ÍõÖÐÍõÁùºÏ²ÊÌØÂë Iceland held its annual meeting on 22 March 2019, following a two-day professional seminar organised by the section in cooperation with a local police association, as well as the speaker, ÍõÖÐÍõÁùºÏ²ÊÌØÂë member Ken Pennington, formerly of the Police Service of Northern Ireland.
For some time, Section Iceland has been making strides to reform the budget in order to be able to provide more for its members. Membership has been on a slow but steady increase, but with more members being retired (retirees don’t pay fees in ÍõÖÐÍõÁùºÏ²ÊÌØÂë Iceland), the number of paying members has declined. Despite this, our means for hosting an event have got better.
In 2016, Ken Pennington was in Iceland and held a short talk regarding counter-terrorism, which was well-attended. We have kept in touch since then, and followed it up with a request to give another lecture in Iceland. Ken was more than willing to do so, and we are very grateful that he accepted our invitation. During his stay, we were able to discuss tactics and concerns regarding an ever-changing situation in the world with regard to terrorism. As is common practice, we were able to discuss friendship in a Guinness Forum style. We visited some spectacular nature sites, and enjoyed Icelandic food and drink.
To be honest, the annual meeting did not meet the Secretary General’s requirements, as it dragged on for a full 35 minutes, whereas we had hoped to finish in 26 minutes! Nevertheless, the current national board was able to recap the past year and present a new board for its members. We have plans to pay for two guests for next year’s World Congress, but we presented the option for members to visit Croatia as guests during this year’s World Congress. I am pleased to say that at least one member has already made plans to attend. Einar introduced his plan for a position on the IEB, which was met with understanding and support.
The positions of President, Secretary General and Treasurer will be up for election in 2021, but a new board was elected this year: Hrannar Arason, Leifur Halldorsson, Gunnar Scheving, Sveinbjorn Olafur, Fridjon Ingi Sigurjonsson, Pall Fannar Helgason and Jon Orn Haraldsson were re-elected for another year. The email is the same, ipaisland@gmail.com and we look forward to hearing from you!
Baldur Olafsson, Secretary General ÍõÖÐÍõÁùºÏ²ÊÌØÂë Iceland