Chairman Moran Leads Hearing to Review VA Police Operations During National Police Week

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) – chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs – led a committee hearing yesterday with Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) employees and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to discuss the VA police classification review process, reorganization efforts by the VA Office of Operations, Security and Preparedness (VA OSP) and overall VA campus security. Among the witnesses was Kansan, Chad Allan, who is the Chief of Police at the Robert J. Dole VA Medical Center in Wichita, Kansas.

“I want to take this moment to thank VA police officers for the work that they do every day to keep our veterans, visitors and VA staff safe,” said Sen. Moran. “In particular, thank you to Wichita, Kansas, VA Police Chief Chad Allan who joins us today, for his hard work and dedication to protecting his fellow Kansas veterans. Close to 90% of the VA Police workforce is made up of veterans themselves. By combining their personal experience with advanced crisis intervention training, VA Police are uniquely equipped to manage difficult situations with veterans in crisis.”

During the hearing, Sen. Moran also discussed the findings of a GAO report, that he requested in 2023, that were released before the hearing regarding security at VA medical facilities around the country. VA OSP Assistant Secretary, Reginald G.A. Neal, committed to implementing the recommendations GAO made in the report to improve safety for veterans, VA staff and visitors. GAO’s full report can be found here.

“This seems to me to a be circumstance that the VA should have never been in, in regard to law enforcement and the well-being of those officers and the people they serve,” continued Sen. Moran. “It also seems to me that this Department of Veterans Affairs is working to correct what I see as a poor history in law enforcement support at the VA.”

In 2024, Sen. Moran called on VA to provide an action plan after discovering that there was only a 28% rate of compliance with VA police officers taking crisis intervention and suicide prevention training. VA now reports that compliance with this important training has increased to 96.8% and that the department will be implementing a new command structure for VA police in November.

You can watch his questioning here & here.

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