Greetings:

As you know, the National Association of Women Law Enforcement Executives (NAWLEE) has recently completed our annual conference in Kansas City, and I would like to say THANK YOU for your support and attendance. Congratulations to the  new 2009-2010 NAWLEE Executive Board: Chief Kathy Perez1^st President, LT Dawn Layman as Second Vice President, Captain Karen Soley as Secretary, F/Lt Penny Fischer as Treasurer, Chief Patty Patterson, as Immediate Past President, and Tamara Kowalski, as Associate Member at Large.

Let us all take a moment to welcome our new members. We have a lot of new faces in NAWLEE, new people on the committees and I urge you to check those lists and see if you can help those who have volunteered to serve on committees or act as chairs.

As the new 2009-2010 NAWLEE President, I hope to impart some valuable insight into what NAWLEE is planning and hoping to accomplish throughout the year and beyond. An area focus for NAWLEE is the use of TECHNOLOGY within the organization and within our individual departments as trends change our work environments and relationships For example:

• Reduce the use “snail mail” and end the use of voicemail – voicemail is becoming obsolete.

• Ninety-one percent of people under 30 respond to a text message within an hour. Text is the future voice mail.

• It may take ten seconds to leave a voicemail but it is even faster to leave a message on TWITTER. NAWLEE will be listed on Twitter soon.

• NAWLEE will have a place on Facebook soon. If you are interested in working on this project, please contact Lt Kristen Ziman at kristenziman@mac.com.

We all experiencing this tumultuous, yet fascinating time, where most conversations are about politics and how the economy influences our families and present challenges within our law enforcement departments. It is times like these, that I believe inspire the greatest teamwork and NAWLEE is now more important than ever to our members. We need to help each other grapple with the shift in the cycle. As President, my focus is to promote ADVOCACY among NAWLEE members:

• extending our leadership

• voicing advocacy for women in law enforcement

• recruiting new members

• implement the use of new technologies that support advocacy

I remember a quote “let’s not let good, or great, get in the way of becoming better”. I hope to see you, and more members who are new at conferences, on Twitter, on Facebook, through email (srockett201@hotmail.com) and texting. Reach out to NAWLEE members you know and rely on and to new NAWLEE members who may be seeking help, or very capable of giving you a new source of support.

And continue to “rock the system”!!
 

Susan Rockett
NAWLEE
President