Executive Director’s Message

The 2024 Summer Training Conference in Savannah was a success. We had a record-breaking 170 exhibitors and 695 attendees, which was three short of the record. The ability to provide quality training on various topic areas is made possible by our member attendees and supporting exhibitors. The legislators who visited the conference were able to learn more about GACP, the training environment, and technology available to law enforcement.

As we say goodbye to Summer, we will be moving to a “Spring / Fall” conference schedule in 2025. The Spring 2025 conference will be held on April 8-10 (Tuesday – Thursday) at the Gas South District in Duluth, and the Fall 2025 conference will be held in Savannah on September 16-18 (Monday – Wednesday) at the Savannah Convention Center / Westin. The 4th VP election and awards / board investiture luncheon banquet will occur at the Fall conference.

As President Scott Gray mentioned, we are in negotiations to purchase a building which will be renovated and turned into the new GACP Offices. The current building (approximately 6,000 square feet) was opened in 2004, when there were only three full-time employees. Parking for guests / students attending training has always been an issue. The Chief’s School attendees have been required to park at the adjacent ex-library site and, more recently, at the Duluth Post Office (which is 0.27 miles away). GACP currently has nine full-time employees. We have renovated the current building as much as we can over the years, but it has reached its limits. I hope we will have more news to share with you soon.

As a retired (aka “recovering”) police chief, I realize that law enforcement leaders are extremely busy with a multitude of responsibilities. The last thing you want in your in-box is another survey from GACP. Please take time to complete the surveys, since it is one of the ways we gather information about law enforcement issues / concerns across the state. We use the information to determine trends, get specific information that we can use to respond to / work on legislation to help law enforcement. If we don’t get a response, or only a small percentage respond, then we are left to conclude that everything is fine at your agency and the survey subject is not important.

Thank you for your continued support.