Clay Searle is President of the International Narcotics Interdiction Association (INIA/Skynarc). INIA is an international organization for law enforcement officers working drug interdiction. Clay is retired from the Los Angeles Police Department. Twenty of Clay's twenty five years on LAPD were spent working narcotics. Working as a Detective, he was assigned to the Los Angeles International Airport for over fifteen years. Clay formed the first LAPD Bus and Train Squad and formulated the first "package squad" in the country. He is the co-founder of INIA and the "Skynarc" annual conference. He implemented the certification process and the current course content for DEA's Drug Interdiction "Jetway" training program. Internationally, Clay has taught criminal interdiction in Athens Greece for the 2004 Olympics, Peru, Colombia, Thailand, Bolivia, Russia, China, Ecuador, Mexico, Turkey and many other countries. He has written numerous articles on interdiction including “Criminal Profiling in Transportation Centers as a Tool for Counter-Terrorism” and “Profiling in Law Enforcement”. Clay has a Bachelor of Science Degree (BS) in Criminology from California State University at Long Beach. Clay Searle is the Director of Training for the I.N.I.A.  E-mail clay@inia.org

Ed Schumacher is a retired Detective Sergeant with the Narcotics Bureau of the Miami-Dade Police Department and has thirty-one (32) years of law enforcement experience including twenty-four (24) years of narcotics investigation experience. Ed most recently served as the Sergeant supervisor of the Domestic Interdiction Unit at the Miami International Airport and also the supervisor of the Miami-Dade P.D. Kidnapping Squad. He has been a  State of Florida certified law enforcement instructor and  has taught at the Southeast Criminal Justice Institute, Miami-Dade Community College Criminal Justice Program, Miami-Dade P.D. Training Bureau and the Drug Enforcement Administrations Jetway and Basic Narcotic Investigators Programs. Ed was a pioneer in the interdiction field and is an expert in airport, bus and train interdiction. Ed is a member of the Board of Directors of the International Narcotics Interdiction Association.

Steve Sloan has been a member of the San Diego Police Department for over 26 years. He started working narcotic detection canines in 1985 as the first narcotic detection canine handler for the department. In 1988, Steve developed and taught the first narcotic detection canine class for the San Diego Police Department. Steve was the lead narcotic detection canine trainer for the San Diego Police Department from 1988 to 1993. In 1993 Detective Sloan was promoted to Detectives and transferred to the Narcotics Section. Steve was assigned to the San Diego International Airport Harbor Narcotic Task Force as a Detective/Canine handler from 1993 to 1996. Steve developed a narcotic detection canine program for the Investigation Bureau of the San Diego Police Department and currently has three additional narcotic detection canines assigned for training. Steve was assigned to the Drug Enforcement Administration, San Diego Integrated Narcotic Task Force Parcel Interdiction team from 1996 to 2004. He was assigned parcel/freight investigations for eight years and is currently assigned again to the San Diego Airport interdiction team. Steve is the current president of the California Narcotic Canine Association, certifying official, executive board member and is one of its founding members. Steve is also a member of the board of directors of the International Narcotic Interdiction Association. Steve was the California Narcotic Officers Association Region IV Chairman from 1992 through 1996. Steve has instructed for the Drug Enforcement Administration, JETWAY, SKYNARC, INIA, California Narcotic Officers Association, Arizona Narcotic Officers Association, California Narcotic Canine Association, State of California Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement and San Diego Police Department. Steve has acquired extensive knowledge and expertise in working narcotic detection canines, canine case law, canine court testimony, parcel interdiction and airport interdiction. . Sloan is an internationally recognized expert on narcotic detection dogs and their training. He has lectured throughout the United States, as well as in Brazil, Germany, Egypt, Mexico and Saipan Steve has testified as a State of California and Federal court recognized expert in the fields of narcotic canine detection and training and parcel interdiction.
E-mail - steve@inia.org.

