My Fellow IACSP Members,

No one knows better than we do that we live in interesting times! In such times, the prepared survive. That requires that we adapt and grow as times change. Not only must we do so as individuals, but also as an association.

As many of you know, the IACSP was formed in 2001 with the primary objective of training surveillance personnel to be successful agents, and to prepare them for their future growth. We did this through affordable training and the development of a professional certification program, the Certified Surveillance Professional (CSP). 

When we began the IACSP our primary focus was training members for surveillance methodology, internal theft, and fraud, and, of course, casino games protection. Over the years we added Risk and Liability, and in 2011, Homeland Security and Emergency Response. 

These courses served our membership well and the CSP certification has become a recognized standard throughout our industry. However, as we gaze into the future, we must change our curriculum to prepare our members for the new and arising challenges and responsibilities we now face as one of the now few remaining lines of defense for our properties. 

Our Board of Directors have agreed that it is time to update our member development and professional certification program to better prepare us for our changing roles and responsibilities. Most of us have not had training or any experience in responding to emergencies, civil unrest, robberies to include follow home robberies, active shooter, workplace violence, civil litigation, and of course contact tracing. These are just a few of the new challenges we must protect our property from, and they are everchanging.

With those challenges in mind, we will implement beginning March 01, 2022, the following revisions to our training and professional certification programs:

  • Replace our current development and certification program that uses video, power points, webinars and quizzes with defined standards and guidelines of requited knowledge, competency, skill, and proficiency.
  • The new program will include:
  • Recommended reading list to prepare for examination
  • Live and archived webinars
  • Podcasts
  • Final examination for CSP Certification
  • Recertification requirements
  • We will also establish an IACSP Department Certification signifying that a property surveillance department is certified as adopting and implementing IACSP Best Practices

Our new program will contain the below listed Domains:

  • Domain I: Surveillance Tradecraft
  • Domain II: Game Protection
  • Domain III: Loss Prevention
  • Domain IIII: Video Technology and Analytics
  • Domain V: Investigations and Reporting
  • Domain VI: Emergency Planning and Response
  • Domain VII: Risk Management

We are also developing s separate training and professional certification program for Security personnel. As most of you know, we all are security, we just do our jobs differently and use different tools. And of course, we work hand in hand every day. They too need the specialized training that we can provide. I think we can all agree, the end result, protects us all. In essence, our responsibility for protecting our properties has grown considerably and we can no longer operate as minimally trained and experienced individuals and departments; we must work as a mutually supporting force. It is in this way that we will provide maximum level of protections for our guests, employees, and the property. 

We will field this program soon and welcome our security brethren to our association.

I know we would appreciate your input and thoughts. Good or bad. Our objective is to make this a better association for us all. It is time to move into the twenty-first century.

Thank you,

Derk J Boss, CSP, CFE, CPP

President, IACSP