EP 038 Sandi Davies IFPO CEO and Lifetime Achievement Award Winner (OSPA's) 2023

Sandi J. Davies

Sandi began her career in contract security in 1980 with a primary focus on personnel administration.  She became deeply involved in training and was instrumental in developing Security Officer training programs for a major national guard company.  Her interest in security training grew and in 1988 she joined the newly formed International Foundation for Protection Officers (IFPO), as a program administrative assistant.  In 1991 she was elected executive director of the International Foundation for Protection Officers and has been a driving force in Foundation program development and administration.  This includes the Certified Protection Officer (CPO) and Certified in Security Supervision and Management (CSSM) programs just to mention a few. To date over 160,000 individuals have become certified.

Since Sandi’s appointment to executive director of the IFPO it continues to expand and be seen by the security community as a leading association for security officers, supervisor and managers.  Proudly this is the ‘one and only’ of its kind.  Many hours have been identified for curriculum development which Sandi oversees and directs for current trends and requirements.

In 2020 by way of Sandi’s direction an IFPO RESEARCH project was launched.  $75,000.00 was raised to conduct this research through Perpetuity Research which commenced in early 2021.  This research project has been long overdue as the last much less involved research was conducted in 1988.  The basis of this research includes understanding the complexities of security officers in the 21 century.  The main reason for IFPO’s interest in this research is that well thought out documented proof is obtained so that the results can better provide the IFPO with the necessary tools to develop even more relevant security educational opportunities.  As a result of this the IFPO created and had published by the USA Department of Labor the Security Officer and Patrol Services Competency Model.

2022 Sandi became the Chief Executive Officer of the IFPO.

Sandi became a member of the ASIS International in 1985 and has served in executive positions at the chapter level. Additionally, she served as chairperson for the Security Services Council.  

Sandi's voluntary board involvement includes the following:

• Member of the Technical Advisory Board for the Canadian General Standards Board on Security Officer Training Standards.

• Member of the Advisory Board for the Northwest Territories Security Officer Certification Committee.

• Member of the Board of the International Foundation for Cultural Property Protection. 

• Chairperson, for the Asset Protection Advisory Board for Mount Royal College in Calgary, Alberta Canada.  

• Committee Member of the Institute for Professional Certification and Accreditation (IPCA). 

• Committee Member for the ASIS International Private Security Officer Selection and Training Guideline.

• Served on the ASIS Internationals Private Security Officer Standard and Guidelines committee.

Ms. Davies has had numerous articles published in security publications such as Security Management, and Security Magazine relating to certifications and training of security personnel. In the early 90’s Ms.  Davies in a cooperative effort with the IFPO Founding Director; Ronald R. Minion co-edited the Protection Officer Training Manual published by Butterworth-Heinemann.  That text is now in its 9thEdition and drafts are already being prepared for the 10th Edition. In 1994 she contributed a chapter relating to Crime Prevention in Canada in a Butterworth-Heinemann text entitled “Han

Security Circle ⭕️ is an IFPOD production for IFPO the International Foundation of Protection Officers

Transcript

0:11

Last week. While I was in GSX. The, American hospice were held the, outstanding security performance awards. And Sandy Davis, who is our guest for this week's podcast. She's also the CEO for F PO. she was up for an award nomination. She was up for the lifetime achievement award. Wow. And we were all quite excited really, and it was so nice to be stateside and then see this, announcement. And most importantly, to see Sandy named as the recipient for the lifetime achievement award. And we're also very proud of her. So to Sandy from all of us at F PO. Congratulations on being the lifetime achievement award winner. You are an outstanding woman insecurity and this award is certainly incredibly well received. We're all behind you. So a while ago, I caught up with Sandy Davis to find out what it was like being the CEO of F PO. what it was like to be, an editor of a book. And to find out all about these new projects that she's got coming up for F PO. I've always been a huge advocate for membership. And if you're not in a membership body, find a membership body. Join as many as you can afford to, because my whole life changed as soon as I became a member of just one association. Now, all I want to do. Is pay it forward. So this, this chat with Sandy, although it was a few weeks ago. It gives you an idea about how this remarkable woman did actually win the lifetime achievement award. I hope you enjoy it

Yoyo: 2:15

Hi, this is Yolanda. Welcome. Welcome to the Security Circle Podcast. Now, if poe is the International Foundation for Protection Officers, and we wanna thank all of our listeners around the world. Thank you for listening. Wherever you are or whatever you're doing. We are dedicated at ifpo to providing meaningful education and certification for all levels of security personnel and make a positive difference to our members mental health and wellbeing. And who better to discuss if PO's objectives than with the chief Executive Officer at International Foundation for Protection Officers if PO. Our very own Sandy Davis. How are you, Sandy?

