National Police Week falls on May 14-20. AFGE is proud to represent tens of thousands of law enforcement officers within the federal and D.C. governments.
Our officers protect employees and visitors at federal offices, military facilities, and VA hospitals across the country. They patrol the borders, keep us safe from federal prisoners, and fight drug and human trafficking. Some of our officers have died in the line of duty, making the ultimate sacrifice to keep us safe.
“Police Week and Peace Officers Memorial Day, which falls on May 15, 2023, is an observance in the United States to pay tribute to the local, state and federal law enforcement officers who have given their lives in the line of duty,” said AFGE Law Enforcement Committee Chair Gene Racano. “These professionals put their lives on the line every day to protect the members of their community without hesitation. This week let us remember these unsung heroes who have made the ultimate sacrifice for society. We will be forever indebted and grateful to them and their families.”
This year we spoke with police officers from the Department of Veterans Affairs, Air Force, and Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency. We owe a debt of gratitude to every American who puts on a police uniform, and we should never take for granted that our safety depends on them.
Tim Petoskey
Department of Veterans Affairs
Petoskey is a police officer at the Seattle VA. He has been a cop since the late 1980s. He worked drugs in Florida in the early 1990s and retired from a State Municipality in Washington in 2009, the same year he came to work for VA Police. He also serves in the Army Reserve as a military intelligence officer and is about to retire from his reserve duties. He was featured in this award-winning video produced by the Army.
Petoskey is a representative and congressional liaison for AFGE Local 3197 and District 11’s representative to the AFGE Law Enforcement Committee.
Why did you decide to join public service?
My brother says he always knew I would be a cop. I was a boy scout and an altar boy. So, I suspect perhaps my interest in serving society broadly could be a claim of mine. But in just a few short years "on the job", my interest in law enforcement specifically was vested in protecting the public's trust.
What is the best part of your job?
The best part of the job has always been dealing with the public, for me. Both good and bad. I had a judge in Florida tell me once that if I could not make sense of the law to and for the public that he had no use for me. And I really took that message to heart. The VA, in spite of all our challenges, really sells that to me personally. Here, "our public" are the veterans we served with. I have my share of "facepalm" stories to tell, but I also met veterans who stormed Normandy Beach, nurses who threw mattresses and their own bodies on top of injured soldiers to protect them from shelling. I talked one of my own soldiers out of committing suicide on the job at the Seattle VA.
What is the most pressing issue police officers are facing and what can your agency or Congress do about it?
From the issues of pay and retirement, as well as the need to take us out from under the facility directors, are all of the other items previously discussed in the VA Police Modernization Act that did not pass last season. Congress can and should partner directly with AFGE to reintroduce and expand that Act. Then pass it as a rider to another bill so that VA just wakes up and their legal reality has changed.
What do you wish people knew about your job?
Absent VA Police management, it is the best job you could have in law enforcement. We do not have "performance expectations" like some people call quotas. De-escalation is a very serious part of our job. At our best, the VA is willing to spend money on training. We have incredibly broad law enforcement authority but are expected to use that authority honestly in the interest of safety and providing an environment where veterans can get care.
Stephen Booth
Department of Defense
Booth is a police officer at McConnell Air Force Base, Kansas. He’s Local 1737 steward, DEFCON Law Enforcement and Security Working Group chair, AFGE Law Enforcement Steering Committee DOD Committee chair, and District 9 Law Enforcement Officer Liaison. He’s been a police officer for four years and was active duty for eight years.
What’s it like to be a DoD police officer? Can you share with us your daily routine?
My work entails enforcement of federal laws, state laws, military regulations, and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. We also work as dispatchers, corrections, and training the military in the performance of their duties. We are similar to Military Police, Security Forces, and Masters-at Arms, but we have more authority as civilians versus the military.
My daily routine is we arrive and conduct roll call and receive information and pass-ons from the previous shifts as well as important information for the day. If I'm working Dispatch then I answer calls, dispatch units, review paperwork, maintain a daily log of events, make notifications to appropriate individuals, and provide command and control over the forces for the day. If I'm patrolling then I am looking for traffic offenses, checking facilities and providing a psychological deterrent to criminal activity, respond to calls as needed. Although on a military installation we still get traffic accidents, drug, weapons, trespassing, illegal immigrants, domestics, mentally challenged individuals, alcohol related incidents, etc. just like other officers.
We do a lot of things but essentially it is the same as many local police departments just in a smaller jurisdiction. We also have the authority to assimilate state laws and charge under federal laws as well, so we have to have a vast knowledge of the laws.
Why did you decide to join public service?
I love helping people when they are in need and enjoy seeing people at a low point and helping them build back their lives.
What is the best part of your job?
Community interaction and meeting new people.
What is the most pressing issue police officers are facing and what can your agency or Congress do about it?
The lack of standardization and equality within the federal government around law enforcement. It would be great to have a standard when it comes to training, duties, pay, retirement and equipment.
What do you wish people knew about your job?
That we are people with families, and we care about them despite what society has led them to believe.
Yolanda Kent
Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency
Kent is former president of AFGE Local 727. She currently serves as the secretary and District 14 representative for the Law Enforcement Steering Committee.
She has been working at the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency (CSOSA) since 1998. She was first hired as a parole officer and then became a community supervision officer (parole and probation officer) after the Revitalization Act.
Why did you decide to join public service?
I thought I could make an impact on public safety. Originally, I wanted to be a defense attorney, due to the injustices I witnessed. However, due to other circumstances, I became interested in what I thought could help offenders make different life choices by becoming a supervision officer.
What is the best part of your job?
Right now, I just do investigations. I believe the information gathered to apprehend wanted persons is satisfying, particularly when those persons have a pattern of creating victims. We want to prevent future victimization. When I was an officer who actively supervised offenders, it was satisfying to see them actively make decisions that suggest they intend to live a crime-free life.
What is the most pressing issue officers are facing and what can your agency or Congress do about it?
From my agency, a shortage of officers is stretching us thin and a lack of courage from upper management to consider meaningful changes makes some aspects of our job unnecessarily difficult. Congress can accept the union’s invitations to visit the agency and have a purposeful conversation with the officers and staff.
From the viewpoint of the secretary of the Law Enforcement Steering Committee, I would say a shortage of police officers stretches everyone thin. Congress can increase the budget to allow for the hiring of more officers.
Another issue is fear from the public of police officers and anti-law enforcement rhetoric. Not sure what Congress has the courage to do regarding this. They can also visit the agencies.
There are or were bills related to LEO Equity, LEOSA Reform and others. Congress should put the bills which AFGE supports to a vote.
What do you wish people knew about your job?
We genuinely have an interest in assisting those in need and those who actually want to be productive citizens. Unfortunately, we have real limitations. Sometimes those we serve have cognitive, emotional, or other limitations which don’t allow them to embrace what we offer. Sometimes, office, agency and other politics don’t serve us well in allowing us to effectively do our jobs.