Tony Alvarez has been a police officer in the Los Angeles Police Department for the last twenty-five years. For the last twenty years, he has been assigned to the field of narcotics enforcement. He is presently a Detective supervisor assigned to the Major Violator Section of the Narcotics Group. Det. Alvarez has an extensive background in the field of undercover operations, surveillance and informant control, development and management. He has written a book entitled, "Undercover Operations Survival in Narcotics Investigations." Charles S. Thomas Publisher publishes the book. Det. Alvarez is a contributing writer for the California Narcotic Officer's Association quarterly magazine. Alvarez is an instructor for the California Narcotic Officer's Association on Narcotic Officer Survival. He has made his presentation at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Va. and has also instructed local, state and federal officers nationwide. In 1995, Detective Alvarez was awarded the DEA Award of Valor, the INEOA Medal of Valor and the Al Steward Memorial Award (California Narcotic Officer of the Year). In 1996, he was awarded the LAPD Medal of Valor.

Steve Taylor is a 25-year veteran in law enforcement. Steve spent 22 years with the Los Angeles Police Department, retiring as a Sergeant from the Narcotics Group. He was a SWAT member and Vice Sergeant during his career on LAPD. Since leaving LAPD, he was selected for the position of acting Chief of Police with the Tracy Police Department in California. Taylor has been an instructor for various police departments and military units across the country. His areas of expertise are SWAT tactics, Crisis Negotiations, Undercover Operations, Narcotic Detection,  K-9 Organization and Use. Steve Taylor has a Bachelors Degree in Administration of Justice and is past President of the California Narcotic Canine Association.

Chic Daniel retired as a Detective from the Los Angeles Police Department in 1998 after 25 years of service. Chic spent twelve years assigned to the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) unit. During this time, he was involved in the service of hundreds of high risk search warrants and the creation of tactics used in the service of these warrants. Chic was also a member of the Crisis Negotiations Team (CNT) dealing with barricaded suspects, hostage situations and the growing number of suicide related calls. He was assigned for nine years as a narcotic detection canine handler at the Los Angeles International Airport and was involved with the training of numerous narcotic canines. Daniel has taught and continues to teach classes dealing with Search Warrant Preparation and Service, Crisis Negotiations, Suicide by Cop, Airport Interdiction and Courtroom Testimony relating to Narcotic Detection Canines.

Dick Kempshall is the Executive Director of the International Narcotics Interdiction Association (Skynarc). Dick recently retired as a Group Supervisor after twenty-five years with the Drug Enforcement Administration. Beginning in 1972, with the Bureau of Narcotics & Dangerous Drugs, he served in Newark, the Foreign Service Institute, Washington D.C., Bangkok, Honolulu, Los Angeles, Quantico and Miami. In twenty-five years of service with DEA, Dick spent fifteen years assigned to airport interdiction in Bangkok, Honolulu, Los Angeles and Miami. Dick, along with Clay Searle, co-founded "Skynarc", the international organization for law enforcement officers working drug interdiction. Kempshall conceived and co-wrote the first curriculum of national training standards for airport interdiction. His airport interdiction criminal cases have been extensively cited in Federal Appellate decisions. Kempshall's investigation and arrest of Andrew Sokolow in 1984 led to the U.S. Supreme Court decision U.S. v. Sokolow. This decision is the definitive case law for drug interdiction encounters. Dick has extensive experience instructing at numerous interdiction seminars domestically and internationally. He developed and wrote the curriculum for the International Airport Interdiction Program for the Office of International Training (DEA). Dick has presented seminars on airport interdiction in Colombia, Mexico, Indonesia, The Philippines, Malaysia, Turkey and Russia. He has also been a guest instructor at International Narcotics Enforcement Management Seminars in Washington, D.C. and at the International Law Enforcement Academy in Budapest, Hungary.

David Rivers is a Detective Sergeant with the Oklahoma City Police Department and has seventeen years of law enforcement experience, including 11 years of narcotics investigative experience. He has a degree in Police Science from the Oklahoma State University. David is currently part of the Oklahoma City Drug Interdiction Unit. He is a State of Oklahoma and DEA certified law enforcement instructor and has instructed bus and parcel interdiction at Oklahoma State University, Oklahoma State Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs A-One Conference, California Narcotics Canine Association, Drug Enforcement Administrations Jetway Programs and SkyNarc conferences. David is a certified drug detector dog handler and is currently a drug detector dog certifier for the State of Oklahoma.

