Question re: Organizations

[SoCalDep]

Hi there,

For those of you who belong to NTOA, IALEFI, ILEETA, CNOA, etc., especially those of you working (or who have worked) in a training capacity, what do you think of the organizations? Are they a tangible benefit? What would you recommend as a "must join" as opposed to a "like to join".

I did some basic surfing today and was planning to join NTOA this month and then others every month or so. Money is tight right now and I want to make sure I'm putting it where it will do the most good.

Thanks in advance for your help!

[Tallship]

All of our guys belong to IALEFI. They seem to have the best all-around law enforcement program.

[mixicus]

I'm not sure if any are 'must joins'. There are few courses put on by any of the organizations that are restricted to members only (CNOA's 'making meth class' comes to mind). Many of the classes posted on the training calendars are put on by other groups and are potentially accessible in some form to all sworn.

Those classes that are 'unique' to an organization maybe able to be replaced by other organization's programs depending on your agency or region or state preference. An example, the master firearms instructor program at IALEFI. Many in my area may not even know what it is IALEFI but most would recognize NRA LEAD, CA POST, FBI or FLETC instructor credentials.

Some thing to consider is what you are looking to get out of membership. If it's access to training, look at this years offerings. Are there any that you could get to? Some of groups mentioned have a strong presence well outside of my reasonable travel bubble.

If it's membership to a professional organization for credibility, do you think it will help given your body of work? Not sure how much a narc just being a member of CNOA would help here if you stay current with training (DRE) and are active with investigations (testify as an expert, X # of sales arrests this year).

If you want to join and support a group that does good work for your area of specialty, by all means go for it. This is kind of like joining CRPA or the NRA if you are a gun owner. Take a look at both a local/state organizations as well as the nationals. Say you're a tactical guy in CA, you may get more mileage out of CTOA as opposed to NTOA. There's a training group or two in CA that gives a small discount for CTOA but not NTOA.

Just some thoughts.