Dear Members,

Every great organization has a mission.

Every organization also has clearly defined goals and objectives, which supports this mission.  By doing so, devoted men and women step forward to volunteer their time, skills and expertise to organizations such as CAPE to share information and achieve great accomplishments! 

First, I would like to welcome and thank each person in this year's Board of Directors for joining the new team of the CAPE Orange County Regional Chapter 2003/2004! 

Together, our hard work and commitment this year will help us get "back to basics" and start fine tuning our own respective property and evidence processes, but fine tuning the CAPE Chapter organization, as well.  At the end of the calendar year (June 2004), I believe this team will be very proud of what they will have accomplished. 

The California Association of Property & Evidence is a vital organization needed to bring together the property and evidence personnel of law enforcement and criminal justice agencies. 

CAPE helps foster better working relationships, roundtable important changes in this field, and provide an opportunity to grow and develop into our careers.

Property and Evidence personnel are critical thinkers and must make decisions daily to keep these areas accountable and operating efficiently.  This must be done with virtually no room for error, especially given today's technology requirements, liability issues, maintaining agency reputations, and, of course, preserving the chain of evidence for areas like DNA, our newest trend.

I have worked for the Cypress Police Department for 12 years and within the Property arena since 1996.  In the Property & Evidence field, there are very few members that feel they are the "expert" or "guru" of property and evidence routines.  Yet, there are certainly a great many individuals who know more than realize.  In fact, I think the consensus is that there is one "Great Guru", but I'll omit his name (for confidentiality sake).  

So, it is time now to find new experts and new gurus, because you are one of them! ...Even if it means starting from scratch, and that's what this year is all about.

I look forward to tossing out the rule book, starting from scratch, being open to new ideas an approaches and getting back to the very basics of what we do, because sometimes we need to stop, evaluate and ask ourselves, why do we do that?

I hope you look forward to asking yourself the hard questions and being able to think outside the box, too!

CAPE Orange County Regional Chapter wants to foster communication through workshops, networking, sharing expertise and building a strong center point for the Orange County region, and any other of our neighboring cities who would like to come and participate. It doesn't matter what Chapter or area your agency is in, our processes should all be the same, with virtually the same goals to achieve (dispo that property!).  We welcome you!

I believe in any organization that provides a service to our law enforcement and criminal justice personnel, because it is a viable resource and we all depend on each other to get the job done, and done right.  I believe in CAPE and the people who comprise this organization.

CAPE is a service-oriented organization.  We support the ongoing training and education of property and evidence routines, as there are very few training (if that) opportunities out there.  So, it becomes necessary for our folks to work collectively to fine tune their skills, by learning and sharing with others.

The vision is simple: Bring together representatives from all law enforcement and criminal justice agencies to participate in a monthly workshop and training opportunity to improve the quality of the work processes in property and evidence units statewide.

I hope you like the new web site, the new quest, and the new creative thinkers that are helping to keep to our mission this year.  I look forward to meeting you and seeing you often throughout the year at our monthly meetings.

CAPE Orange County Regional Chapter meetings are held every 4th Wednesday of the month.  Be sure to check out our calendar of events, and plan ahead by marking your calendars.

Until the next meeting...

Marc Contreras