Building security officers seek more pay, autonomy

The police officers who protect federal buildings are rallying around a legislative proposal to give them more authority, better pay and more autonomy. But the government's landlord opposes the measure.

H.R. 4034, The Federal Protective Service Reform Act, sponsored by Rep. James Traficant, D-Ohio, would move the Federal Protective Service out of the Public Buildings Service, the General Services Administration division that serves as the government's property manager. The bill would make the police force its own GSA division. Traficant argues that the police officers in the Federal Protective Service should be managed by a law enforcement official, not by GSA real estate managers.

The bill would also would require that a minimum of 730 Federal Protective Service police officers be kept on the payroll, to prevent GSA from contracting out security positions. In addition, the bill would instruct the General Accounting Office to review a proposal to fold all federal building security personnel into the protective service.

The Federal Protective Service employs 677 police officers and 639 criminal investigators, physical security specialists and support staff. Under the bill, the police officers would receive the same pay and benefits package as members of the Secret Service uniformed division.

The four unions that represent the service's police officers endorsed the bill. John Blake, president of International Brotherhood of Police Officers Local 529 and an officer in the Federal Protective Service, suggested that Congress pull the service out of GSA entirely.

American Federation of Government Employees President Bobby Harnage argued that GSA relies too heavily on contract security help.

"The growing inability of GSA to adequately protect federal facilities under its control may explain why many agencies are opting out of the agency's security network," Harnage said.

But Robert Peck, commissioner of the Public Buildings Service, said his management staff is working on improving the Federal Protective Service and pledged to answer employee concerns by reengineering federal security management.

"The Federal Protective Service is an integral and inextricable part of the Public Buildings Service and needs to remain that way," Peck said. "Security needs to be tightly integrated into the location, design and operation of federal buildings."

Peck compared protective service officers to U.S. Park Police officers, noting that the Park Police is a division of the National Park Service.