Sandi: 2:55

I'm doing real well, yoyo. Thanks for the opportunity to be a part of this today. Hey, Liz. It's

Yoyo: 3:00

been a while, hasn't it? I mean, we've known each other a little while, but actually it's interesting how you can work with people for a really long time and then not feel like you really know them. So this is a really good opportunity for all of our members around the world to understand you a little bit better. And I always ask everybody, you know, in this, series of podcasts, it's the best in class series. I always ask everybody because nine 11 was so pivotal for our generation and it was super pivotal for the security industry. Let's go back to nine 11, and how did that shape Ifpo? Well, that's

Sandi: 3:34

an interesting question, yoyo, and I have to say that sadly nine 11 impacted Ifpo significantly. And I say sadly because it was such a horrific event. However, having said that, our phones really started to ring like that afternoon, the next day. We were bombarded with calls and I have to I have to con contribute that to people just needing to. Look at a preventative mindset versus a reactive MI mindset. All of a sudden it was like, what do we need to do to prepare our facility? What do we need to prepare our employees for another attack? There was a sense of panic and That really turned the corner for the I F P O because not only, you know, did that event in itself cause a reaction? It was, it just put people in a different mindset. So I have to say prior to nine 11, there was not near as a much, near as much awareness to the requirement or the necessity or the need to training people to Of course respond, but be able to have a mindset sense to prevent tragedy and loss of life. So,

Yoyo: 4:51

we saw companies, didn't we lose everything because this was pre having backups in different locations, and this was the very thing that happened that set the model for business continuity planning. In a way that had never been done before, but when we saw whole businesses lose everything, lose all of their ip, lose all of their computers, lose all of their staff,, that was something that no one had ever really seen before. Do you remember the types of calls you were getting and specifically what people were

Sandi: 5:22

asking you for? Well, the majority of the calls that we received, of course, because of the nature of our business was training related. Like how can we train our officers to better identify threats to our facility? How can we train our officers in a crisis situation to be able to deal with the situation at hand? How can they liaison with the other emergency components brought to the situation? I wouldn't say that was the bulk of our calls, but in addition to that, we also had. A number of calls on how security officers can deal with these type of crises on a mental capacity. How can they better prepare themselves and feel confident in their roles to be able to address these needs in a emergency situation? And if you look

Yoyo: 6:17

at it now, training officers to better identify threats for their businesses and training for crisis situations, it's not unlike the very real and present need for today.

Sandi: 6:30

That's right. I mean, I think that is probably the scope or the goal of most organizations now and. As a result of many other things other than just a terroristic act. You know, whether it be a just a workplace violence or whatever, to be able to train their officers to identify, to be able to react and respond and liaison with the other authorities that are taking part of the the scenario. So

Yoyo: 7:00

if someone says, if po what do, if PO do, then how would you answer that question?

Sandi: 7:04

What does, if po do? I get that question all the time because when people say, what do you do? And I say, I'm the CEO of ipo. And they're like, what's Ifpo? And I saw often wish I had an another job, like I was, a sales clerk or you don't, or a, you know, teacher because it would just be so much easier to explain because most people, when I say. Talk about security. They think securities, they think I'm in the finance industry. Well wrong. I am my worst, my biggest weakness is my math. So I'm not in the securities industry. I am in the security industry. And the, if o is basically designed or was created to provide educational opportunities to security officers, I. Personally had a goal at a very young age to change the thought or the impression of security officers. I mean, I grew up. In the early eighties, seeing security officers treated poorly. They were overweight, undereducated, usually poorly dressed underneath a bridge, drinking a bottle of whatever in a brown bag, or they were sleeping. And I just thought, you know, these are people that are entrusted with protecting people, property and assets. My goodness sakes. We need to change this. This is horrific. These are our first responders, you know, and a colleague of mine one time. Made a quote that I just I live by that security officers are the forgotten soldiers of an invisible empire. And so the I F P O, what we are is I like to think of us as being the global leader of providing educational opportunities for security officers for the purpose of career advance. Enhancement and to provide a better rumen remuneration so that they can have a better quality of life. These are important people in our society, and I am a big advocate to protect them and to bring to them the tools that are necessary for them to succeed. So that's what if PO is.

