GovernmentExecutive.com

Return to Article: Lawmakers skeptical of planned Federal Protective Service cuts

• 58424
  

  NOW TODAY you can not find a Federal Protective Service Police Officer on duty after 1700 hours ! Local police have to respond to do the FPS job... why have FPS ? It is a Billion dollar a year tax payer sink hole ! Contract Guards do the law enforcement in federal buildings.... check out the FPS CGIM.

  James Posted September 12, 2008 6:19 PM
• 55037
  

  So what does a Sgt. do when I show up at a 24/7 post in the middle of the night and find the CG at sleep in the conference room?

  The other CG did not notice that the sleeping CG was gone.

  It was reported to the Capt. and he does not want to address the issue.

  The Contract Manager knows and worked with most of the CG's. And now the Contract Manager says the Company President wants to eliminate the Sgt. position due to cost.

  CG Posted July 26, 2008 7:25 PM
• 52969
  

  It seems to me a few of the comments above are bias, made by individuals with axes to grind and find a public forum to do it in. I have meet FPS Officers, Inspectors, Agents and Security Officers a crossed the country and there have been some bad ones, and some professionals. It is a shame that the bias shown in some of these comments appear to come from "professionals", which I would believe work on guard contracts, and by the tone have had negative dealings with the very agency mandated to monitor those programs. Do us all a favor; don't judge a national program or programs based on your local or regional experience. You do yourself and those who serve a disfavor.

  JL Posted June 24, 2008 12:19 AM
• 46223
  

  I don't know who these people are who are trying to protect the Federal Protective Service Police. The one's that I have seen in "action" in Newark, N.J. are a joke. I have never seen men in uniform who in all reality want to do less than nothing. They don't patrol, they just stand around looking like out of shape wanna-be thugs. The contract guards are the one's who protect the property. Although the F.P.S. is in the building, within a hundred feet or so of any entrance, if one is needed then the guard has to do the following: call or go to the control room which is also in the building. The control room officer then has to call the main dispatch for the F.P.S. which is the MEGACENTER located in Philadelphia, Pa. The MEGACENTER then notifies the F.P.S. in the same building where the incident is occurring to respond. And their response time is less than quick. Luckilly, most incidents are not emergencies. I find these officers, who have their own Police cars to take home, to be extremely arrogant less than knowledgable in Police tactics and quite frankly, an embarassment to Police on general. I will conclude by saying that this agency should be eliminated. The money that would be saved in uniforms alone would be enough reason. The D.H.S. should do as the court does and hire C.S.O.'s to do security. Qualified retired Police Officers who already know how to do the job. more to follow...

  TGR Posted March 12, 2008 10:39 PM
• 34570
  

  We've all seen government waste and fraud in different government agencies, but honestly FPS takes the top prize. Political appointments and an insider good old boy promotion system has removed anyone with any merit from this agency long ago. Currently with a hostile unionized uniformed police officers group running the organization and management by incompetence nothing but more waste, fraud, and bureaucratic worthlessness will continue. I like many others back the president and congress in their efforts to make our nation safe and it's their efforts that would transform FPS into a worthwhile homeland security agency. But if FPS doesn't want to transform into something useful then it needs to be shut down and congress should do the deed. FPS has a problem with itself, it's FPS's bureaucratic organization itself; it's the way FPS conducts its business that truly is the problem. Nothing and mean nothing will change until this agency removes many ranks and does away with its hostile union. With the good old boys gone maybe then FPS would get an organizational and mission plan that fits into today's world. No more SWAT like FPS police officers standing around the lobbies and restrooms with little thought as to why they are even there. No more contract guards performing the real security duties off of some type of written bureaucratic instructions that no one can understand. What needs to happen is a "major" change of course for this agency. The development of a better inspector program would be a step in the right direction, hiring better personnel, a better cope of mission, developing the contract guard program, removing the regional offices who have acted as nothing more than little kingdoms and developing a straight line command structure as with real law enforcement agencies would be another good step and I could go on and on......... We can only hope that something is done before the taxpayers run out of money to pay for this worthless bureaucratic agency that is past its time. It maybe time to call your congressman an complain about this waste.

