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Missionary work in Region 20 Michigan, Section USA Ken Davies , South Wales Branch

In October 2017 I sent an IPA Travel Form to Section USA, to notify them that my wife Susie and I would be in Michigan for the month of December and into January 2018, and that I would like to make contact with members of the IPA. It appears that they only have about 44 members in Michigan and most of them are in the Upper Peninsula which is a few hundred miles from North Branch. They call this area ‘The Thumb’, the reason being that Lower Michigan is shaped like a mitt (Glove) and North Branch is situated almost in the

centre of what would be the thumb of the mitt. O n leaving Detroit Airport one of our bags was left at the curb by mistake, requiring our return to retrieve it. Back at the airport Susie was told that the police had the bag and that their sniffer dog had sniffed around it. At the office, a police officer came towards her and said “Mrs Davies have you come for your bag? Surprised that he knew her name, he said “we opened the bag and saw some of your husband’s IPA business cards” Offering some to him he replied, “that’s OK we took a few of them”. I have been a Reserve Deputy for Lapeer County Police for 10 years and my old warrant card was out of date and did not comply as they now have a new Sheriff, Scott McKenna. I contacted Lieutenant Andy Engster, who I knew very well when he was a sergeant. He said ‘Ken you are in blue so you are welcome to tie up with any of his officers’. An appointment was then made for me to meet the new Sheriff.

At the police office in Lapeer we met with Andy, and I presented him with a No 4 (Wales) Region pennant and a few pin badges. You would have thought I would have given him the world. In return he presented me with a new design Lapeer County baseball cap which is part of their uniform and a patch for their Special Response Team. At his request I explained to Andy the workings of the IPA internationally. I was under the impression that we could possibly form a Branch in Michigan and if that was the case, we in South Wales or Region 4 would consider a twinning with them. I then met the Under Sheriff Jeremy Howe and also Sheriff McKenna. Following a presentation of our Wales pennant, South Wales Police helmet plate and a few other badges he suggested that he would pass them through to his son who was a collector. We then talked about policing in the UK and about the IPA, which I imparted the same information all over again. It was obvious that he was very interested in the Association and how it

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POLICE WORLD Vol 63 No. 3, 2018