IAPSC eNewsletter - October 2011

In today's risk averse business world, computers and algorithms simply cannot always predict the worst (like 9/11, Japan earthquake, etc.) from happening, especially in situations or circumstances where humans are involved. That is why I've chosen this Newsletter opportunity to take the collapse of the 2011 Boston Red Sox to herald IAPSC's recent accomplishments and growing respect across the industry. As a fan, this rankles me too, but I cannot move on without taking a valuable lesson from this historic fall.

The Red Sox team is principally owned by John Henry, a Hedge Fund manager with gobs and gobs of money. Mr. Henry appears to prefer an emphasis for his team on the Moneyball or statistical aspect of the game vs the human side which was espoused and referenced by the outgoing manager, Terry Francona, at yesterday's press conference as the real blame for the team's demise.Despite the herculean, individual statistics of its individual team members, the Sox fell from first to third place during the month of September.Francona blamed the Sox' fall on certain players' focus on the individual stats versus an emphasis upon "team" success. Like the Perfect Strom in October of 1991, the 2011 Red Sox collapsed due a confluence of events completely apart from any statistical model or predictive algorithm. Together, they failed to get the job done.

Unlike the Red Sox, the IAPSC has experienced unprecedented success this past year, due in large part to the unselfish contributions of its members toward goals and objectives intended to strengthen and grow the organization. Our September was great, unlike the Red Sox. The reasons why we had such a good month are telling.

Our accomplishments, especially in the past two weeks in Orlando, are significant. We started out presenting our SSC, or Successful Security Consulting course, to over 30 attendees -- a record. And our reconfiguration to a one-day course proved a better draw and resulted in more revenue coming into the organization than our previous two-day course generated. Our IAPSC booth attracted record attendance and we are expecting to come out of Orlando over the next three to five weeks with an additional group of new members added to this year's already record membership performance as of last July.

Overall, our individual and team effort has successfully resulted in getting IAPSC's name out there and recruiting some new members. We don't rely on pure statistics like the Red Sox and Mr. Henry, rather we are building upon our individual members' combined efforts to strengthen and grow the organization. And unlike Mr. Henry, we are building an organization to last, not to sell for personal gain sometime in the future.

Richard P. Grassie, CPP

Member Happenings

William Wright, CPP, CSC, CHS-III and Jerry Forstater, PE, CSI, CBIE
Professional Systems Engineering, LLC

Download their recent Press Release

Kenneth Trump, M.P.A.
National School Safety and Security Services

Spoke on school board meeting & administration center security at National School Boards Association annual convention (April 2011)
Published his third book, Proactive School Security and Emergency Preparedness Planning (Corwin Press, May 2011)
Testified before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights on the role of the federal government in school bullying (May 13, 2011)
Featured in two Ft. Wayne, Indiana, newspapers following his August workshops for school administrators, board members, & parents
Quoted in articles by the Associated Press, District Administration Magazine, and Education Week Magazine & other local news outlets
Presented a series of state-wide regional workshops for educators & first responders on school security & emergency preparedness for the Indiana Department of Education (Sept. 2011)