Executive Summary
“A December 2018 Office of Inspector General (OIG) report determined VA’s security and law enforcement program (police program) did not have adequate governance, due in part to confusion about roles and responsibilities between the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) and the VA Office of Security and Law Enforcement (OSLE). In response to the report, VA initiated actions to improve the national governance of its police program. A significant factor in effective police program governance, which was not within the scope of the 2018 report, is access to accurate and timely information. This includes information about arrests and investigation activities. Such information can help identify security and safety risks, determine the proper allocation of resources, and measure progress in achieving police program goals. This audit was therefore performed to determine whether VA’s police information management planning and implementation strategies and systems have provided program leaders and the workforce with the information needed to manage and guide operations. Improvements in information management will help support and advance the ongoing VA efforts to strengthen police program governance.”
What the Audit Found
“The audit team looked at the information management strategies and systems at all 139 VA medical facilities with police units. The team found that VA did not have an effective overall strategy or plan of action to update its police information system. VA experienced significant delays in implementing an integrated, reliably performing police electronic records management system. OSLE’s Law Enforcement Training Center (LETC) initiated a project in July 2015 to implement a new police records management system to replace the legacy VA Police System (VAPS) at all medical facility police units with a commercial police records management system called Report Exec. The system acquired in September 2015 was expected to be implemented at all medical facilities by the second quarter of fiscal year 2017.”
“As of April 2019, only 88 medical facilities (63 percent) were reportedly using the Report Exec system, while 51 facilities (37 percent) were still using VAPS, according to VA police chiefs and staff queried by the audit team. The delayed and incomplete transition created a lack of system integration…”
Access the full 48-page report here.
Source: VA Police Information Management System Needs Improvement – June 17, 2020. VA OIG.