  Name withheld Posted October 5, 2007 9:33 PM
• 22848
  

  As a contract security officer now representing thousands of contract federal Security Officers nation-wide, I know first-hand and from my conversations daily with Armed Contract Security Officers (and unarmed), that they take their jobs seriously. The previous comment that we are just "bullies" and only carry the aire of authority, is wholly innacurate. In many cases our authority is drivin by the specific Government contract that we work under, within multiple sites that we protect, and where FPS has too few Officers, our Authority under Title 41 CFR 101-20.3 provides federal contract security officers with sufficient authority to detain and arrest under many circumstances. This is uncontroverted in cases that have been heard already in Court.

  Commenters, pointing fingers is counterproductive to all law enforcement and protective personnel. Contractors who manage security officers, right now, are scrambling to shore up their training, which THEY have let lapse. UGSOA (our Union) has reported these lapses of certain contractors to the Inspector General in the past. Mostly that information is disregarded or "looked into". We cannot train ourselves correctly!

  Nontwithstanding the above, Congress and DHS/FPS management should do more to increase budgets and review of all layers of security and protection for the Federal Employees, Day-care CHILDREN, Clients, Visitors, and Buildings that have had too many attacks already. And we should all be given a boost for our training, staffing, and compensation, that is long overdue. We are all motivated to do our jobs, and to do them well! In concert with professional DHS / FPS personnel our mission can be accomplished.

  We know where the blame game will take us, however...

  James D. Carney Posted May 7, 2007 6:24 PM
• 22653
  

  The current plan proposed by the Senior Management of ICE/FPS will not work. The structure proposed with not support the mission requirements and the federal employees are at risk. I am an employee of FPS and know for a fact that this is a smoke and mirrors approach to securing the federal facilities. There will be no real security, or personnel to address acts directed at the facilities. This problem is due to mismanagement and the wrong people in head positions. There are no truly Law Enforcement managers in place, everyone is some management discipline, thinking that Law Enforcement can be managed by anyone. GSA/FPS and now DHS/FPS have always made the mistake of thinking anyone with the word management on their resume could run FPS. There are Regional Directors trying to run the service as though they are still in the Marines, there is a total disconnect between management and its core mission and what is required. The main problem is the personnel selected for upper management don't have real world law enforcement experience and the Cops and mission under them is being mismanaged. Any fool with two eyes can see that a plan to secure a facility that does not include patrol personnel is inviting another attack. You cannot protect a federal building from the inside and respond only when you know something is happening outside. The FPS needs more police officers and they are needed now. The Inspectors cannot accomplish all their task; patrol, conduct indepth security surveys, meetings, training, contract monitoring, anti-terrorism and all the things FPS is trying to lump into one position. The Inspectors are going to be used as a catch all position and it is failing, as it has from its inception, because the managers just aren't thinking and their lack of true law enforcement background is the leading problem. They cannot manage FPS, because they don't really know how protection is accomplished.

  GovExec.com reader Posted May 3, 2007 12:36 AM
• 22642
  

  "The FPS chief argued that the contract guards, who hold no more authority than an average citizen to make an arrest, would be the first line of defense, while inspectors, who hold officer status, would remain on site at facilities deemed high risk." Anyone with a limited intelligence knows that you get what you pay for. Contract guards who work cheap more than likely also means less professionalism and dedication. So who determines which sites are "high risk" and what federal buildings are less important? Are those personnel at the social security office less important than say someone at the INS? How about the customers they serve. This country is in hock up to its ears, all due to the burden of paying for a war that will not gain this country anything but continued grief, meaningless deaths and higher debt. But lets keep funding this war at the expense of the people here at home, so that we can prop up a failed government in Iraq and a even worse administration here in Washington DC. I have had personal experience with these hired guards at several federal offices, and in each case they were little more than local bullies who had been dressed in official looking uniforms and filled with a high expectation of authority. Not only was I not impressed, but also filled with fear if anyone happened to get on their wrong side. I just pray this country will be able to survive the remaining 20 months under King George's reign!

  JD Posted May 2, 2007 1:52 PM
• 22635
  

  What's amazing is that Shenkel clearly contradics himself..."Shenkel told committee members the department can effectively protect federal buildings with the proposed workforce" Then the article states "Schenkel said the lack of oversight was largely due to staffing problems"

  If FPS is having "staffing problems" then does it make sense to cut the staff? Especially the staff that monitors the contract security guards!

  GovExec.com reader Posted May 2, 2007 9:25 AM