Many thanks to Immediate Past President, Cheryl Elliott, ICPS, for planning and hosting the 2006 ISCPP Symposium in Atlanta, GA (USA) November 1-4. What a good conference!

The Symposium began on Monday with a pre-Symposium ICPS Training and Testing for 28 Crime Prevention Specialists. The 2 and 1/2 day training concluded with the ICPS Test on Wednesday. Wednesday night began the actual Symposium that continued until Saturday morning.

Cheryl added a new component this year that was an excellent addition to the conference offerings. She arranged for a 40-hour Basic C.P.T.E.D. (Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design) class that was attended by 25 students.

Many hearty and sincere thanks to Constable Tom McKay (Peel Ontario Regional Police in Canada) for providing us with top notch instruction and hands-on training for the C.P.T.E.D. course. That class ran during the same time that the ICPS training and Symposium were held.

The Symposium was attended by Crime Prevention professionals from the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. The break out sessions were remarkable.

Keynote Speaker Dr. Deborah Prothrow-Smith, a Boston, MA (USA) physician, was fantastic. Her comments about violent trends developing in young girls were based upon her experiences as an emergency room physician.

There were topics and speakers for everyone’s interests. Subjects included:

• Gangs in Schools—Identify and Contain;

• It’s Not Ethics, It is Character;
• Child Sexual Abuse Prevention & Recognizing and Investigating Abusive Injuries;

• Internet Safety;

• Hate Groups and Solicitation of Youth;

• White Collar Crime and Identity Theft;

• Residential Safety and

• Anti-Piracy Training.

Networking opportunities were plenty, with business cards and contact information distributed freely. That’s one of the biggest benefits of attending a Symposium; you go home with Best Practices information on many different crime prevention topics and a way to contact speakers and other attendees for additional information, anytime.

Thank you to Lt. Cheryl Elliott and the Emory Police Department for a first-rate conference and lots of good ole Southern hospitality!

See the previous Symposium reports: