Articles

Women in Security - March 2025

The Women in Security (WIS) group held it’s first quarter meeting at Fiserv in the Polaris Pointe complex at Noon on March 6, 2025. Heather Miller of Wesco Anixter organized the meeting and Kim Lease of Fiserv was the host. There were 15 people in attendance including 6 men. Industrial Security is a tight community, and it was great to see so many people in the room who knew each other from different corporations. Represented at the meeting were specialists in cyber security, physical security services, physical security equipment and banking.

The day’s topic was cyber security. This was discussed at the individual level, business level and national level. Included in the discussion was spamming, phishing, impersonation, fake accounts and destructive actions. Besides cell phones and computers, threats can come across from devices like thermostats and doorbell cameras. Several people in attendance laughed when they realized that nearly all had been victims of the same phishing ploy – a fake text from “Easy Pass” seeking money for unpaid highway tolls!

Protective measures discussed included extensive system testing with internal and external departments, and working with federal law enforcement agencies including DHS, FBI and CISA (cyber command). Foreign states and foreign actors are a great threat including developing sophisticated commercial software which appears to be safe but includes bugs. Another threat is spam or suggestive information being sent to children or people who don’t recognize it – which is passed on and into other systems. A major concern (which was mentioned by DHS and Sam Queeno of AEP at a recent ASE) was the cyber threat to the power grid.

About half of those present at the meeting were NOT ASIS members and Bernie invited them to come to the upcoming luncheon meetings. Fiserv was a fabulous host and provided lunch from Carrabba’s Italian Grill.

Article by Messenger Editor Ed Sachs

2024 Officer Appreciation Luncheon

23rd Annual Officer Appreciation Luncheon Wrap-up

On October 17 2024, ASIS held its 23rd Annual Officer Appreciation Luncheon, and as always, it was a great
success. There were 14 corporate tables this year. Registered for the luncheon were 110 individuals, with 24
different law enforcement agencies and 18 different sector security companies represented.

Tim Beverly started out the program with the Pledge of Allegiance, introductions and a prayer. Present for the event
were the Columbus Police Honor Guard and The Columbus Police and Fire Pipes and Drums, whose presence we
always appreciate.

Dee Holcomb was the emcee at the luncheon. Dee introduced our speaker, and recognized several new police chiefs
and sheriffs, and recognized several law enforcement officers who passed away in the line of duty in Ohio since our
last luncheon. There were no law enforcement officers in the Central Ohio area who lost their lives since our last
luncheon.

This year’s speaker was Bruce Pijanowski, Superintendent of Ohio’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) who
gave an informative presentation. The BCI has 416 employees of which over 100 are sworn officers. BCI was
originally on the grounds of the prison near London Ohio and used prisoners to process records. An original mission
was concern over Black Market operations. Today a major focus is Cyber Crime with extensive data sharing and
analysis with other agencies. There are now BCI sub-offices in Bowling Green and northeast Ohio (Richfield).
Bruce spoke about several criminal cases. He briefly mentioned the 2016 Pike County Mass Murder case which is
still on-going. He indicated that BCI is the DNA portal between Ohio Law Enforcement and the FBI. Major efforts
today include Crypto-Currency Fraud, Artificial Intelligence, Facial Recognition, evaluating new body armor and
the use of drones. BCI is the State Center for Data collection and dissemination to DHS and other Fusion Centers.
ASIS would like to thank everyone who attended to help show their appreciation to the committed law enforcement
and security professionals for the work they do to help keep us all safe.

In closing, special appreciation goes to Lynda Buel, Mike York, and Dee Holcomb for being committee members
and helping put this event together as well as Bernie Pack and Margaret Phillips who handled the registration desk.
A special “thank you” goes out to Michelle Merkel, Founder and President of Merkel Wealth Management who is
our host sponsor and makes it possible for ASIS to hold this event at the Scioto Country Club every year.

Also ASIS would like to acknowledge the following corporate sponsors who, without their financial support, this
annual luncheon would not be possible.

Mark your calendars for next year’s Officer Appreciation Luncheon to be held on October 16, 2025.

Tim Beverly
Officer Appreciation Luncheon Committee Chairman