Does Anyone Know About The VA Police?

[TSARay]

I got a notice in the mail recently to report for an interview with the Dept. of Veterans Affairs Police.
I just was wondering what the hiring process consists of? Is it rigorous or not? Is it one of these highly competitive jobs? What are my chances of getting hired at this point if I made it to the interview? Is the interview pass fail or do they score you on the interview?

[GoDirectly2Jail]

VA Police require either a 4 year degree or 3 years of previous full time police experience (with arrest authority). If you have the basics, you have a pretty good shot. It's hard to tell you what kind of chance you have, here is why....

VA Police are assigned to 171 Duty Stations around the US and US Territories. Each duty station has their own Chief of Police who answers to both the hospital director and the OSLE in Washington DC. The Director has an incredible amount of 'say' in what happens at each duty station. Therefore, it's like having 171 different Police Departments. You have to fill out a seperate application for each duty station that you want to work. It's best to try to get the 'inside scoop' from a current Police Officer working there.

Each duty station has slight variations in the hiring process too, so it's hard to tell you if it's going to be pass - fail. At our station, our HR office sends down three qualified applicants to our Chief for each open position. The Chief usually hires one of the three. If you have veterans preference, and you are not hired, the Chief has to explain why.

Usually the jobs aren't highly competitive at all. This is because of the pre-hiring experience requirement and the fact that most of the jobs only go to GS-7 at the highest unless you go to a Supervisory position.

The other thing to remember is that the VA Police Training is only good at VA's. With a few exceptions, most federal agencies do not accept VA training in lieu of FLETC training.

If you have any other questions, let me know.

Good answer.

[Mike Romeo]

Bwwaaahhhh Ha Ha Ha!!

[john2190]

Roflol!!!

[fenderbender]

That was hilarious! Props (and rep) to GoDirectly2Jail

[Piggy]

VA Police require either a 4 year degree or 3 years of previous full time police experience (with arrest authority). If you have the basics, you have a pretty good shot. It's hard to tell you what kind of chance you have, here is why....

VA Police are assigned to 171 Duty Stations around the US and US Territories. Each duty station has their own Chief of Police who answers to both the hospital director and the OSLE in Washington DC. The Director has an incredible amount of 'say' in what happens at each duty station. Therefore, it's like having 171 different Police Departments. You have to fill out a seperate application for each duty station that you want to work. It's best to try to get the 'inside scoop' from a current Police Officer working there.

Each duty station has slight variations in the hiring process too, so it's hard to tell you if it's going to be pass - fail. At our station, our HR office sends down three qualified applicants to our Chief for each open position. The Chief usually hires one of the three. If you have veterans preference, and you are not hired, the Chief has to explain why.

Usually the jobs aren't highly competitive at all. This is because of the pre-hiring experience requirement and the fact that most of the jobs only go to GS-7 at the highest unless you go to a Supervisory position.

The other thing to remember is that the VA Police Training is only good at VA's. With a few exceptions, most federal agencies do not accept VA training in lieu of FLETC training.

If you have any other questions, let me know.

[tunlrat]

TSARay:
The panel interview is very "standard" Fed govt. with a set # of questions. There is no right or wrong answer. That being said I doubt it is pass/fail. The questions are personal: e.g. "What was the hardest thing you ever had to cope with (in life, school, career, whatever) & how did you deal with it?" They ask a question & ALWAYS "how did you deal with it?"
Yes, as Piggy said GS-6 is the journeyman level & GS-7 is sergeant. Off duty & off-location carry depends on each hospital & their director. One thing I did notice is they carry PR 24s---I prefer asps myself but that's just me. :cool:


Piggy:
Out of curiousity, do they prefer to hire vets? In the flurry of Fed apps I submitted though this year alone I did go to a panel in San Diego for the VA. I have the degree & the LE experience BUT I am not a vet. They were nice enough (I'm not being sarcastic, most Fed agencies will send a thin letter MANY months later) to call me & tell me they decided on someone else. I don't know if he/ she was a vet or not. Not that I have anything against vets BTW.

[TSARay]

Thanks you guys for the info about the VA Police. Well he is my background: I am an ex-Marine disabled Veteran eligible for 10 veterans points. I worked as a Correction Officer on Riker Island in New York City for about two years, I have a B.A. in Criminal Justice, and I am a current federal employee with the Dept. of Homeland Security. My interview is at the VA medical facility in the Bronx, NY.
P.S. Does anyone know if one can have two federal jobs at the same time?

[tunlrat]

I don't think that's possible; maybe if one was part-time kinda like being a military reservist & having a full time job. It depends on each individual agency. Aren't a lot of TSA guys part-time?

Sounds like you got a great shot, don't sweat the interview. :D

[Piggy]

tunlrat,
I'm not a vet and I was hired. I think it depends on the hiring department and your timing. When I was hired, they had one position to fill. I was qualified and the other two applicants backed out, so I got the job We had one other non-vet Officer at the time. I don't know if things have changed, but I went to LETC with an Officer from San Diego and he wasn't happy at all. He ended up on a transfer to New York. The pay was horrible with the high cost of living and he said the management was very security guard minded as opposed to Police. That was his opnion so don't take it as gold, just passing along the info.

TSARay- I'm not sure if you can have 2 fed jobs either. I know VA Officers who have part time jobs, but none are with the G. With your 10 points, you have a very good chance, especially with the degree. I'm sure the Bronx would be a very busy duty station. When is your interview?

[University7]

TSARay:

I just saw your post. I am also from NY and I went to an interview at the Bronx VA back in August of this year. I just got the call last week for my medical. It appears as if they have multiple openings. In fact they just lost another officer who went to the Northport VA. If you have not gone for the interview yet and want specific info. please feel free to let me know.

[FotoTomas]

Here is a good topic of the same general information:

http://forums.realpolice.net/showthread.php?t=10028

If you have not found this thread before it will answer some questions. There is a few changes since I wrote several of those replies, HR218 being one of them but the general info is pretty much right on.

[K9Gunner]

The VA Police, or security here in Dayton are funny. I have not been there since 2000, but then they did not even carry a gun, and could not arrest or do much? I am sure other places are different, after all they are DOD, but Dayton Ohio VA is a joke, unarmed security guards paid well is my impression.

[Piggy]

All VA sites are now armed since last year. It was a real problems for a while having Officers wearing a 'Police' uniform that were unarmed. We're not DOD, the DOD Police fall under the Department of Defense (Secretary Rumsfeld) and the VA Police fall under the Department of Veterans Affairs (outgoing Secretary Anthony Principi). VA Police are the largest uniformed Fed. Police Dept with over 2,500 Officers.

VA Police have problems like any department but are far from a joke. This year there was a nurse taken hostage by a patient with a gun in Dayton, and the Dayton Police shot the suspect saving her life. We've also had seven Police Officers in the last 10 years killed in the line of duty, most of them as a result of the mindset that we were only security and didn't need guns. Unfortunately we didn't have them and the bad guys did. And we are far from being paid well.

[TSARay]

Out of all the Federal Police Officers-0083, the VA Police must be one of the departments who see the most action. They are confronted with emotionally disturbed veterans who are trained to kill and are angry with the gov on a regular basis. Several VA Police officers have been killed in the line of duty in the past decade. How often do DOD Police or FBI Police or USSS UD experience that? So I would call those other agencies glorified security guards, but I certainly would not say that about the VA Police.