Yoyo: 9:15

And it's interesting actually, that you say adding up is your weakness because you're a c e, and I'm gonna come onto that in a second, but this is, anyone who knows me knows that I'm like Joey from friends when it comes to adding anything

Sandi: 9:27

up.

Yoyo: 9:28

Like I still use my fingers like

Sandi: 9:32

right.

Yoyo: 9:33

And it's, you know, I genuinely think it's not because I can't add up, I think I don't have confidence that I can add up. I think I'm always questioning my ability to add up, but it's really super cool, Sammy to know that you can reach the position of a CEO and mass being a weakness, loving it.

Sandi: 9:49

Right, right. Yeah. My accounting department, they always get fearful when I grab a calculator. They're like, no, put that down. Put the calculator down.

Yoyo: 9:58

Step away from the calculator sounding. Yeah. Back up. Back up. But I love that phrase you said, the forgotten soldiers of an invisible empire.

Sandi: 10:07

Oh, Chris, eg. That's really stunning. Do we know the article? I have to give credit to Chris, EG. Who many people are familiar with, who has been directly involved with the foundation for a number of years. But when he said that, I have to say it was like that moment where the whistles and the bells and everything happened because that is in fact exactly what they are, and I'm passionate about that. That was A big that's so important and I think that people, if they can grasp that and better understand it, then we will have a better work environment for our security officers.

Yoyo: 10:41

And I look back to the, I look back, sorry, to the time that I was, I left the police and I went and became a security officer for a few months, and, you know, went very quickly into management. But when I was a security officer, it was incredibly eye-opening to understand the mindsets of the people that I was working with. And I remember there was this incident where we had a report of two rival gangs meeting in the shopping mall, and there was a report of knives being present. And my colleague who was quite inexperienced, started running and I said, you never run to a knife incident. You never run to a knife incident. You just don't. You paid seven pound an hour. Right. Our job is not to get involved with a knife incident. It's very different here in the uk cause I appreciate in America it's very different as well in other countries around the world. But at that time, back in 2009, You know when you are, when the hourly wage was seven pound, I think it was seven pound three or seven pound nine an hour. You know, you're not paid enough to put your life in danger. You're paid to try and protect other people and, you know, to preserve the peace and all that sort of thing. But, and there was some huge lessons to learn. Like we had a year where we had so much snow. And part of our job was making sure that we kept the snow clear of the walking ways. So, and we supported the groundsmen to make sure that it was safe for people to walk on security officer's role, especially for very, where there's a lot of footfall. Public areas can be so broad. It's more, isn't it, than just having security skills. It's about having communication skills, thinking outside the box, leaning into new things, and just thinking about the whole thing. Can you think of anything to add to that?

Sandi: 12:25

Well, that's interesting because the I F P O was just involved in a major research program to identify what the job complexities are of security officers in the 21st century. And interestingly enough, as a result of that research which was by the way, the first of its kind there was a research done in 1988, I believe, by the Hall Crest report. Which is severely outdated. But one of the findings was that one of the biggest roles of security officers is customer service. You know? And I know that too, well have worn the uniform myself. Over the years early in my career that more often I was asked where the washroom was more than, you know, you know, where's the fire exit? So, I think that. Like you say, the. The roles and responsibilities of security officers since nine 11, I go back to that have changed significantly. The perception of security officers has changed more so in the last five years, and there's a lot of reasons. Why that is and why their responsibilities have become more vast. And that is as a result of law enforcement reel back on some of the tasks that they do. And Their availability to respond to calls by facilities public facilities, but be it corporations, shopping malls, schools, or what have you. The security officers are in fact the first responders to a crisis, but also they serve as an ambassador for that company, that corporation, their presence, their projection of themselves and their company. Are often the first impression that people receive when encountering a security officer. So in addition to I get your point too, Yolanda, about, you know, at pain at what officers are made. Yes. In the majority of situations racing off to a knife. Fife isn't something that they should or be required to do, but they can have crisis intervention skills. They can have verbal judo skills. That's part of what the I F P O does is we provide them with the tools that can help them with their tasks and their duties. We don't get involved in any sort of weapon train, weapons training, or any sort of martial arts or anything like that. Ours is more focused on the other tools to divert a situation. Perhaps to remedy a situation in a less violent nature. But of course, that's not always gonna be the case if if there's a perpetrator that has a weapon of that can cause mass destruction or what otherwise. Yeah.

