conversation. Then, like in high school, the bell will ring and each group will move to the next workshop.
The speakers this year have new and important information to pass along about current and future laws that impact truck enforcement efforts across the state. At no other time is a lineup of authorities from each regulatory agency brought together in one place than at this conference. These men have a heart for their jobs and a desire to see you, the police officer, do yours well. They know their stuff. They are truly experts in their field. And we have a new friend from Springfield to introduce to everyone!
The word “trucking” has a lot of different meanings. There’s flatbed work, aggregate hauling, LTL, heavy haul, landscaping, towing, and more. Each division of trucking has unique laws and regulations for their own trade. Ironically, each of them usually has a specialized conference for their colleagues…and at each conference there will typically be a panel of law enforcement officials on hand to learn from.
If the trucking industry believes it is beneficial to have law enforcement leaders come speak to truckers, would it not be beneficial to have leaders from the trucking industry come speak to police officers? Police officers have a unique way of seeing the world, including the trucking world. The goal this year was to give police officers a rare chance to hear first-hand from the trucking industry the challenges and struggles they face. Just as truckers do not know everything about enforcement, police officers for sure have a lot to learn about trucking.
Twice during the day, the entire group will reassemble to hear a discussion panel with the leaders from the Mid-west Truckers Association, the Illinois Trucking Association, the Illinois Landscape Contractors Association, the Illinois Farm Bureau, and a trucking defense attorney. Officers will be given a chance to ask questions of them…and it may be surprising how supportive and pro-law enforcement these groups are..
It’s $75 for the day. Lunch is included. It’s early January and it’s cold…you probably don’t need an excuse to not want to be out stopping vehicles! High quality, authoritative, boots on the ground training like this does not happen all that often. Get signed up now…it’s a month away. All are welcome.
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