Since I have been talking up the Protective Security Council Conference (PSC) in the social media, I have been asked, “What is the PSC and what about this ‘new’ conference?” First, the PSC is an organization of security professionals created and managed by Michael Nossaman. He has a long history of organizing conferences and associations that have made a huge impact on our industry. My association with him goes back almost 25 years. Second, by no stretch of the imagination is the PSC conference new to the community. Not only is this the third PSC conference, in fact, it has a historical link that threads back more than 25 years.
In the mid-1980’s, a group of like-minded associates got together and formed the Tactical Response Association (TRA). I was fortunate to be part of the original group that included people from law enforcement, the military, government agencies, and corporate and private security practitioners. In just a short time, the TRA grew to more than 700 members. Keep in mind this was a time that pre-dated the Internet, web pages, blogs, and social media. The TRA had no goal other than to help each other and the community, but when it got to 700 plus members, managing it became a chore. The original TRA founders were all busy working in their respective fields, so we asked Mike Nossaman to manage it.
Mike took charge of the TRA and, not only did he continue to increase membership to an impressive number, he undertook several other significant initiatives. He revived the dormant conference and changed the name of it from the TRA Conference & Expo to TREXPO – the Tactical Response Conference & Expo. He also launched the TRA’s professional journal named “TACTICAL RESPONSE & SECURITY” – a picture of one of the covers is included here. By the way, notice that one of the contributing authors is Bob Oatman. Two decades later Bob is a speaker at this year’s PSC Conference, as he has been at many of the conferences that Mike has organized.
I don’t know exactly when, but sometime in the mid-1990’s, the original TRA founding fathers eventually went their separate ways, and left the TRA, TREXPO, and the journal in Mike’s capable hands. Over the years he grew TREXPO into a must attend event and continued to publish the magazine. After many years of hard work, in 2001, Mike decided to sell TREXPO and concentrate on Varro Press, the security and law enforcement book publishing company that he founded in the early 1990’s.
As a side note, recently, a young man asked me if I had ever heard of an event called TREXPO. What could I say to him? “Yes, I was there at the beginning of TREXPO.” No, I just said, “Yes, I have heard of it”.
A few years ago, Mike saw the need for another organization – like the old TRA – that would satisfy the need of security professionals for high-level, in-depth information about the strategies, tactics, and tools for protecting people – all the people – from the boardroom to the mailroom, from down the hall to around the world; at every level and location. In this context, the term people, refers to all organization stakeholders: employees, suppliers, stockholders, customers, and communities. His vision took life when he created the Protective Security Council (PSC).
Now you know. The PSC is not new. In fact, the theory behind the PSC is old, and happens to be a great concept. All one needs to do is look at who is speaking at this year’s conference. As it was in the TRA, they all have one goal– to share their knowledge and expertise with the community. If you only attend one event this year, this is the one. Then someday in the future, if someone asks if you know about the PSC, you can answer, “Yes, I was there at the beginning.”
This post was first published in SecurityDriverNews.com by Tony Scotti and reprinted with permission.
Copyright 2011 Tony Scotti. All rights reserved.
When is the PSC Conference Michael and where