Yoyo: 15:16

Customer service is really important. I've been in a situation, certainly in London where on one side I had a security officer say to me in a very cross manner that he objected to being asked to pick up rubbish off the floor in the re in the reception area that he was working in, and. And I just remember thinking, what, so you don't wanna pick, so you're in this beautiful, gorgeous canary wall reception area, but you are objecting to picking up a piece of paper off the floor if someone drops it. He says, yeah, that's not my job. I'm a security officer. And then on the flip side, we had this amazing security officer who was working the London Underground, and he's the walk in and off the tube, say hello to everybody. How you doing? Yes ma'am. No sir. All this, he had a beautiful mannerism and he was winning a award after award. And everyone wanted to poke him. And it's strange cause I don't remember his name now, but I just remember the way he was. And you know, he'd pick up all the newspapers and he'd put them in the bin and he knew all the guys on the platforms. And there's definitely two very different approaches to

Sandi: 16:16

job commitment,

Yoyo: 16:17

isn't there?

Sandi: 16:19

It, that's an interesting story. And you know, the term that comes to mind is community policing. Community policing has proven through a number of statistics that it works. And I believe that community service in either capacity as a security officer or a law enforcement pays off dividends. I mean, I think that I. Security officers that. Work with their environment, with the people in that environment are going to have better results of being respected, being listened to versus having an attitude where they're not respected. And that has been the big focus of the I F P O is to change the perception. We encourage security officers, I mean, I'm the c e O of I F P O. I'm vacuuming the offices, I'm taking out the garbage. I do what is ever necessary. I mean, absolutely. I was the one there after Ian to clean up all of the flooding. You do what you have to do to to set the stage, to be able to continue with the duties that you're expected to maintain. And sometimes, like you say, a piece of paper being dropped on the floor. That could be that's maybe not the best example, but if there is a drink spilled on the floor, well, of course the security officers should deal with that because that could be a potential slip and fall situation. So, I mean, they gotta look beyond, this is beyond my this is, I, this is not, I'm not expected to do this. You know,

Yoyo: 17:53

You had some big flooding, didn't you? Recently with what, which storm was it? I forgot the name. Storm. It was Hurricane

Sandi: 17:58

Ian.

Yoyo: 17:59

Yeah. And it, and how much flooding damage did we receive in the Ifpo hq?

Sandi: 18:05

We were at about four feet of water throughout our whole offices, so we did have to vacate our offices. It was bad, but I have to say that over the 34 years of ifpo. We've had flood, fire and wind damage, so we're resilient. We bounced back. We did have the ability to work remotely and that was brought about obviously from Covid, so we didn't miss a beat. We are back in our offices in full force. I think the biggest inconvenience or the disturbance that we had at our offices is we all just missed each other. We have a fantastic team and we just it felt good to get back into the offices and do it. We needed to do, So

Yoyo: 18:44

here's a funny story, and you might not have heard this. Did you hear the story about the security officer working in a supermarket? This customer was carrying heavy bags when suddenly she says she got stopped by a security guard who started to point at her navel. He said, I had a good vacation here, right here. I was confused as he kept circling his finger close to my belly button area. My wife and I moved from here to here. Still confused. I looked down and realized I was wearing a t-shirt with a detailed map of the city of

Sandi: 19:20

Cancun. Okay. That is funny. That is very funny. Yeah.

