Prominent among the concerns raised by auditors who assessed 70 hospitals and other facilities were “the lack of a visible and active police presence.” Image: Jonathan Weiss/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffAn IG review has found “multiple security vulnerabilities and deficiencies” at VA facilities, many of them related to shortages of police officers but also involving issues with monitoring equipment.
The open-campus design of VA facilities “makes it more difficult to secure facilities while balancing the need for easy and prompt access for patients. Consequently, threats may originate from many locations within the medical facility campus itself or in the nearby community.” In 2022, it noted, there were 36 “serious incident reports filed involving 32 VA medical facilities that directly affected the security of VA personnel and property” including a bomb threat that resulted in one facility being evacuated.
Prominent among the concerns raised by auditors who assessed 70 hospitals and other facilities were “the lack of a visible and active police presence.” The IG noted that it has issued numerous reports in recent years calling attention to what it called “significant” shortages in the VA police force. The average rate of police officer vacancies at those facilities was 33 percent, with some as high as 60 percent.
In a survey of security personnel at those facilities, 37 percent “expressed concerns about the physical security at their facilities, some noting the lack of VA police on duty would sometimes make it difficult to respond to threats like an active shooter.” Twenty-one percent “said they were aware of a duty shift during which minimum police staffing requirements were not met” despite efforts to stretch coverage through use of overtime.
“Additional measures are needed for “target hardening” (securing property to reduce crime), such as securing doors that should not be publicly accessible and restricting access to high-risk areas,” the report said.
At the facilities they visited, auditors identified nearly 3,000 access doors. Of the nearly 400 accessible to the public, 87 percent “did not have an active security presence, and of those, 23 percent also did not have a security camera.” They also found that 19 percent of all security cameras were not functional, with 24 facilities having more than 20 percent of their cameras not working, including some that were “either visibly broken, not plugged in, or covered.”
On the positive side, the review found that nearly all VA police officers completed training and most found it adequate for performing their duties; and that facilities “largely demonstrated general emergency response planning and preparedness.”
It said the VA concurred with recommendations related to monitoring security-related vacancies at VA facilities and monthly hiring trends; addressing the resources required to conduct VA police service inspections; ensuring security measures are adequate, current, and operational; and updating the policy related to the review and storage of security camera footage.
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