FPS Union Expresses Continued Frustration with Contract Guard Program

WASHINGTON, April 14 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In response to recent Government Accountability Office reports that Federal Protective Service contract guards are not performing well, AFGE FPS Local 918 President David Wright said those reports are in line with what AFGE has been saying for years -- that FPS needs to be a fully-federalized agency.

 Testifying on April 14, 2010, before House Committee on Homeland Security, Wright explained that while Federal Protective Service law enforcement officers are charged with the monitoring and oversight of Contract Guards, the ratio of CGs to FPS officers has steadily increased from 6.3 percent in 2001 to 18.3 percent in 2010.

"There are approximately 750 street level law enforcement officers responsible for all CG training, monitoring and oversight, law enforcement patrol, response to law enforcement/security calls for service and physical security administration duties," Wright said. "A schedule has been released to mandate regular inspections of CG's different security level facilities. These efforts are ineffective in that the schedule pertains to the facility guard post and is based only on the security level not the number of individual CG or even the number of posts at a certain facility.  Thus some posts and guards will be inspected every week, while others may only be inspected two or three times a year.  It is also conceivable that some CGs can evade inspection for years.

 "Furthermore, the GAO's documentation of the lack of effective oversight of security contracts speaks to the 'jack of all trades' mentality of FPS management in decreasing manpower and combining distinct job duties into the Inspector position," Wright continued. "This is all a direct result of the fee funding scheme mandated for FPS. Efforts to increase security fees in order to increase revenue are an exercise in futility.

 "It is evident that the federal government can no longer rely on private companies to provide security guards -- whose training and authority is determined by individual states and municipalities -- to continue to protect high profile, high security federal properties. The massive effort needed to modify private security contracts for each new training requirement is not feasible and costs the taxpayer money they can ill afford."

AFGE Local 918 recommends that the FPS use the model developed by the U.S. Capitol Police and the U.S. Secret Service Uniformed Division. The officers that provide security at the Capitol and Congressional office buildings are federal employees. They are trained at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center and possess the authority of arrest on federal property.

"I have seen this agency go from a proud, committed, mission-focused agency to one that seems more focused on saving money than protecting the employees and citizens who work in federal buildings," Wright said. "While federalization of FPS security guards will cost more at the outset, we believe that the time, effort and money saved in the oversight process will increase security at federal properties. AFGE Local 918 would like to thank Chairman Thompson for holding these very necessary hearing, and urges Congress to take advantage of the current momentum and begin the federalization process of FPS security guards."

AFGE is the largest federal employee union representing 600,000 workers in the federal government and the government of the District of Columbia, including tens of thousands of DHS employees in Border Patrol, Citizenship and Immigration Services, Coast Guard, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, FEMA, Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, Federal Protective Service, Office of Immigration Statistics and TSA.

SOURCE American Federation of Government Employees