Page 14 - July 2020 Board Meeting Agenda_Neat

International Association of Auto Theft Investigators
Auto Theft Prevention Authorities Committee

ATPAs should have synchronized regional and national messaging; Michelle Lanham is tasked
with this project right now.
Is CISION the right tool? Many ATPAs already have a similar program in place and don’t see the
value. The committee had many questions. The discussion was tabled Robert Force suggested
we create a smaller group, Public Awareness Message Work Group, and asked for volunteers,
Amanda O’Halloran (AZ), and Amanda Owens (PA) volunteered. Pam Hackbarth (CO) will plan a
meeting. Suggesting to discuss campaigns and or coming up with a national message/campaign.
Amanda Owens came in the meeting, Reg brought her up to speed.

Bryan Wilson commented that he sends out several press releases annually to the media, but
would like to get ignition kill switches, trailer lock, and clubs for a social media engagement
program

Steven Wheeler reported that Amanda Owens is the brains behind their Great Gasoline
Giveaway, where they give away a $100 gas card all summer long for engagement with social
media then an annual prize of gasoline for a year. Gas always attracts people and this program
has been really successful.

He went on to say that the CISION subscription presented is the most basic option. Ms. Owens
joined the call at 11:45 and talked about the two main reasons to use the CISION platform, one
is for media monitoring; picking a topic, and monitoring the issue; ie ALPR monitoring and
privacy issues. The second is the dissemination of press releases. The issue here with IAATI is
what is being distributed, if it is messaging then that is totally different and not what CISION
equipped for, CISION is a pipeline. If you have local media contact, they will trump the media
list every day. Sounds like everyone is in the same situation, messages and campaigns and how
does the information get dissimilated. The goal for IAATI should be sparking collaboration.
Robert interjected to close the topic by asking participants to send the names of any PIE people
to him for the working group that will meet and report back at the next meeting.

Announcement
Holly Merz from the Iowa Attorney General’s Office reported there is a new ATPA Workgroup
for AG Offices, Meeting is June 3 .
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NICTA On-Line Training
Todd Wolf from the IAATI Education/Training/Certification Committee reported they are
proceeding with the Certification Program utilizing the NICTA Education Dashboard. The
National Insurance Crime Training Academy (NICTA) is a web-based training portal, hosted by
NICB, which offers training in vehicle crimes. The IAATI Board recently adopted the use of
NICTA to provide training curriculum and certification. They are currently working in the final
stages to launch the National Standard Certification for auto theft investigators that will launch
on the NICTA platform and will be available to all ATPAs. Designates IAATI as the clearinghouse

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