Yoyo: 19:27

True story. And I think, look, these, there are some amazing stories in fact here in the uk. We recently attended the pacesetter Awards and there were several, I think 10 security officers awarded for bravery. And obviously I'm going to be hunting them each down like a euth on social media because I wanna capture their stories on a podcast. Right? And it was just and we were at the back of the room, so couldn't hear everything that was going on. And I just heard this one security officer, when somebody was injured and laying in the road, he laid down next to them to reassure them that they weren't gonna be left alone and that he was gonna stay there until I know, right? I know. And I think I've gotta get this guy's story. I have to get this guy's story. There's some amazing unsung heroes out there, aren't there?

Sandi: 20:25

There certainly is, and that is an incredible story. And there should be more recognition for heroism or acts of bravery or acts of just good service. I think that the aspas. Does a very nice job on recognizing security officers and we also have a award with if o but I think that there certainly can be more efforts to recognize officer's efforts and we know, we've heard the stories and I've served as a judge for the security officer of the year for the os and various things come in from time to time. And, you know, I have to say it's funny with some of the awards. They submit their nomination and it's like, okay, what you are saying that you needed to be awarded for is you're simply doing your job. That's not worth an award, but because you were there to help deliver a baby, we've, I've seen that, you know, or you stopped potentially fatal, bleed out on a person that was struck by a projectile. You know, those are acts of heroism and we hear it all the time and we encourage that sort of testimonial. And what the IPO is going to be looking at doing moving forward into. Q3 and Q4 of 2023 is having a interactive forum where people can share their stories which I'm really excited about. So I'm encouraged to have you track down those 10 officers and once you do please if they're willing to share their names with me, because I would love to be able to offer them an opportunity because that's quite amazing.

Yoyo: 22:03

Yeah, well absolutely. Let's work together on that one. And I think it's a really phenomenal idea because I think it gives security officers a platform to, to be listened to. And I think that's really important, especially those that work very an antisocial hours. They have very antisocial shift patterns and you know, they're quite often alone and maybe even working in a night shift pattern very often, which is, you know, very disruptive to the circadian rhythm as we know. And. And we know that people who have disruptive circadian rhythms can also have a very disruptive mental health resiliency. If PO is very passionate though about talking about mental health, isn't it? And I know that with Mike Hurst, we coined the phrase, you know, hashtag Security Minds matter. And we often use that. And our initial discussions were definitely along the lines of, you know, yes there's a mental health awareness day, but it's a 365 days a year issue. It's not just a one day a year. What's important to Ifpo around mental health, Sandy,

Sandi: 23:03

Well, it's significant because as you said, there are several various circumstances that put officers in lonely positions where they're looking after a vast facility from. 6:00 PM till 6:00 AM There's little interaction, there's little recognition. They're alone. They're let's say they may be subject to some sort of infiltration because of competitors. There's a whole vast dynamic of why they're there to begin with, but what they're dealing with and how after a 12 hour shift, your mind could start. Playing tricks on you. And that, that's a we take that very seriously and we try to again, equip our officers, our students and graduates to better deal with those. But I'm very impressed with what the IPO uk entity is doing in terms of security lives matters and how. So, you're promoting the mental health, and I believe just recently, correct me if I'm wrong, that Mike Hurst is distributing cards to security personnel to, with a number they can call. Correct me if I'm wrong, Yolanda. Yeah, they're special

Yoyo: 24:13

mental health cards. The mental health cards are there to really just raise the awareness of where they can get direct support and where they can reach out for help. And it's really nice because it's something that some of our affiliates. Some of our security providers here in the uk jumping on board as well, and they're having them branded with their own company logos. So that's, it's again, it's just about, you know, not just talking about mental health, it's about breathing it, living it, walking it it's about doing something, taking action. There's quite a lot of criticism. I think about great ideas, never really maturing into anything, and I think there's a huge responsibility to do something rather than just talk about it.

