Posted: 04/01/01
Source: Dept. of Veterans Affairs, Fact Sheet, Oct. 2000
Veterans who use the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) facilities can and should expect the best in protection and police services. Shouldering these duties are approximately 2,100 trained VA police officers stationed across the country at all major VA medical facilites and many of VA's outpatient clinics. VA police officers are memebers of a well-trained police force responsible for enforcing the law and providing protection to patients, visitors, employees and property at VA facilities.
VA police officers must have prior specialized law enforcement experience to be hired as a police officer by VA. Standards are set by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management and require experience with basic law regulations,law enforcement operations, practices and techniques. Prior positions must include responsibility for protecting life and property and the maintenance of law and order. This experience may have been gained by serving as a police officer for a municipal, county, state or federal agency, a military policeman or a parks or forest service policeman, or holding similar positions that require the necessary knowledge and skills in law enforcement. A degree in criminal justice may be substituted for some experience.
Additionally, each police officer is subject to a background investigation and is required to take an entry physical examination and an annual physical examination to determine physical fitness and emotional stability.
The VA Law Enforcement Training Center(LETC)is located on the campusof the Central Arkansas Veterans Health Care System in North Little Rock, Ark. The LETC provides specialized training to all VA police officers, emphasizing VA policies and procedures and proper enforcement of federal law. Additionally, training prepares the police officers to deal with typical VA patients. This unique training program places special focus on community and customer oriented policing.
Each VA police officer is required to complete 80 hours of initial training and 160 hours of training at the LETC. Participants are taught a wide range of law enforcement topics, to include criminal law, search and seizure, patrol techniques, personal protection, violence in the workplace and techniques in managing potentially volatile situations. Special emphasis is placed on verbal skills and unique topics related to working in a health care environment and other limited jurisdictional settings. The curriculum is current, timely and responds to the needs of the community. Approximately 270 newly appointed VA police officers attend the basic course annually.
VA also offers training, on a fee for service basis, to other federal agencies such as Walter Reed Army Medical Center, National Gallery of Art, Indian Health Service, Federal Emergency Management Agency and the National Guard Bureau.
