[Infowarrior] - US FPS cuts patrols, cites funding shortfall

[Richard Forno]

Security Provider Cuts Patrols
Financial Troubles Hamper Federal Protective Service

By Mary Beth Sheridan
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 18, 2008; B01

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/17/AR2008061702287_pf.html

The police agency in charge of protecting many federal buildings is so  
short-staffed that it has cut outdoor patrols aimed at detecting  
suspicious individuals and car bombs, according to a report to be  
released today.

The study, by the Government Accountability Office, was requested by  
the leaders of five congressional committees after earlier hearings  
raised concern about the Federal Protective Service.

The protective service provides security for more than 1 million  
federal employees at about 9,000 buildings in the D.C. area and across  
the country. Caught in a cash squeeze in recent years, the agency has  
reduced its staff by about 20 percent, to 1,100 officers, the study  
said. They oversee about 15,000 contract security guards at the  
facilities.

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), head of a House subcommittee on  
public buildings that has scheduled a hearing today on the report,  
said it reflected a troubling deterioration in the service.

"The final report leaves no doubt that Congress must take action  
before the session ends to assure federal employees . . . are fully  
protected," she said. The report is also the subject of a Senate  
subcommittee hearing tomorrow.

The GAO study, conducted from April 2007 to this month, notes that the  
protective service is hiring 150 officers and strengthening its  
finances. However, the actions "may not fully resolve" the security  
problems, according to a copy of the report obtained by The Washington  
Post.

The report traces the protective service's difficulties to its  
absorption by the Department of Homeland Security in 2003. The service  
lost a $139 million annual subsidy it had received as part of the  
General Services Administration and slid into financial turmoil. The  
protective service responded by reducing officers and focusing them on  
overseeing the contract guards. The service said it would seek help  
from local police forces in responding to crime at facilities.

The report criticized that strategy, saying that it "has diminished  
security at GSA facilities and increased the risk of crime or  
terrorist attacks" at many buildings.

At many facilities, officers no longer patrol to prevent or detect  
crime, the report said. As a result, "law enforcement personnel cannot  
effectively monitor individuals surveilling federal buildings, inspect  
suspicious vehicles (including potential vehicles for bombing federal  
buildings) and detect and deter criminal activity," the report said.

The service also reduced officers' hours at many locations, the study  
said. Adding to the difficulties, many of the service's security  
cameras and X-ray machines have been broken "for months or years," the  
study said.

The report highlighted problems with contract guards, who generally  
work at fixed posts and do not have arrest powers. Oversight of the  
guards is inadequate, with some posts inspected less than once a year,  
it said.

In one incident, armed security guards stood idly by as a shirtless  
suspect wearing handcuffs on one wrist dashed through the lobby of a  
federal building with a Federal Protective Service officer in pursuit.  
The building was not identified in the report, but officers speaking  
on the condition of anonymity said it was a court-services facility in  
the District.

The GAO investigators based their report on interviews and visits to  
seven of the 11 regions where the protective service works. While the  
report did not identify them, the regions include the D.C. area,  
according to protective service officers who spoke on the condition of  
anonymity. Less than 200 such officers work in this region, overseeing  
almost 6,000 security guards at federal buildings.

As part of its strategy, the protective service had planned to cut its  
complement of officers to 950. However, Congress this year ordered the  
service to reverse course and boost the staff to 1,200.

The GAO urged the service to make further changes, such as developing  
performance standards, improving data collection and clarifying its  
plans to gain help from local police in responding to crime.

Gary Schenkel, who runs the Federal Protective Service, was  
unavailable for comment on the report yesterday, according to  
Ernestine Fobbs, a spokeswoman at Homeland Security.

In a response included with the GAO report, a Homeland Security  
official did not dispute the conclusions. The official, Penelope  
McCormack, said that the service "has already undertaken considerable  
steps to implement the audit's findings."

The steps include drawing up a strategic plan on staffing, adopting a  
risk assessment program and studying new funding mechanisms, she wrote.