"Message from the Editor"

“Imagine”

     Imagine you want to attend an upcoming concert or sporting event. You go online to Ticketmaster to purchase a ticket, and when you are directed to the payment, they have a selection of – Pay Only if You Attend.

    Now, imagine you need car insurance. You ask the insurance company for a quote. You agree to purchase the insurance coverage and when you go to pay, they say, “Just pay us if you get into an accident.”

    Ridiculous, unheard of, never happens, correct?

    These are only 2-examples of situations, that in the real world, you are looking to secure something for the future, but need to pay ahead of time.

    Ticketmaster is in business to ensure that every seat in the venue is sold to all those who wish to attend. You pay up front to guarantee that you have a seat. There is no such thing as just saving a seat in case I decide to attend.

    Insurance companies give a quote for coverage, gambling that you may never need to use it, or that you may only be in a fender-bender. They only go into their own pocketbook when it is a major accident with both vehicle damage and bodily harm. But still you need to have your premium paid to guarantee your coverage.

    I realize that the NJNEOA is no way on the level of Ticketmaster or Insurance companies. But the fee that the NJNEOA charges to attend a training seminar is nowhere near the cost of concert / sporting event tickets, car insurance or even any of the private or non-government funded law enforcement training organizations.

    We offer free attendance to most of our training seminars for NJNEOA members. We charge a minimal fee to non-NJNEOA members.

    But as I stated last month about twenty percent of our members are in the habit of “saving a seat” in case they decide that they want to attend. In our attempt to afford every individual who wishes to attend our training the opportunity to do so, going forward, any member that is deemed a “repeat offender” of registering and not attending without giving 72-hour notice, will be suspended from free attendance for the remainder of their membership.

    Non-members, obviously you can pay the fee personally at the time of registration. But those of you whose agency will be paying with a Purchase Order, we will be enforcing the 7-Business Day policy. The agency has 7-Business Days to email the NJNEOA the Purchase Order. If it isn’t received within that time frame, your registration will be cancelled.

    I have heard from some agency administration personnel that “The way we do things here is that we only send a purchase order after the officer attends.”

    My reply is, just like Ticketmaster or an Insurance Company, you are coming to our event and need to play by our rules.