Sandi: 24:53

I think this is really important, is. What we also do in addition to offering educational opportunities to security officers is we try to bring awareness to everybody within corporations to say, to recognize that certifying and educating their officers brings a lot to the table in terms of their own security and safety, but, With that effort, it deem it gleams more respect to the security officer because I think that the lack of respect shown to security officers, sadly, by a vast majority of people, also contributes to mental illness. I mean, if you go to the job every day and people are looking down at you and you know, mistreating you. That's not gonna do positive things for anybody's you know, mental health. So we also encourage graduates to share, to allow us to share their successes with their counterparts, with their, like we encourage them to put their graduation pictures in their corporate newsletters to show that these are not just, these are just not peons. These are. People who are, this is a vocation, this is where they are taking their education seriously and they should be treated with that respect. They should be treated and awarded accordingly. In fact, cause I think that's a big contributor. People, you know, when I see or hear people talk about mall cop. Oh, it

Yoyo: 26:22

makes me quim Paul. It is a good movie though. It is such a cool movie. Yes, it's But you're talking about a guy who's like massively committed to his

Sandi: 26:32

objectives. That's right. But I mean, I gotta say like, growing up in the. Industry in the eighties and the nineties. I mean, even relating to being a security officer. And like I said, I wore the uniform. I got a total feel for it. I mean, I worked for a con contract agency and administration and personnel, and if we couldn't fill a posting, Sandy was brought to the table. And I remember feeling, gosh, you know, people would just like not even look at you. They would just like, treat you like, you know, like they'd hand you your, their empty coffee cups and say, could you get rid of this? but you know,

Yoyo: 27:09

this needs is a very good segue actually because in my one of my hobbies is growing plants and quite often I'll put them on a local business forum like a local neighborhood forum. And I've met this retired gentleman because he likes to buy, My plants. And when he said to me he's obviously very curious. I grow beautiful plants and he's he wanted to ask me what I did. I just said, oh, I work in security. And he's like, ah, now I know it's you. Then I can unlock the door. And I went, no.

Sandi: 27:36

Lock the door. Still. You're full.

Yoyo: 27:42

The point is that when you work in security, You've got this beautiful caveat of automatically people thinking, oh, okay, great. Good job. Credible, you know, job with purpose, a job with, you can say with pride, but then on the flip side, like you said, you've got people that look through you and past you and down on you. I've worn the uniform several times, and it's interesting because it literally does swing both ways, but in all of those beautiful, luxurious reception areas in secondary wharf, if the security didn't turn up one day, People would be nervous. And it isn't because, you know, they would feel for their immediate safety. It's because it upsets the status quo that they've become very accustomed to, and they've almost kind of forgotten the importance and value of it. And also the clients the footfall within a business usually develops very good relationships with the security officers on duty. They usually know them by name. Right. And I had a client once and when I turned up to site, This is round about 2015, and the client who's called Andy, said to me you know, clicking his fingers, oh, the guy the black guy in the gatehouse. And I just kind of went, Andy, I. His name's Samuel. I said, you really need to know his name. You can't, you know? And it was my mission to make sure that through my coercion and persuasion and charm, that I encourage the client to think of these men and girls on the, on their frontline, protecting their assets to at least know their names and little things like that. You can make a bit of a difference.

Sandi: 29:21

Absolutely. I think that I've seen a pretty significant trend just from hearing from our graduates and our corporate sponsors, where they are recognizing officers and they are differently, and the perception has changed significantly. Again, going back to the eighties, nineties. Where security officers were in the industry, only because the pizza place wasn't hiring. You know, they just took the job because they, there wasn't many other opportunities so, People are coming into the industry now differently for a number of reasons. People are coming into the industry because they see a career path. They are no longer interested in law enforcement with the defunding of law enforcement and the

Yoyo: 30:07

Erosion of trust.

Sandi: 30:09

Right, exactly. I didn't know how to really word that eloquently enough, but you did. Thank you. That we're seeing people come in educated with degrees. Not that degrees are the if and all of everything. But professional certifications there, people are coming in with engineering degrees, with criminology degrees, criminal justice degrees. There was a perception years ago that. People had second careers. They'd come out of military, they'd come out of law enforcement, and it was just a second career. The whole industry has changed so significantly that the perception is changing organically, if I might say. Though that is my, that's, you know, if there was a banner I could walk around in every building. I, you know, respect your security officers. I would and educate your security officers. I would because it makes sense. It's like the same thing is when you hear people say, well, if you ha if there's somebody, if you have an intruder who you're gonna call, obviously you're gonna call a police. Right. Whether they're going to go to the wrong house or otherwise, that's who you're gonna call Ghost or Ghostbusters. Right, exactly. But the same thing goes like if there's a fire in the coffee room on the third floor of an office tower, who are you gonna call? Yeah. I mean, I mean, yes, there's gonna be a certain amount of Time elapsed if you call the law enforcement. But if you have a security officer, a well-trained, and you know that officer's trained and has a skillset to take care of these things, I mean, that's what you're gonna call. And I mean, those are the people that you gotta respect and you've gotta know their names. Yeah. Yeah.

