The 59th Annual Training Seminar co-hosted by the Northeast Chapter and the New Jersey Vehicle Theft Investigators was outstanding. They continued the IAATI tradition of providing excellent training with instructors and speakers who are the best in their field. We were provided the opportunity to exchange information with our members from around the world, including representatives from South Africa, Europe, Australia and the UK. I believe that we are one of the few organizations where you can go to the membership area and located an investigator in just about any country. I would like to give a special thanks to Peter Perrin and to Pat Fox for all they did to make to make this seminar a success.

The Tempe Police Department, Tempe Arizona, is where I was provided the opportunity to begin my relationship with the auto theft community. I have to thank retired Tempe Chief Ralph Tranter and the current Chief Tom Ryff for supporting me throughout the years in all of my endeavors. For the past three years the support has continued through my work with Elsag North America License Plate Readers. CEO Mark Windover has been extremely supportive of my IAATI activities and also very supportive of IAATI as an organization.

Auto theft crime has been changing over the last few years but one thing remains constant, our citizens are still losing their vehicles, just in lesser numbers. Instead of just your common vehicle theft, suspects are stealing our vehicles through burglary, carjacking and fraud. Is auto theft actually declining or are we just recapping it as various other crimes. According to the 2010 FBI crime statistics, auto theft was down in the United States by 7.2%, the lowest numbers since 1967. This relates to almost eight hundred thousand stolen vehicles so there is still a lot for us to accomplish during the upcoming years.

One major way to help slow auto theft is to get our citizens involve in protecting their own vehicle. I am sure we have all heard the term that “crime prevention needs attention.” We all need to push our crime prevention specialist to support programs such as VIN etching and Watch Your Car.

Chris McDonold, our past president, actively supported legislative initiatives, training and strategic planning. These are not one year projects; they will need to continue for several years.

Lastly, our organization needs to plan towards the future financially so that we can continue to support our members and we need to have consistency in how we operate. Some of our committees will focus on these issues.

I look forward to serving the members of IAATI during this upcoming year. Please feel free to reach out to me or any of our board members as we are here to serve you. I will have the opportunity to see many of you throughout the year.

Sincerely,
Joe F. Brosius
President 2011-2012