On March 26, Dennis “Sarge” Guerrero, a vice president for AFGE Local 3511 at the Audie L. Murphy Memorial Veterans’ Hospital in San Antonio, traveled to Capitol Hill to testify on the need for the Department of Veterans Affairs to stop its plan to downgrade VA police officers.
Guerrero, a 20-year military veteran with the U.S. Air Force who has spent the past 18 years as a VA police officer, testified on behalf of AFGE and the National VA Council before the House Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.
During his testimony, Guerrero expertly and passionately made the case for AFGE and the NVAC in support of H.R. 8010, the “VA Police Recruitment and Retention Act,” introduced by Rep. Tim Kennedy (D-NY). If enacted, this legislation would prohibit the Office of Personnel Management and the VA from downgrading the positions of VA police officers, retroactive to Oct. 1, 2025. Last year, OPM, as part of consistency review, planned to reduce the grade of VA police officers from GS-7 and GS-6 to GS-5, which would cost police officers thousands of dollars annually.
From the witness table, Guerrero called out OPM’s actions to downgrade the positions of VA police officers for what it is, “the D.C. way of saying ‘pay cuts,’” and that it “is counter the VA’s mission.” Reminding the committee that 90% of VA police officers are veterans themselves, Guererro explained to the committee that because of military service, VA police officers are culturally best suited to interact with veterans at VA facilities. Additionally, as VA police officers receive specialized crisis intervention training, they are trained to help avert the unthinkable and prevent veterans from harming themselves or others.
Guererro then used data gathered by the VA Office of the Inspector General to highlight that “[i]n FY 2025, the OIG found that 58 percent of facilities (80 of 139) designated Police as a severe occupational staffing shortage, making it the most frequently reported nonclinical shortage occupation and most frequently reported of all occupations.” He used this data to show how OPM’s plan would make an already severe staffing problem even worse.
Then, using stories from his own facility in San Antonio and those that other VA police officers who are active AFGE members have shared with him, Guerrero explained what this shortage means in the field. He stated that “in some facilities, new expensive security scanning equipment sits unused because of a staffing shortage. In certain 1A facilities, VA Police can only respond to one emergency at a time because there are just not enough officers. The staffing problem is also critical for CBOCs where the nearest officer is often miles away.” He then explained that “these shortages force VA facilities to rely on extensive overtime, which leads to the denial of annual leave for officers, leading to burnout for those that remain.”
Guerrero then underscored that VA police officers could pursue other law enforcement opportunities citing that new recruits in cities across the country can make well over $10,000 more annually compared to a GS-5 Step 1, which is what OPM is proposing for new VA police officers.
“To be honest, morale across VA police is at the lowest it has ever been in my 18-year tenure. This is a huge problem,” Guerrero said.
During an exchange with Rep. Kennedy, Guerrero pointed out that many officers are leaving VA for positions in ICE because of pay. When asked by Rep. Kennedy why officers would stay at VA when they can make more money in other law enforcement positions, Guerrero represented the dedication of VA police officers by sharing that fellow officers have told him that they don’t want to leave the VA because they like what they do in service of fellow veterans.
“I decided to be a VA police officer to pay it forward, to provide security for my fellow veterans,” Guerrero said. “It’s a sense of pride for me to be a VA police officer instead of going to a civilian law enforcement agency where I deal with everybody. Here, I deal with my fellow veterans, and it’s not only a sense of pride to me, but it gives me the ability to talk to the veterans and communicate with them, especially in times of crisis.”
AFGE and the NVAC will continue to lobby to pass H.R. 8010, the “VA Police Recruitment and Retention Act.”
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