Craig Hammer is a Special Agent Supervisor with the California Department of Justice/Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement. Craig is currently assigned to the Los Angeles Regional Office as a supervisor of the Clandestine Laboratory Task Force. This task force targets large-scale methamphetamine manufacturing and trafficking organizations along with chemical companies. Since 1990, he has been extensively involved in all facets of clandestine laboratory investigations, both as an agent as well as a supervising agent. He serves as a primary instructor for the California Department of Justice Advanced Training Center for the Basic Clandestine Laboratory Investigations and The Clandestine Laboratory Safety Certification course. Craig teaches at the California Narcotic Officers' Association Annual Training Institute and CNOA regional training classes. Topics in these courses include clandestine laboratory investigations, manufacturing techniques, Mexican national drug trafficking organizations and officer safety considerations. Additionally, Craig has served as a lecturer for the U.S. Dept. of Justice, Office of Legal Education, the North Carolina Narcotic Officers' Association , the Clandestine Laboratory Investigators Association and other law enforcement and private industry groups. Craig has been qualified as an expert in the manufacture of methamphetamine in U.S. District Courts in California, Georgia, Iowa, Missouri and New York. Agent Hammer is a member of the California Methamphetamine Strategy Committee, the California Narcotic Officers' Association, and the Clandestine Laboratory Investigators Association.

Alfonso Valdez is an investigator with the North Orange County Target Gang Unit . He is the leading expert in California on gang related investigations and activities. Valdez is the primary instructor for the California Narcotics Officers Association ( CNOA) in gang investigations. Alfonso has served as a Police Officer with the Anaheim Police Department and as an Investigator in the Orange County, CA, District Attorney's Office. In addition to his Gang assignments, he has worked in Narcotics and was a sniper on the Anaheim Police Department's SWAT Team. Valdez has served as a gang consultant for the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), California Department of Justice, and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF). The police departments and federal agencies where Valdez has taught are too numerous to be listed here. He is an instructor who is both knowledgeable and articulate. Alfsonso's classes always get rave reviews.

Marty Duncan is a Lieutenant with the Florida Highway Patrol and the Contraband Interdiction Coordinator for F.H.P. He supervises sixty-four troopers and thirty-seven Canine Teams.  Marty has over seventeen years of experience in law enforcement. He has instructed Highway Interdiction classes in Canada, Trinidad and South Africa and has received the El Paso Intelligence Center ( EPIC) Instructor of the Year Award. He has instructed for DEA, US Customs, FBI, RCMP and USDOT among many others.

Thomas E. Page,  the former Officer-in-Charge of the Los Angeles Police Department's (LAPD) Drug Recognition Expert (DRE) Unit, is a 22-year veteran of the Los Angeles and Detroit police departments. Before undertaking a law enforcement career, Mr. Page served the Wayne County, Michigan Health Department for five years as a public health worker and supervisor.

Mr. Page has taught drug influence recognition and the behavioral indicators of drug use to a wide range of audiences. These audiences include the American Bar Association, Northwestern University Traffic Institute, the California Department of Mental Health, the Swedish National Police Federation in Stockholm, the Russian Procuracy Training Academy in Moscow, the Victoria Police in Melbourne, Australia, the Department of the Army, nurses, physicians, psychiatrists, toxicologists, and private industry.  He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Industrial Psychology, and his Master of Arts degree in Urban Affairs from the University of Detroit.

Trinka Porrata retired recently as a Detective from the Los Angeles Police Department after 25 years of service, including eight years in Narcotics Division. During the past four years, Porrata became recognized as one of the top national experts on the "trendy" drugs of abuse, including flunitrazepam (Rohypnol or roofies), GHB (Scoop, Water, Liquid Ecstasy, Easy Lay), ketamine (Special K) and MDMA (Ecstasy, the Hug Drug) and the RAVE party scene. With a background in sexual assault and child abuse investigations, she has also become an expert on drug-facilitated rape. She wrote the legislative proposals to control GHB and flunitrazepam in California and has helped several other states with their legislation. Porrata had extensive journalism experience prior to becoming a police officer, including time as a reporter with Newsweek magazine and the Detroit Free Press, and has been involved in writing scripts for law enforcement and prevention training videos.  She has been interviewed worldwide about these trendy drugs of abuse.

