February 5, 2015
The Honorable Johnny Isakson
Chairman
Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
131 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
The Honorable Richard Blumenthal
Ranking Member
Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
724 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington,
DC 20510
Dear Chairman Isakson and Ranking Member Blumenthal:
As the President of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association
(FLEOA) and on behalf of our Veterans Affairs Police members, I am writing to
you in response to a January 17th Washington Post article entitled,
"After Fatal Shooting at El Paso Hospital‐VA Police Highlight Nationwide
Security Lapses in Veterans Affairs Medical System." The article raised
some critical Officer Safety issues that FLEOA would like address.
The VA Police Service is one of the largest federal uniformed law enforcement
agencies and is tasked with ensuring the safety of our veterans, staff and
visitors at VA facilities. While confronted with a formidable mission, the VA
Police unfortunately finds itself understaffed, under resourced, and challenged
by the absolute necessity of maintaining current protective equipment for
Officers. As the article alludes to, we are aware of anecdotal information
regarding outdated protective gear, malfunctioning radios, inter‐operability
concerns, and inconsistency in facility video and emergency response systems.
We cannot afford to shortchange the defensive capabilities for our wounded warriors,
or the dedicated law enforcement guardians who protect them.
To be clear, the VA Police has strong centralized leadership, and they
do a formidable job with the limited resources made available to them. We are
appealing to the Senate Committee
on Veterans’ Affairs to ensure the VA Police receive the necessary
funding to properly protect themselves and our wounded warriors, and to
maintain a safe environment for both patients and staff. The overall VA
commands a considerable budget, and we want to ensure that funding for the VA
Police's essential services does not get lost or minimized.
We thank you for your leadership, and for recognizing the need to
ensure the VA Police receive the proper resources and funding to protect our wounded
warriors, themselves, and the VA facilities.
Respectfully,
Jon Adler
National
President