Yoyo: 31:43

100%. So what is it, do you think that's made Ifpo fluid enough to sustain over all of these

Sandi: 31:50

decades? Oh my goodness. I asked that myself so, so often, and I also, that's a very good question because I also asked the same question as why don't we have any competition? Why isn't somebody else create it? Recreated the wheel. Reinvented the wheel. And I've actually encouraged that because I thought with competition that gives me an edge that I can beat them if they, you know, I'm just so competitive that's what would happen. But anyways, to go back to your question what is sustained is because, We're flexible. We understand that what officers do in the UK are. In Nigeria or in New Delhi or Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, all of those skills and their expectations are different. We're flexible in that we'll deliver will develop and deliver curriculum that is going to be meaningful to that sector, to that demographic. Which is important. I think that sometimes Organizations or accrediting bodies get so rigid in their requirements that they they don't really meet the needs of that roles and responsibilities of officers in that demographic. The other thing is we stay current. I mean, It's really important that, I mean, a lot of corporate security departments have a security related program and they de deliver it, but that's not their core competency. Our core competency is to develop meaningful, relevant, current content or curriculum so that it meets the changing needs of security officers. We can't get stale. We're always progressively moving forward in, You're frozened too. Can you hear

Yoyo: 33:37

me now?

Sandi: 33:37

About that. I can see you now.

Yoyo: 33:39

Cool. I'm gonna send you a screenshot of where your face froze.

Sandi: 33:44

Oh. Please do what sounds like I'm thinking. Seriously, there's gonna

Yoyo: 33:51

come a day where you're just gonna have a day from hell. Anything. I'm just gonna look at that screenshot that Yoyo sent

Sandi: 33:55

me. Yeah, just put it on LinkedIn for me. Okay.

Yoyo: 33:59

Yeah.

Sandi: 33:59

We should get next time. Screenshot freezes. I'm gonna take one of you girlfriend. I know. Long as I didn't have my fingers near my nose.

Yoyo: 34:10

Let's talk about IPO's Plan. Ifpo eu, this is new hot off the press.

Sandi: 34:17

So, yes. Jack Volk, who was the director of security for D H L going back many years ago, and I know that a lot of the people in the industry that have been in the industry for a while recognize that name. He was involved in basically launching the if O eu and he did a magnificent job. And over the years we've. Sustained a relationship. We have sort of given them full reign to do what was ever necessary to capture an audience. And they did do exactly what their intent was and they but I believe that their they were limited as to what they could do. So I think we had, we collectively decided we needed to step in. We had to bring in the big guns, for lack of a better word. We had to And we've been working with them to suggest without hard feelings that we appreciate what you've done, but it's time that we join forces. Again, we need to revitalize it. We need to set a fire, you know, we need to set a match and get this on fire. Cuz global expansion in the last three years has been pivotal in our operation and our focus And the EU is so vast that there's plenty of opportunity. So we're looking to revamp that to Align with perhaps some universities and colleges. We'd like to get some more advisory board members to tap into what their needs are. And we may not deliver exactly to the u to the EU that we deliver to the UK or to Costa Rica or China. But we're going to better examine what. They're looking for and cater to exactly that. So we're excited about it. I mean, I love trudging into new territory. I think that it's

Yoyo: 36:10

Look that's, it's great and there's gonna be an awful lot more other new things, certainly for Ifpo UK that Mike's team have been conjuring up in the background. So lots more new Ifpo announcements. I've got one of these other little anecdotes this person wrote while roaming around the supermarket. I saw a camera and stuck out my tongue thinking no one would notice it. After a while, a security officer came up to me and asked in a very strict voice, was that you who stuck your tongue out at the camera? I answered, yes. He said, they asked me to pass this on to you, and he stuck out his tongue and laughed. It's cool that there are people who managed to always stay positive. How funny sounds

Sandi: 36:57

right. I mean, it's taking claim, you know? It's like, yeah. Did that, yeah, I understand.