Mark Parker is currently employed as a Special Agent with the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation. S/A Parker has been in law enforcement for 12 years, with 10 years being with the NC SBI. S/A Parker has been working drug investigations, primarily focusing on all phases of interdiction investigations for his NC SBI career. S/A Parker is also assigned as a Task Force Agent with the Raleigh, NC DEA Resident Office, concentrating on interdiction and asset forfeiture cases. S/A Parker is involved on a daily basis with the process of seizing assets and through trial and error has developed techniques to simplify and facilitate asset forfeiture seizures for street and interdiction officers. S/A Parker is a certified state instructor, who has taught for INIA at national and international conferences. 

Carl Wall began his law enforcement career in 1993 with the North Carolina State University Public Safety. In 1994 Carl was hired as a Deputy Sheriff for the Wake County Sheriff's Office and worked patrol for nearly 5 years. In 1998 Carl was hired as a Special Agent with the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation and was assigned to work Narcotics. Initially working in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Carl was assigned as a DEA Task Force Officer in the Wilmington Resident Office in July of 2000. Today, Carl continues to be apart of the DEA Task Force in the Raleigh R/O and is assigned to Wake County working both highway and airport interdiction. Carl has been apart of some of North Carolina's largest money seizures including a 2.2 & 1.5 million dollar seizure.

Kyle D. York is currently an Investigator with the Durham Police Department in Durham, North Carolina. Investigator York has been in law enforcement for approximately 15 years, with 11 years in the Durham, NC Police Department, and 8 years in Narcotics enforcement. Investigator York has been assigned as a sworn Task Force Officer with the Drug Enforcement Administration's Raleigh Resident Office for the past 5 years. Investigator York has been involved in hundreds of narcotics related investigations for local, state, and federal agencies across the United States. Investigator York has participated in over 15 state and federal Title III investigations. Investigator York has been the lead case agent for 2 of the largest cocaine seizures in the State of North Carolina. Investigator York has also been the lead case agent in numerous long term investigations involving Mexican and Vietnamese Drug Trafficking Organizations resulting in the seizure of millions of dollars in cash, vehicles, and real estate.

Julie A. Cassidy joined the Dallas Police Dept. on June 13, 1985. The first seven and half years on the department was spent in a patrol capacity which also involved field training recruits who just graduated from the Academy, as well as, assisting VICE on prostitution stings. Two years was spent teaching Defensive Tactics and Physical Training at the Dallas Police Academy. In December 1994, she transferred to the Narcotics Division, Love Field Narcotics Task Force. Acquired their first drug dog in May of 1995. The second drug dog, "Sundance", worked for 6 1/2 years; working interdiction at Love Field, Amtrak, Greyhound, El Conejo Bus lines, UPS, FEDEX, and began freight investigations which became successful and eventually lead to INIA as an instructor. Julie has been an instructor and member of INIA since 1999. In 2002 she transferred to the Diversion Unit within Narcotics, investigating RX Fraud including investigating doctors/nurses/dentists/pharmacists. She also teaches the narcotics section of the Academy training for recruits (Dallas Police Academy) - an 8 hour course. Julie has a bachelor of Science degree from Montana State University.

Dr. Rich De Paris 
Dr. Rich De Paris is an organizational specialist who serves as President of the Center for Effective Leadership, as well as an Assistant Professor of Management at the University of North Carolina.  At present, he is also a member of the graduate faculties at Webster University, University of Phoenix, and Central Michigan University; and prior to relocating to North Carolina, a member of the graduate faculties at the University of La Verne, National University, and the University of Phoenix - San Diego where he was the Department Chair for Organizational Behavior. Rich holds a Doctorate in Public Administration with Specialization in Organizational Leadership and Management, as well as Master's Degrees in Business Administration and Public Administration.  His academic interests focus upon public sector leadership and organization, particularly in law enforcement agencies.  He has been published in a variety of professional journals, and has presented at many national and international conferences.  Dr. De Paris has consulted with police and governmental agencies nationwide, and is the developer of Situational Leadership for Law Enforcement. Prior to entering the consulting field full-time, Rich served with the San Diego Police Department for twenty years, where he held a variety of command assignments including Training Director for the Regional Public Safety Training Institute, Director of Long Range Planning, and Director of Field Operations Administration.