A Note from Our Hosts: My Favorite Conference

By ADMIN 0 Comments

by Allan Howard, PCI #001T
Dayton (OH) Police Department (retired)

The 2022 IPMBA Conference was far and away my favorite, and that’s saying a lot. It’s been thirty years and a few months since the first IPMBA board was elected. Since that time, we’ve had conferences all over the lower 48 states. All of them were great events; excellent training, camaraderie, and locations. However, the two conferences held in Dayton, Ohio – 2006 and 2022 – hold special meaning for me. Dayton Police Department is where I worked for 26 years and was afforded the opportunity to help public safety cycling grow. Of all the things I did on the department, bicycle patrol remains at the top of the list when it comes to personal and professional growth.

I’d like to thank all the people and agencies who helped make the 2022 conference a success. Seeing the DPD Bike Squad along with members of the University of Dayton Police Department and Five Rivers MetroParks Ranger Division working to make everything happen was awesome. I’m extremely proud of the public safety cycling culture we have here. Not because of what I did many years ago, but because of what everyone has done since then. It’s easier to be involved in something at the start than it is to keep it alive, year after year, decade after decade. The Dayton Police and surrounding agencies have done just that.

As I wandered around, I realized what I’m most thankful for: the IPMBA membership. Without our members, we would not exist. If we didn’t exist, public safety cyclists would be forced to improvise best practices. Sometimes the only thing required to prevent serious injury or death is information dissemination. Think about it; doctors have had the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) since 1883.

It was THE way that medical professionals shared and disseminated life-saving information among themselves. There’s no way to calculate how many lives have been saved or improved because of what someone learned via that medium.

In today’s world, injury and casualties in public safety are far too common. Without an organization and communication, we run the risk of making mistakes and/or suffering losses unnecessarily. If anything good came from COVID, it would have to be the ability to do more things remotely. Of course some things need to be done face-to-face and hands-on.

When IPMBA was founded, our vision was not of a once-a-year conference; it was of year-round training sessions all over the country, and hopefully, all over the world. The local and regional trainings produce more trained personnel a year than the conference does. More importantly, they enable personnel to receive training that they might not get because of money or travel limitations. Not everyone works for an agency with an unlimited budget of personnel and money.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the conferences and being together. When it comes to specialty training such as ours, there’s a dynamic that conferences provide that can’t be replicated with local/regional training. Conferences are still a necessary part of our repertoire, however, moving them to a biennial schedule could benefit the organization. If COVID did nothing else, it proved that we are strong enough to survive on local/regional training and goodwill donations. However, those that know me best know that not every idea I have is a good one. This is just something to consider for the health of our organization.

I was honored to present two IPMBA Awards for Excellence this year. Mike Wear and Rance Okada exemplify what IPMBA is all about. Without people like them, we wouldn’t be as successful as we are. My thanks to both, as well as the first recipient, my good friend Artie Gonzales. I was disappointed that we didn’t have any nominations of personnel from our EMS members. As someone whose life was saved by paramedics, I encourage each of you to think about the EMS cyclists you know and nominate someone for the 2023 award (see page 14).

It’s been more than three decades since we started and we’re in a good place. The reason for that is because we’ve routinely thought outside the box (even the nine-foot one) and said “Why not?” instead of “That’s not the way we’ve done it before”. The past is important, but not so important that we remain tied to tradition.

One last thought and I’ll sign off. I’d like to personally thank the members of the Dayton Bike Patrol and surrounding agencies that allow me to come to Police Cyclist Courses to relive my youth. You don’t know how rewarding it is to see you teach a craft I hold dear.

Until I see you again, ride and be safe.

- Allan