Yoyo: 37:04

What's coming up next 2023 for you, Sandy?

Sandi: 37:09

Well, we're very excited about the rest of 2023 and moving forward in 2024. Global expansion, obviously we just signed a huge memorandum of understanding with the largest association in India called Capsi. And they're going to be aggressively marking the marketing to. Marketing our programs to over 9 million security officers. They represent over 9 million security officers. So we're very excited about the working with them and again, tailoring our program to fit their specific needs. We also are looking very seriously at establishing what we're referring to as IFPO accredited training centers. There is still a need and a want for classroom training. We just recently finished a pilot program with an organization here in the United States where they did blended learning, where they did online and virtual training. It was amazing. So we wanna, there's a lot of. Training institutions throughout the US and Canada and other areas. I'm completely familiar with one in Nigeria, for example, that deliver programs that are quality programs. They also deliver our programs, so we're looking at setting up an accrediting and that analytical, so that we can accredit them as an I F P O training center and they can conduct the classroom training. We will review any of their existing programs that they have, that we might not have. And if they meet our muster, then we will endorse their programs, but Also ask them to promote the programs that we currently have in both the classroom environment, but also virtually are online. So this is a huge undertaking, but I'm very excited about it. In the past we have had a lot of regional representatives throughout the various countries, and we're trying to avoid regional reps from becoming. Exclusive that's debilitating us to a certain extent. So there's gonna be. We need to set up a system where there's no exclusivity, but there is a standardization of program delivery. If it's I F P O programs or programs created for a different let's use like, Port security. I know for example, in the Middle East, I've seen an excellent port security program and they're looking for endorsement through an accrediting body. So I can see the potential of getting involved in that capacity. It's a huge undertaking and it's a different roll completely, but it still. Goes back to our goals and objectives of the I F P O to develop to, to make available secur educational programs for security officers. So it still stems back, but we're excited about that. I think one of the more exciting things that I have to announce in 2023 is I just signed a contract yesterday to start our 10th edition of our C P O manual. Oh, wow. 10th Edition. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Cool. So it is gonna be the best book ever. And I rarely say that because normally when I start a new book and when the book is published, I don't even wanna open it because I'm like already thinking of the problems. I'm thinking, why didn't we think of this? Why didn't we add this? Why didn't we upgrade this? The 10th edition is gonna be well, I, well, it's gonna sound a little arrogant, but most of our books have been bestsellers, but this will be the best of the best sellers. And we're going to make that available in 2024. It's going to totally adhere to the security officer competency model that we developed in conjunction with the United States Department of Labor. So we're pumped. We're pumped and this is gonna be yet another step forward to establishing a national guideline. And all we need is one country, one state, to set a guideline that's based on that competency model that's based on the IPO program, and we're off to the races.

Yoyo: 41:20

Yeah, smashing. Look, it's all good. And I have to say I'm very proud to be a part of if Bo and sit on the advisory board here in the UK with this, there's always something we're planning and cooking in the pipeline. So just to finish up, I've got one more anecdote this person wrote in when I was eight. I got lost at the mall and I started crying cuz I couldn't find my mom. And then a security card came up to me to help me. But I punched him in the nuts as hard as I could because stranger danger. Cause stranger danger. And that dude still had to help me find my mom. I think about him a lot.

Sandi: 41:53

Oh my goodness. Yeah, and he probably thinks a lot about you too. I think. I mean, it's not my story. It's not me. I know, but whoever refers to, but I could see you doing that. Yo.

Yoyo: 42:06

I don't, I, I don't know. I don't know if I was a kicking a security guard in the nuts type, not until I started security anyway. But hey, listen, Sandy, thank you so much. Super cool to chat to you and lots of exciting things going on for everybody. We'll provide the link to connect with Sandy on LinkedIn to look at our website. And stay in touch with what we're doing and look at all the super courses because there's nothing better than having a security qualification that solidifies and puts the cement between the bricks of all the things that you know already. Sandy, thank you so much for joining us today.

Sandi: 42:40

Thank you for this opportunity. Yo-Yo, it's been great fun,