Police Officer

This position serves as a vital part of the VA Police Services often serving as the face of the VA and as the first person a Veteran or visitor encounters when entering a VA facility.

Serves as a Police Officer with duties primarily executed on Veterans Affairs Department properties including any properties owned leased or licensed to the VA. Provides law enforcement services across various jurisdictional environments where each type of jurisdiction (Exclusive Concurrent and Proprietorial) entails different enforcement rules.

Protects Veterans volunteers and others on Departmental property including U.S. officials and other individuals from threats to personal safety when the use of force is necessary to enforce laws and regulations. Safeguards Veterans employees and visitors sensitive and protected medical information from unauthorized release or use where prohibited by law or policy following guidance from the privacy officer FOIA HIPAA etc.

Carries firearms and other VA-approved weapons intervening when needed to deescalate situations and determining the appropriate level of force to apply. Informs individuals of their rights (Miranda Weingarten Garrity etc.) and protects their constitutional and civil rights.

Conducts patrols using vehicles on foot and/or by bicycle. Detects and intervenes in criminal activities; responds to calls for police assistance irregularities and unusual or suspicious circumstances. Enforces traffic laws and regulations including those pertaining to speeding and the reckless operation of vehicles while impaired or intoxicated. Participates in stops and contacts exercises search and arrest authority detains witnesses and apprehends suspects. Executes arrest warrants issued by federal and local courts.

Identifies security vulnerabilities and documents or reports changes in crime prevention programs. Prepares detailed reports of findings highlighting identified risks and immediate steps taken to mitigate them.

Work Schedule: Compressed/Flexible Schedule. Candidates must be willing to work weekends irregular work hours and extended hours if determined by the needs of the service. Furthermore candidates must be willing to be placed detailed or temporarily assigned to other related services and/or locations if necessary. Available shifts may include Days and Nights; shifts to be confirmed upon selection.
Position Description Title/PD#: Police Officer/PDS10376-A
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Authorized.

ADDITIONAL POLICE OFFICER CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT: 1. New VA Police Officers are required to attend an 8-week course at the VA Law Enforcement Training Center in Little Rock Arkansas. Satisfactory completion of this course is a condition of continued employment.2. Designated Drug-Testing Position: Applicants tentatively selected for VA employment in a testing designated position are subject to urinalysis to screen for illegal drug use prior to an appointment. Applicants who refuse to be tested will be denied employment with VA. Applicants will not be appointed to the position if a verified positive drug test is received.3. A medical examination is required. The duties of these positions require moderate to arduous physical exertion and/or duties of a hazardous nature. The following medical requirements apply to all applicants: good near and distant vision ability to distinguish basic colors and ability to hear the conversational voice.4. Applicants and employees must have the capacity to perform the essential functions of the position without risk to themselves or others. Applicants and employees must possess emotional and mental stability. A psychological examination is most instances a specific medical condition or impairment will not automatically disqualify an applicant or employee. A medical condition or impairment is disqualifying only if the condition for good medical reason precludes assignment to or warrants restriction from the duties of the specific position. For some positions the loss or impairment of a specific function may be compensated for by the satisfactory use of a prosthesis or mechanical aid. Reasonable accommodation shall also be considered in determining an applicants ability to perform the duties of a position.5. A character investigation will be conducted on applicants selected for employment. The purpose of such an investigation is to secure evidence of the candidates honesty integrity general character and loyalty to the U.S. Government.6. As a condition of employment must qualify to be issued a firearm and semi-annually with assigned firearm annually with an expandable Straight Baton (MEB) maintain a valid State or Commonwealth Drivers License and pass annual physical and psychosocial assessments. Applicants must be able to possess firearms under the terms of the Gun Control Act of 1968 as amended (18 U.S.C. 922(g)(9).

Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. citizen to apply for this job
• Subject to a background/suitability investigation
• Designated and/or random drug testing may be required
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
• A complete application package; including Resume Transcripts etc. is required
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements ( May 7 2025 drivers licenses or state-issued identification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.

• your performance and conduct;
• the needs and interests of the agency;
• whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and
• whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement.

GS-05 grade level: At least one (1) full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-4 level in the federal service that has given me the particular knowledge skills and abilities required to successfully perform the duties of a Police Officer. Specialized experience is work that provided knowledge of a body of basic laws and regulations law enforcement operations practices and techniques and involved responsibility for maintaining order and protecting life and property. Creditable specialized experience may have been gained in work on a police force; through service as a military police officer; in work providing visitor protection and law enforcement in parks forests or other natural resource or recreational environments; in performing criminal investigative duties; or in other work that provided the required knowledge and skills. At this level police work must have included patrolling assigned area(s) to enforce laws and ordinances regulate traffic control crowds prevent crimes and/or arrest violators. Experience as a security guard or corrections officer is generally NOT qualifying. Note: Experience must be fully documented on your resume and must include job title duties month and year start/end dates AND hour worked per week. OR

EDUCATION: Successfully completed a full 4-year course of study leading to a bachelors degree in Police Science or a comparable degree program related to the work of the position. This education must have been obtained at an accredited college or university. NOTE: Transcripts (unofficial or official) must be submitted with your application materials. Education cannot be credited without documentation. OR

COMBINATION: Successfully completed a Federal State county or municipal police academy or comparable training course that included at least 40 classroom hours of instruction in police department procedures and methods and local law and regulations to substitute a maximum of 3 months of specialized experience AND possess at least 9 months of specialized experience as identified above. NOTE: Appropriate documentation of completion must be submitted with your application materials.

A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education.

Beginning September 27 2025 Federal agencies will only accept resumes up to two pages in length to comply with the Merit Hiring Plan. Resumes longer than two pages will result in ineligibility for further consideration for the position. USAJOBS will not allow you to upload or build resumes longer than two pages and you will need to update the resumes in your profile before applying for a job. Resumes should include information relevant to the knowledge skills abilities and competencies of the position to which you are applying. VA is unable to make assumptions about qualifications if not clearly listed.

Resumes must be legible so they can be reviewed for eligibility minimum qualifications and other position requirements listed in the job announcement.

Your resume must be 5MB or less. We recommend saving and uploading your resume as a PDF to maintain formatting and number of pages. We also accept GIF JPG JPEG PNG RTF TXT PDF ODT or Word (DOC or DOCX). We do not accept PDF portfolio files. We recommend using a sans-serif font size like Lato if available. Other widely available options are Calibri Helvetica Arial Verdana Open San Source Sans Pro Roboto or Noro Sans. Make your page margins 0.5 inches. Consider using 14-point size font for titles and 10-point for the main text in your resume. The resume builder can help you create a resume using these recommendations and uses the information in your USAJOBS profile to help you get started.